The 11 Types Of People You'll Spot At The Driving Range
Whether it's the European Tour hopeful or the ones who are only there to hit the driving range buggy...recognise these?
Whether it's the European Tour hopeful or the ones who are only there to hit the driving range buggy...recognise these?
The 11 Types Of People You'll Spot At The Driving Range
Driving ranges are interesting places, full of golfers and people from all different walks of life with different things they want to get out of the game.
Having spent numerous hours down the range over the years, I've noticed you'll always spot these certain types of people.
Related: A day in the life of Europe's busiest driving range
Whether it's the European Tour hopeful, the businessman on his lunch break or the ones who are only there to hit the driving range buggy...recognise these?
The 11 Types Of People You'll Spot At The Driving Range
The European Tour hopeful
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Tour bag? Check. Alignment sticks? Check. Headphones? Check. A golf swing? Maybe not. At least they've got their name on their bag. Oh, and don't forget the camera and tripod.
The club golfers
"Range and beers this week lads?" he says on the Whatsapp group to the delight of his roll-up buddies. They meet at 7 after work, hit the first 50 balls seriously and then begin the games, and side bets. Closest to the pin competitions, longest drive, flop shots, slices, hooks - you name it, but nobody cares who wins because it's all going behind the bar anyway.
The corporate lunch-breaker
In their suit and leather shoes they're pounding balls as they've got to get back to the office for a meeting in half an hour.
Related: Five strange Tour practice drills explained
The guy with his girlfriend
Does he hope she'll take up golf? Yes. Will she take up golf? Not after how hard he's making it look. She thinks she's impressed with his 150-yard 3 woods when in fact, she's not, she wants to get out of there.
The ones who only want to hit the range buggy
There's always one, or a few, whose sole intention is to take aim at the buggy that tidies the range. The poor guy. The range is deafened with laughter every 10 or so minutes when the target is found. When will they stop? Only when security kicks them out.
Related: Silvermere Golf Complex: The whole game in one
The shanker
Try not to look, or you'll be infected with the socket rockets. They're methodically going through their backswing, looking great, turning through the ball, holding their finish...it's time to hit a shot - bam, a shank. This repeats itself 20, 50, 100 times.
The person who keeps hitting the ceiling or side of the bay
It's dangerous, loud and extremely irritating. Two pieces of advice: 1) Stop using such a high tee 2) Get a lesson.
The man with his kids
The wife's out for the day and he's got the kids, perfect - a range session and time to start up the pension fund. For 10 minutes he's forcing them to play until they lose interest and start asking to go home. But he's not listening, he's trying to finally cure that slice.
Related: Lee Westwood on how to practice golf
The ones who have hired a club
Are they golfers? No. They're here to have fun! Armed with a baseball grip and a rented 2003 Hippo 6 iron they're bashing balls away all over the place. We like these kind of people, they make us feel better about our own games.
The man who only hits driver
Can he hit it far? Of course he can, and we're jealous of that...but how many of them go straight? Barely any.
The guy who brings his trolley
One word: Why?
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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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