Ben Emerson
Club golfers typically don’t spend enough time at the driving range, but on the occasions that they do visit I often observe a similar pattern of poor decision-making that wastes their precious time.
If you are serious about making improvements to your golf game, it’s crucially important to avoid these seven common habits that stifle your progress and leave you feeling less confident than when you arrived.
7 Things You Should Never Do At The Driving Range
Ben Emerson is a Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach with a modern approach to the game. His methods have seen him become one of the most revered coaches in the country, and even has a few celebrity clients on his books. In his coaching career of more than 20 years, Ben has helped golfers of all ages and abilities to improve their performances and enjoy the game.
Spending time at the driving range is a great opportunity to work on the best ball striking lessons or focus on fundamentals like the perfect golf grip, but first you must avoid these 7 common mistakes that amateur golfers make when practising...
1. ARRIVING WITHOUT A PLAN
Too often, club golfers come to the range with no real plan and just hit balls without any thought or care.
What’s the typical tactic? Heading straight into the bag for the driver, banging balls away and hoping they’re going to get better.
I want you to go to the range with a plan. You need to have a good idea of what you’re doing that day.
Are you actually ‘playing golf’ by going through different shots, or working on technical aspects of your swing? Whatever your goal, make a plan and stick to it.
2. THE ‘MACHINE-GUNNING 50 BALLS’ APPROACH
'Machine-gunning' through golf balls is an expensive waste of time
Can you get better at golf by smashing 50 balls down the driving range in ten minutes?
No, absolutely not. But, sadly, so many golfers adopt this machine-gun approach in their practice sessions.
Instead, I want you to ‘play golf’ as much as you can on the range. Less is actually more. I like to take a lot of time when practising, using one of the best golf drills around... and all you need is three golf balls!
To do this, take three balls and make sure that these three balls have your full attention for each and every shot.
Step away, go through your pre-shot routine, then step back in and focus on your intention. If you repeat this process over and over you will certainly start to see some better results.
3. JUST GUESS WHAT’S HAPPENING
Most golfers don’t record their swing when they’re on the driving range, which can cause problems. They rely more on feel, as opposed to what is actually happening, which I don’t like at all.
I want some real evidence of what I’m doing, and you should be leaving any guesswork out of the equation. Set up a camera or phone on a tripod at around belt height and directly down the line towards the target.
Imagine that it’s pointing straight through your hands when you are in the address position. Set the camera to record in slow motion, then hit a few balls following the plan outlined in the previous sections.
Take time to review the footage after every few shots. You’ll be surprised what you can learn from this simple process.
4. GETTING WORKED UP
As the range is the place to work on your game, there’s no point getting angry when not every shot is perfect
It really doesn’t matter if you are hitting it badly on the range, because this is a safe space to work on your game.
Practice time can become one of the most rage-inducing things in golf, if you allow it to, but you need to give yourself a break.
I know you want to improve, but allowing yourself the time and patience to work on your golf swing on the range is a great way to successfully navigate that journey.
Too often, I see golfers showing off to their friends – calling them to watch when they are striping the odd one or two.
That doesn’t paint a true (or healthy) picture of improvement as, when we are working on technical aspects, we are going to get elements wrong. If you want the long-term goal to be better at golf, enjoy the journey and give yourself a break.
5. NEGLECTING CLUBFACE DRILLS
Clubface is king when it comes to being able to control the golf ball, but many golfers neglect their clubface control drills.
A favourite drill of mine on the driving range is to make some slow swings and just pay real attention to where the clubface is at various points. From there, you can start to work out how to open and close it to hit different shots.
Take three balls and aim down the middle but hit the first ball as far left as possible, the second as far right as possible and the final one down the middle.
Each time you are paying attention to how much you need to close or open the clubface to achieve the desired result.
It may look like you’re being very erratic to other range users, but who cares? If you can feel and experience both ends of the spectrum, you’ll strike the golf ball of the centre of the clubface far more often.
6. RELYING ON SHOT FEEDBACK FOR DISTANCE CONTROL
Relying on feedback is essentially cheating yourself, so if you are going to practice... do it properly
Practicing your short game is essential to avoid some of the most common mistakes amateur golfers make around the greens, but this investment only pays off if you do it right!
A golfer aims for a target around 40 to 50 yards away. They hit the first one long, they hit the second one short and then they get the third one bang on.
All that’s happened here is that the golfer’s brain has just adjusted to the two previous shots. The problem is that on the course you don’t enjoy the luxury of such feedback.
When you’re working on distance control, it’s important that your practice is random. Pick different distances and go through your routine, unless you’re working on technical aspects, in which case go for the same target.
7. ONLY FOCUSING ON DRILLS
It’s important not to place too much emphasis on your success in various drills, as you’ve got to be able to build things into your full swing.
I’ve seen many golfers get so good at drills – which are a crucial part of swing improvement – who then really struggle to replicate those elements in the golf swing.
It’s therefore important to mix things up a little bit by perhaps using an alternate shot method.
Try one swing using the drill you are working on at that time, then try one regular full swing. Use the drill as an opportunity to learn and the swing as an opportunity to assess.
I would also vary the speed, moving from slow to fast swing speeds, as if you can’t do it slowly you have very little hope of achieving the correct technical move at full speed.
Tell Us Your Story...
Practicing at the range is perhaps one of the most fluctuating experiences in the game among amateur golfers, with some making it part of their weekly routine and others rarely getting the opportunity to dust off the clubs and hit a few off the mat.
I'm interested to know what practice looks like for you. Maybe you recognise some of the faux pas above from your own experience, or perhaps you have found something that really works for your game.
Drop me a comment in the box below and help us to understand the landscape of practice volume and quality among amateur golfers - you might even feature in a Golf Monthly article on the website this winter.
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