3 Great Driving Range Games That Will Lower Your Scores

Three great driving range games to sharpen up your golf and improve both feel and creativity

3 Great Driving Range Games That Will Lower Your Scores

Want to improve your golf?

One of the best ways to become a better player and score lower on the course is to ramp up your practice.

Not necessarily practising more or harder, but doing the right things whilst you're at the driving range.

Below, GM Top 25 coach Alistair Davies talks us through three superb driving range games you can play to take your golf practice to another level.

1 Iron accuracy

The goals and targets for my iron accuracy game should vary according to handicap.

Looking at the red flag just by my fingers in this photo, if you’re a single-figure golfer I want you to use one finger, which you hold up in front of you so that the right edge of your finger ‘rests’ against the flag.

The finger-width gap this creates to the left of the flag is your target window on that side. Repeat the process for the other side of the flag.

The idea is to then land balls in the corridor created by these two finger-width gaps and see how many attempts it takes you to get five balls on target.

That will become your personal best, and your goal next time out will be to then beat that PB.

If you’re a 10- to 20-handicapper, allow yourself two fingers either side of the flag, and if you’re above 20, three fingers.

If at first you’re struggling to achieve your goal, allow yourself another finger, progress to decent numbers with that and then reduce the number of fingers as you begin to see improvements.

2 Driving strategy

This is what I call the 'Out of Bounds' game.

The idea is that you have an imaginary fairway created by trees, fences or whatever you can see on your range that gives you a 'fairway' around 20 yards wide.

Imagine there's OOB to the right of your fairway, then try to hit a variety of shots - straight shots, draws and fades.

If the ball finishes OOB you get minus five points.

If it finishes on the fairway you get five points and if it finishes too far left on the 'safe' side, you get zero points.

Hit five of each shot shape and see how many you score with each.

The shot shapes that gives you the highest score is the one you should then look to play when you face a similar scenario on the course with OOB on the right.

Then switch things round so the OOB is on the left and do the same again.

3 Debug your technique

Too many players become obsessed with positions and technique and don't develop enough feel.

Pick a target, ideally with a green, that's 120 yards away - bigger hitters might prefer 140-150, and shorter hitters perhaps 100.

See how many clubs in your bag you can hit and get to land on that green.

If they land short or fly too far, they don't count.

Again, establish a personal best and try to beat it next time.

This will help you to become more creative, give you more feel and set about debugging those overly technical thoughts.

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Struggling with confidence on the greens?

Checklist

• See how many irons you can land within a handicap-specific target
• Learn what shot shape works best when trouble lies on one side
• Develop feel by trying to land every club within a specific area

Shot on location at Silvermere Golf and Leisure, Surrey

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