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Hey Murph, it sounds like you've hit plenty of range balls...how do those sessions go? Do you choose specific targets while at the range? Maybe your worries about keeping the ball in play are preventing you from executing the shots the way you do at the range. I'd like to hear more about your practice sessions.

Shade

As far as my range routine gos I usually buy a medium bucket (150 balls) and start out with a 8 or 9 iron and try to hit the short flags about a hundred yards out or so. These shots go pretty well and after I have loosened up a bit I grab a 6 iron and hit towards the 150 flag. Depending on where the ropes are I can either land it or fall short 10 or 15 yards.

I then pull out the longer irons and not having a intermediate flag I just hit towards the 150 flag and try to get over it and on line. There seems to be very little yardage difference from my 5 to 3 iron with about ten yards added per club. It is also starting with the six iron that the off line fat and thin shots start.

Then come the fairway woods which I hit towards the 2 hundred yard flag. I have a 7 and 9 fairway wood and only about half of these shots end up on center and the ocassional slice rears its ugly head with these clubs also. My starter set of clubs had a 5 and 3 wood which I should probably have but those clubs got handed down when I upgraded to so decent clubs. My 7 and 9 wood I can carry about 170 and 190 which is usually what I am left out with my short drives so I guess they will work for now.

Then of course the driver which I try to fly over the 200 yard flag and no more than 20 yards one side or other. The slice can show up with this club also but nothing like it use to be which was easily 40 or 50 yards to the right (OB) average drive distance probably comes in at 210 but I have rolled out some 250 or so when the grounds firm. Getting off the tee for now is not as bad as it once was. Still a lot shorter than I would like to hit but in play for the most part. My second shot is the one the gets hacked slice punched hit fat etc. A good second shot for me is any ball that is findable.

how long do you spend at the range with all these balls? i used to go to the range, buy 100 balls and just hit ball after ball until they were gone, usually in about 20 minutes. then i started to only buy a bucket of 50 balls, and spend a lot more time over them, checking alignment etc. 50 balls would last me about 45 minutes to an hour now, and ive started to hit them a lot better.

another thing, no matter how bad it gets, dont give up! think of it this way, a bad day's golf is better than a good day's work!

The great thing about golf is that you don't need to be an athletic freak to play. John Daly proves this point. When I graduated HS, I worked for a summer at a par 3 course. Played it every day after work, and developed a fairly decent short game. After that I rarely played. I was lucky if I played once a year. I'm now 29 and my father-in-law is an avid golfer who is pretty good. This has rekindled my interest in golf, but now as I play a bit more I find that I can still hit the ball OK but I can't put together a competitive round for whatever reason. A beautiful tee shot, a chunk shot that goes 40 yards, a slice shot that goes 30 yards right of the green, a pitch shot that flies over the green, a chip that lands 40 feet from the hole, a 35 ft putt that I swore was going in, a 5 footer that goes in. I take a 7 on a par 4, but those 2 shots keep me coming back for more. Some holes are like this, some holes I hit all great shots and par or birdie it, other holes I swear after every shot. I understand your strife, and I continue to try and beat my F-I-L. It's a funny game and one that I vow to become good at. Keep playing

Might try going to the range and using just one club for the entire session...I suggest 5 iron in this case. But you might refer to this thread and this one before you do.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Shade

Developing a good swing is critical to playing well but you won't learn how to score on the range. How many flat lies do you get on the course?

Golf is a *bleeping* Math test on top of it all. The sprinkler next to me indicates it's 136 yards to the center of the green. My 8-iron carries that far. But I'm dead into a strong wind (2 clubs) and the green is slightly elevated (1 more club).

I hit a great 5-iron but came up short, barely making the front of the green.
WHAT?! A 4-iron from 136?! I forgot about the uphill lie which naturally delofts the club. ARRRGGGH--this game!

I need a nap after a round of golf. I'm mentally exhausted.

Took me years to break 100. Then all of a sudden I was shooting 90's then all of a sudden I was shooting 80's..I believe muscle builders call it "plateaus"..it takes some time but you will see it..6 mos is nothing...I've been playing 13 years and just recently I started consistently shooting low 80's.

Gaz. It usually takes me around an hour to hit out the bucket and I think you could very well be right about hitting one ball after other so quickly. By the time I am on the last 20 balls fatigue has set in and my shots are terrible which leads to a frustrated feeling at the end of my practice.

For now I think I am just going to put the clubs away for awhile and take a rest. The courses around here are closed anyways due to the standing water and general mess left behind by hurricane Frances and it looks as though Ivan is projected to give us another round of bad weather at the beginning of next week. The trouble with that is its a lot easier said than done. Maybe I will take the clubs over to the parents house to store them so they are not so easy for me to get at.

Murph, I don't see how hiding your clubs from yourself is going to help your game. It sounds like you hit more than enough balls at the range, I guess the questions are: Are you just aimlessly whacking balls, hoping to pure one every once in a while? Or, are you analyzing good and bad shots individually by the feel of the swing, the ball flight, the distance, the divot...etc. to determine why it went where it did and what you need to do to correct it? If you're not doing the latter, you can hit 1,000 balls a week and plateau quickly without seeing much improvement. Have you video taped your swing?

Murph, hate to see you give up but maybe a rest away from hitting balls at the range will help, you can get a fresh start and maybe not hit so many balls at a time. Maybe try going to the range with only one club and I would strongly suggest that you leave the long Irons and the driver out of the bag at this point in your game, go to the range with the 3 wood use this as you driver and all around go to club, again maybe a few days off will help it does help me when I get into a slump.

Hang in there it will get better

Hal

A "medium" bucket with 150 balls? Not where I live! Here a large bucket has 80-90 balls, and cost $8.00! Does your LARGE bucket come with wheels to help you drag it to the range?

When I go to the range i hit balls for as long as I can concentrate and do the drill or swing correctly. If I get fatigued I quit hitting balls right away because golf is about muscle memory and I want my muscles to remember the good shots. If I start hitting bad then it will overide most of the work i put in on the range during that session. For example THere has been times where i could not concentrate after 75 balls so I went home, the other week I was doing well and hit over 400 golf balls because the results where good.

Sounds like the Pro's are milking you something shocking
Basics dude - shelve the driver ,3 and 4 iron for starters
Halve your backswing and stop hitting full shots
Let the club do the work
Maybe play the ball back in your stance and just PUNCH it around the course
Keep it as simple as possible till you build CONFIDENCE
Baby steps all the way

When your game doesn't give you motivation to play. Buy a new club it'll give you a reason to go back out and try.

150 ball bucket here runs ten bucks. I thought that was expensive but I guess I have it better than I thought.

Leaving the longer clubs alone seems to be the conventional advice but my driver is one of the few clubs I am starting to build some confidence in. Admitedly I sliced it horribly when I first started but have been able to correct that and clear a couple hundred yards and in play.

Like I said its the second shot from 170 or more that is getting jerked OB. Maybe it is here that I should opt for a 6 iron or less and figure that on in three or four is better than lost balls and penalty strokes.