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I have recently gotten back into golf and have been practiceing in my backyard with these hollow wiffle balls. I am wondering if they are a good subsitute for real hitting time. I am planning on taking beginning golf for a P.E. credit in college this semister I have not played golf for about 5 years and can not currently find the time or money to go to the local golf course. I can hit the wiffle balls about thirty five to forty yards before they hit my nieghbors garage. Well I am just wondering if they are good practice or if I will incounter problems when I switch to the real thing.

I always had problems after practicing with wiffle balls. I don't know why; I just did. So I discontinued their use. I found that practicing short chips with real balls into a garbage can lid in the back yard was more productive.

Someone must like using those wiffle balls, though, they've been on the market a long time.

i like hitting them just to practice making solid contact. I also use them sometimes on tees with my driver when taping or getting pictures of my swing at home. I also like the little foam yellow balls those don't dent so much like the wiffle balls do. I have a bunch of wiffle and yellow balls in my gutters. One of these days I am gonna get those down instead of just buying more.

When I first started doing that (chipping real balls) I chipped from different spots because I was chunking up the yard with divots. I had my wife convinced it was squirrels digging up the yard but I got busted when she came home early once and watched me chipping without me knowing it. (She never has asked about that big dent in the siding...but I think she knows exactly how it got there.

Hitting/chipping wiffle balls got boring real quick and I don't think it helped me much. The spin told me if my club face was open or shut at impact but the feel of hitting hollow plastic gave me zero feedback. Any wind at all and they're completely useless. There is a sponge type practice ball on the market that clicks when you hit it and flies about the same distance as the plastic practice balls.

I agree with Valeogut about practicing your chipping with real golf balls if possible. Here's what I've done......I closely mowed a small area in my back yard, buried a large tin can, (to simulate a cup) stuck a 6 foot dowel rod through the bottom of the cup and now I've got my own little 20 yard chipping area. My scoring shots around the green improved quickly and steadily. It doesn't take a lot of space and with 15 minutes of work you can really help your game!

I also use real balls i live in a neighborhood and my backyard borders a common area that is wide open they have bushes lining the common area i pick out a certain bush and chip balls to it i use all my different wedges and hit different shots. That has really improved my short game. The shot is about 20 or so yards and sometimes i take full lob wedge shots and hit into the wide open common area. But i have to be careful if I blade the full shot i could hit someone else's house... I have also hit my house but hitting someone else's house is a different story.

I've hit the wiffles for a while... I use them in the backyard with my driver and 3 wood. They WILL slice if you hit them poorly. More than anything, I use them for aim and trajectory.

I've discovered that my backyard's way too small to use even wiffles, unfortunately. The drawbacks of big-city living, I guess.

Less yard work means more time for the golf course! I've got a monster yard that's 2 1/2 hours of work a week. I really can't count the 1/2 hour though...that's for my chipping area.

I tried Almost Golf Balls and I loved them :) Fortunately I have found a place to pratice my full shots !!!!!!!!!!... The cost just a few lost shag balls!!!

I found a college golf class to be very worthwhile cedarratt. I agree with what others have posted here-hitting wiffle balls won't really tell you the mistakes that you are making and it made me feel as if I just had no power. At the same time, when it came time to use real balls, most of us played pretty decent since hitting wiffle balls helped us focus on form and proper stance. At least that's what I've found. To each his own I suppose.

I think that soft balls are useful (er that came out wrong )

One of the problems in the swing is orienting to the ball rather than the target, so it is a useful stage to learn after being able to swing with no ball present.

A good golf swing gives a sense of 'no hit'. If you can replicate that with the soft ball, you will be ready for transition to the normal golf ball.

I believe too many people learn to play before they learn to swing and this creates all sorts of problems.

My sequence for learners: (1)Learn to swing over a blade of grass and swing through to full balanced finish. (2) swing through to a full finish clipping small objects such as tees, sticks. (3) full swing with practice (soft ball) through to balanced finish. (4) full swing through to balanced finish with normal ball.

When each of these swings are identical you will be one of the best swingers of the club in your area, I guarantee it! Then perhaps you can learn some other stuff.

I certainly agree with the chipping routine of valeogut. I use a small box.

I basically did the same thing, I guess I am not the only one who is a little nuts It is amazing the amount my short game improved after I created my little chipping zone. Fortunately my wife also golfs so she didn't seem to mind me digging up a small chuck of our back yard for this.