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The practice range is the only place to work on the mechanics and I totally agree that spending a little time chipping prior to your round is essential.
However, if when you practice you are always working on mechanics you will find it very hard to leave that at the range and it will effect your game.

Swings are not always a work in progress. Of course they need to be nurtured and developed and to be adjusted, but they also need to settle to allow your natural timming and rhythm in order for you to be able to feel.

I watch people sending ball after ball out to back of the range with out any regards to their pre-shot routine or any focus on a specific target. When they come to the course the stimuli are all different as are the pressures. Golf is played over the shortest course 6inches and this part needs as much practice, if not more.

i think that some of you have a good point. The driving range should really be used to fix problems, aid improvements. You shouldnt go to the range thinking that after hitting 100 balls ur gonna play better, it doesnt work like that. I used to do that all the time until i finally realised that the only thing you generally gain is another bad habit and blisters all over lol.

When i now go the range, i will always have a training exercise in mind, i.e. glove under arm, short swings concetrating on the pass through, weight distribution, in - in swing path. By doing this i have seen that over the past few weeks my swing is improving rapidly. But on the course it all goes wrong lol, its down to pre-nerves i think. In this instance i feel that players like myself in these situations should not monitor their score, and enjoy the day. I played with a hangover the other day lol, i 5 shots under my handicap, this was down to me, not worrying and over analysing my game.

Bada Bing!

Bingo!! Alex get yourselve a copy of Golf is not a game of perfect by Dr B Rotella. It will help you to stop analysing when your sober. Easy read, common sense and it will knock shots off and allow you to play to your potential.

nice one, might take a look at that.

At most of the ranges i go to your in your little bay , nice flat lie , a roof on top of you ,its all too comftable , where as on the course , we're out in the open exposed to the elements the ball is hardly ever at the same level as your feet,its totaly different and its seems a big shock to the system . i 'm the biggest range rat of them all i probaly go 5/6 times a week i just love hitting golf balls .Hitting off grass is a bit closer to the real thing which can't be a bad thing.

All of that is so true plus one other important difference, you always get another chance at the range.

If were honest we all love the range, but I believe it helps If you keep your practice focused, target orientated and realistic. In short quality not quantity.

Short sessions are most constructive, without doubt.
This obviously assumes that u have drills and a pre thought on what you are concentrating on. Hit 50, set out what you meen to do..

Dont take a bucket of 100, even 200 and just hit. This repitition doesnt really do much other than grinding in the swing, you shuld only do this when your starting, (to gain the general motion), and when your overly satisfied with the swing you have. To get to the swing your happy with, you have to grain in the drills. If you do hit balls, do it at the end of the drills and take it lightly, a swing in progress cannot be judged until completed.

Alex,
On the driving range there are no consequences to a poorly struck shot. You are fighting the age old battle of how to get out of your own way. Learning to trust that the work you have put in on the range will benefit you on the course is difficult to acheive. When athletes perform at their highest level, they are either reacting to a target or a situation. You think Michael Jordan was concerned with his mechanics when he hit the game winner against Utah in the 1998 NBA Finals? He knew the situation, he located his target, he shook his defender, he pulled the trigger. All of these, factors under his control. Result was of no concern to him at that moment. He was committed to the process. Once the ball left his hand he gave up control. Remember this, control the factors you can control the rest is not up to you. In other words, concern yourself with the process (yardage, club selection, target etc.) not the result (hook, slice, o.b. etc). Difficult to accomplish, yes. Nothing in this game comes without work. Lots of luck Alex!!!

I meant to address my comments to Terry. Sorry Alex for the confusion.

this seems to go with most golfers, when on the driving range as said in the above posts the shots do not count. so you swing more free not thinking about what happens hence you hit the ball cleaner,not thinking about where it goes..

just try to take this shot making mentallity on the course with you, think your on the driving range when hitting all your shots.

sounds simple but hard to do...........

TerryE, many thanks on the reccomendation on the book. Its a very advantageous book to read. Having only gone through 5-6 chapters i have learnt alot already.

I reccomend it, i played the other day and shot 7 under my hadicap, 42 stableford points. Hit off grass just like the range, i hit one of my most memorable shots. In mid, rough, just off a line of heavy trees, lie wasnt great but was standing. Hit my 3 wood, carried about 190 to the green. It couldnt of been any better and the view i had was so good. Even the players on the adjacent hole acknowledged it. I went into confident and sure of myself. Something this book taught me.

I'm not sure if this helps everybody/anybody (especially because I have exactly 9 holes under my belt experience-wise), but something I ended up doing after pulling a few tee shots in a row on a course was to go one club up of what I was hitting at the range, for example I hit a bucket of balls with a 6 and they went 135-145 yards so if I was looking at that distance at a course I'd take a 5 iron up there and I wouldn't be trying to hit the stuffing out of the ball. Maybe that's just me because the only thing I try to do at a range is hit the stuffing out of it :)