How golfers can practice smarter at the range

Regular readers of my missives will know that I am a huge fan of the driving range.

I spend a great deal of my time there working on various parts of my game. I have never been one to get a bucket of balls and aimlessly pound them into the wild blue yonder.

Quick link: What You Should Be Doing at The Range

Importance of Having a Purpose at The Driving Range

I always go to the range with a purpose, whether that be working on my short irons and being able to gauge exactly how far I hit my wedge, lob wedge and gap wedge. It has been the focus of my attention in 2025 and I am here to tell you that it has definitely helped my game.

If I have 80 yards to the flag I now know for certain that a full hit with my 52-degree wedge will cover that precise distance. 

I have also worked on all the irons in my bag, using Trackman technology to tell me how far I hit each club. It has been a revelation. In the past I have gauged distances from the 150-yard marker but I now have a Garmin device that tells me how far I am from the front of the green, to the flag and to the back of the putting surface. 

And all the work I have put in on the driving range means that when I consult my watch and see the distance I have left I know exactly which club to reach for. Of course there are plenty of variables, such as wind direction and course conditions, but knowing how far you hit every club in the bag is definitely going to help you reduce your scores and help your course management.

I still live in hope that even at my advanced age I might be able to reduce my handicap further. I have been able to get down from 16.9 at the start of the year to 12. And we are now playing from blue tees during the winter and that has fallen to eight. 

Such a reduction might have filled me with horror not so very long ago but not now. And it is all down to my work on the range.

I often look around me and watch golfers lashing away with drivers and fairway woods, swinging the club as hard as they can. These players seem to have no routine to what they do and I fail to understand what benefit they can possibly derive from such an approach.

If you visit a driving range on a regular basis you should go there with a purpose in mind.

I am not the only one who thinks so.

What You Should Be Doing at The Range

This is what Aaron Holtom, the Advanced PGA Professional at Morley Hayes, East Midlands Golf Academy in Derbyshire, has to say on the subject:

"Most golfers could transform their range sessions by splitting their practice into three distinct parts.

"1. Technical Practice

"This is the time for focused work on your swing mechanics, ideally guided by a PGA professional (book lessons with Aaron today). The priority here is form - replicating the changes from your lesson. Don’t worry about ball flight; altering your grip, posture, or backswing can feel uncomfortable and takes time. Use training aids or record your swing to track your progress.

"2. Experimental Practice

"This is the most fun and overlooked style of practice. It’s pure exploration: see how high or low you can hit the ball, how much you can curve it, or how a strong or weak grip affects the shot. There’s immense learning in simply playing around without trying to be 'correct.' Channel your inner child - adults often forget to be this playful.

"3. Competitive Simulation

"Now, replicate the golf course. On a simulator or an open range, 'play' a course in your mind. This isn’t the time for technical thoughts or wild experiments. Focus solely on hitting targets, just as you would during a round. The work you’ve done in technical and experimental practice will now naturally translate into this competitive environment.

"By balancing these three approaches, your practice becomes purposeful, enjoyable, and far more effective."

As hard as I might try, I really couldn’t put it better myself!