I've been practicing like crazy on the driving range, and I've actually been getting a lot better, to the point where lately, almost all my shots on the driving range are good shots.  

Then yesterday, after many weeks of not playing an actual round of golf, I played 18 holes, and showed no improvement at all.  I was playing a tough course, but I hit a lot of wild shots.  

I know I just need to play more, but I am wondering if anyone else has this experience and if there is anything you do when your driving range performance doesn't translate to the course.

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Are you hitting off of mats at the range? Or grass?

The mats temper the severity of bad ball striking markedly.

The other thing I always have to remind myself of at the range is that what looks like a fade or draw there may look more like a slice or hook on a normal width fairway.

One suggestion I have is to book yourself a solo round during a time with few tee times booked around it. Go play a practice round and every time you hit a bad shot, drop two more balls and practice making a better one in the same spot.
The only time in my life that my golf game got to a decent level - this was what I was doing.
I'd play these ^ solo practice rounds between outings playing with friends.

I don't have time lately, and I totally suck again.

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Also - Marty -
are you spending time on the short game?
I played a round yesterday and putted 22 times on the front nine.
Terrible score.

I putted 18 times on the back and made on or two fewer duffs chipping around the greens and I was happy with the back nine score.

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

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Are you hitting off of mats at the range? Or grass?

The mats temper the severity of bad ball striking markedly.

The other thing I always have to remind myself of at the range is that what looks like a fade or draw there may look more like a slice or hook on a normal width fairway.

One suggestion I have is to book yourself a solo round during a time with few tee times booked around it. Go play a practice round and every time you hit a bad shot, drop two more balls and practice making a better one in the same spot.
The only time in my life that my golf game got to a decent level - this was what I was doing.
I'd play these ^ solo practice rounds between outings playing with friends.

I don't have time lately, and I totally suck again.

Grass.

---

Also - Marty -
are you spending time on the short game?
I played a round yesterday and putted 22 times on the front nine.
Terrible score.

I putted 18 times on the back and made on or two fewer duffs chipping around the greens and I was happy with the back nine score.

I know I need to spend more time on the short game, but my problem was my long game.  On the driving range, for example, I was hitting my driver long and straight almost every time.  But when I was on the first tee yesterday, my drive was a big sweeping hook into the woods.  So I took a mulligan, and it was another big sweeping hook, almost into the woods.  I managed to correct my driving for a few holes, but then on the back 9 I started hitting a big sweeping fade into the woods.  

A lot of my shots yesterday were low and to the left, so obviously I was closing the club face too much.

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

I think you're right about all that.  I hadn't played in a while, and when I got on the first tee, I felt some tension.  I think certainly I need to play more often.  

162 with an 8 iron is pretty impressive.  If I have 162, I'm hitting a hybrid.  I hit my driver about 220-230, but I have no distance with my irons, and even less these days because I'm trying to just hit them solidly and consistently, which is enough of a challenge without trying to hit them a long way.  I used to hit it further, but never as far as you apparently are.  

When you play from 5500 to 5800 yards, all you have to do is hit it straight.  That was my goal this summer- develop a "fairway finder."  I have it on the driving range, but not yesterday on the course.

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

I'm sorry.... What?!

Bro. Get on that Senior PGA Tour my guy!

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

NIIIICE!!!

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

I'm sorry.... What?!

Bro. Get on that Senior PGA Tour my guy!

Had a fantastic round after butchering 1 and 2.  Then managed two leave the course with a bad taste in my mouth after triple bogeying 17 and 18 for a [BLEEP] 90.  18 was particularly annoying as I had a great 5 wood off the tee, dead center in the fairway.  But it rolled through the fairway and into a pond (had never played the course before).  Grrrrrrr…

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

dry course? Them balls can roll for days in the right conditions.  

(nice job)

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

That's awesome.
I may need to go to some more forgiving irons for a while. 
I'm struggling to get through my latest episode of "look! I found a new way to screw up my golf swing!" 

Unfortunately for me, my issue is more user error than anything -  and longer, wider soled irons won't be enough to fix it. Gonna take some practice. 

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know about lofts, but a lot of the modern "distance" or "improvement" irons are lofted lower than what we know as traditional lofts. 
It's roughly one club difference.
The PW will be 44 degrees instead of 48. I've seen some at 42. 
5 irons are coming in at 24 degrees when 3 irons used to be 22. 

Anyway, I think if you're getting great results, who cares? 
I gave up on having an ego about club selection when I ditched my 5 iron for a hybrid. LOL

edit: forgot to mention
I did buy "improvement" wedges a while back. Cleveland CBX. A 56, and a 60 degree.
They've been so great that I just decided to get the GW and PW as well.
I'll have 44, 50, 56, 60 in the bag now from that line. It's basically just a hollow enclosed-cavity-back design with a bouncy wider sole.
Cuts down on duffs and chunks. Easy to make solid contact even if off center a bit.

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

That's awesome.
I may need to go to some more forgiving irons for a while. 
I'm struggling to get through my latest episode of "look! I found a new way to screw up my golf swing!" 

Unfortunately for me, my issue is more user error than anything -  and longer, wider soled irons won't be enough to fix it. Gonna take some practice. 

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know about lofts, but a lot of the modern "distance" or "improvement" irons are lofted lower than what we know as traditional lofts. 
It's roughly one club difference.
The PW will be 44 degrees instead of 48. I've seen some at 42. 
5 irons are coming in at 24 degrees when 3 irons used to be 22. 

Anyway, I think if you're getting great results, who cares? 
I gave up on having an ego about club selection when I ditched my 5 iron for a hybrid. LOL

They call it ‘loft jacking’, and these certainly are. The 7 iron is 27 degrees rather than the traditional 30 degrees. The others are jacked too, but I’m not certain of how much. But the loft isn’t the only advantage. The faces on these things are springier than a trampoline. The ball rockets off the face. 

What’s even better is the price. Wilson is making some damn good clubs now, but since they’re not one of the big 4 club vendors, their prices aren’t jacked like the lofts on these clubs. They’re fantastic value. I was doubting my purchase and even let them sit unopened for a day while I considered returning them in order to buy fitted clubs. Now I’m thrilled with them and since Wilson has already released their newer line of clubs, these are even cheaper.

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That's awesome.
I may need to go to some more forgiving irons for a while. 
I'm struggling to get through my latest episode of "look! I found a new way to screw up my golf swing!" 

Unfortunately for me, my issue is more user error than anything -  and longer, wider soled irons won't be enough to fix it. Gonna take some practice. 

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know about lofts, but a lot of the modern "distance" or "improvement" irons are lofted lower than what we know as traditional lofts. 
It's roughly one club difference.
The PW will be 44 degrees instead of 48. I've seen some at 42. 
5 irons are coming in at 24 degrees when 3 irons used to be 22. 

Anyway, I think if you're getting great results, who cares? 
I gave up on having an ego about club selection when I ditched my 5 iron for a hybrid. LOL

They call it ‘loft jacking’, and these certainly are. The 7 iron is 27 degrees rather than the traditional 30 degrees. The others are jacked too, but I’m not certain of how much. But the loft isn’t the only advantage. The faces on these things are springier than a trampoline. The ball rockets off the face. 

What’s even better is the price. Wilson is making some damn good clubs now, but since they’re not one of the big 4 club vendors, their prices aren’t jacked like the lofts on these clubs. They’re fantastic value. I was doubting my purchase and even let them sit unopened for a day while I considered returning them in order to buy fitted clubs. Now I’m thrilled with them and since Wilson has already released their newer line of clubs, these are even cheaper.

Don't tempt me to buy more golf clubs, homebiscuit!

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

Your first sentence reminds me of an interview I saw a long time ago with Ben Crenshaw.  He said that when he was a teenager, he rarely went to the driving range.  He and his friends just played golf all day.   I think that's probably the best way to become a better golfer.  

The thing for me is, though, the driving range is so enjoyable.  The one we go to is never crowded, it's almost always just me and my friends, and we can stand there and hit balls and chat about life for hours out there, because we're all retired.  I think it has lulled me into thinking I'm a better golfer than I really am, because I get so relaxed, and the ball just comes off the club so nicely probably because I'm so relaxed.  Then I get to the course where every shot counts, and it's a whole different thing.  Also the driving range doesn't have uphill/downhill lies, sidehill lies, or heavy rough.  

Hitting a 520 yard par 5 in two shots is something I have never been capable of doing.  

What course do you play?

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What’s a driving range?

On a somewhat related note, I had my first eagle putt yesterday in several years.  Missed it but had a tap in birdie.  The most amazing thing was being on the green in two on a 520 yard par 5.  I didn’t even think I was capable of doing that anymore.

Your first sentence reminds me of an interview I saw a long time ago with Ben Crenshaw.  He said that when he was a teenager, he rarely went to the driving range.  He and his friends just played golf all day.   I think that's probably the best way to become a better golfer.  

The thing for me is, though, the driving range is so enjoyable.  The one we go to is never crowded, it's almost always just me and my friends, and we can stand there and hit balls and chat about life for hours out there, because we're all retired.  I think it has lulled me into thinking I'm a better golfer than I really am, because I get so relaxed, and the ball just comes off the club so nicely probably because I'm so relaxed.  Then I get to the course where every shot counts, and it's a whole different thing.  Also the driving range doesn't have uphill/downhill lies, sidehill lies, or heavy rough.  

Hitting a 520 yard par 5 in two shots is something I have never been capable of doing.  

What course do you play?

I'm in Texas now.  I don't think you'd be familiar with the courses in the Fort Worth area.  The course that I work at is called Ironhorse.  That's where I play 80% of the time, since it's free.  My friend and I have started venturing out into the 'paying for our golf world' a couple of times a month now just for a change of pace.  The course where I hit the par five in two was Pecan Valley - Hills Course.  Pecan Valley is a muni...well actually two munis...they also have The River Course which is the nicer of the two.  Fort Worth has a really nice network of municipal courses and the prices, especially senior rates, are fantastic.  I paid $33 at the River Course and $29 at the Hills Course. The muni that I still want to play is Rockwood which is their 'gem'.  But the super mis-applied a herbicide in April and killed all of the greens.  They were supposed to be back in June (they've been using temp greens) but the heat is not helping the greens recover.  Coincidentally, he is now the ex-superintendent.

I've played more in the last 16 months than I have in the last 5+ years combined.

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

So yesterday I tried your suggestion of switching clubs between shots.  And guess what?  I had a lot of bad shots!  More than normal. 

But I think I learned something.  Other than the fact that I suck at golf.  Most of my bad shots were caused by one common swing fault that I managed to fix.  

Hope springs eternal.  But I'll probably wind up on my deathbed in my old age thinking "how can I get more lag?"  

That's the thing about me and golf.  I'm always thinking some major breakthrough is just around the corner.  It's like good golf is right in front of me and I can almost grab it but not quite.

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Two reasons: The first is psychological. You know at the range that if you hit a bad ball, you can just reach over and pull in another ball and try again. There is no pressure to get it right the first time.

The second is physical. How often do you change clubs between shots? Like most of us, probably not until you’ve grooved in the club you’re practicing with after 10-15 swings. Play the range like you would play the course: driver, mid-iron, then wedge. Play three or four holes in succession from memory of a course you know.

This in turn leads to another reason range sessions rob from course play. How often do you practice your short game? We can spend hours with the long clubs and little time with the short ones.

While we’re on the subject of golf, I want to talk about the my new irons that I played for the first time yesterday. Oh.My. Gawd. I’ve gained up to two club lengths from my old clubs (which I never liked but were free). 162 to a center pin. The 7 iron sailed the green. The 8 iron rolled to the back of the green. I’ll need to recalibrate my distances now. I told my son these clubs can’t be legal.

Wilson D-9s, 4-GW, with graphite shafts.Fantastic clubs. Long and forgiving.

So yesterday I tried your suggestion of switching clubs between shots.  And guess what?  I had a lot of bad shots!  More than normal. 

But I think I learned something.  Other than the fact that I suck at golf.  Most of my bad shots were caused by one common swing fault that I managed to fix.  

Hope springs eternal.  But I'll probably wind up on my deathbed in my old age thinking "how can I get more lag?"  

That's the thing about me and golf.  I'm always thinking some major breakthrough is just around the corner.  It's like good golf is right in front of me and I can almost grab it but not quite.

 Word.

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Do you guys ever practice, or do you just mainly play? 

I recently read an article that referenced a "68% rule."  It echoed what some of you have said in this thread, and basically it is this: if you look at all the shots an average golfer takes during a round, add all the times you hit driver, plus all the times you putt, plus all the times you chip, it comes to a vast majority of the shots you take during a round.  So your practice should focus on those things.  In my case, when I say "chipping," I am saying whatever is not a full swing.  So I would include all those 40 or 50 or so yard half-swings that are so common. 

So, practice should focus on driver, putter, and wedge.  In looking at my recent play, it's absolutely true.  I'm hitting a ton of half-wedges and chip shots.  In fact I would say most of my strokes don't involve a full swing.  It's just not that common that I am taking a full swing from a fairway these days.  

Here's the front 9 from my round the other day:
1) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 40 yard pitch, 2 putts
2) par 3 - shanked my tee shot, re-teed, hit it on green, 2 putts
3) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 30 yard pitch, 2 putts 
4) par 4 - driver, 60 yard wedge, 2 putts.
5) par 4 - driver, 60 yard wedge, ball rolls off green, duffed my chip shot, putted the ball onto the green, 2 putts
6) par 3 - missed the green, chipped on, 2 putts
7) par 4 - driver, full 7 iron, missed the green, chipped on, 3 putted 
8) par 3 - hit the green, 2 putts
9) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 30 yard chip, 2 putts.  

The course is a bit unusual in that it has five par-5s and five par-3s, the front 9 only having three par-4s.  But in this 9 holes, I count 4 full swings that were not tee shots.  Jesus Christ, when I look at that list, that is only 13 full swings and a plethora of half swings, chip shots, and putts.    

So just in general, how do you guys practice?

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