In the Rough

Current professional golfers split their time between the gym and the driving range but could that be any good for us every day golfers?

Tiger Woods who is the World Number One golfer openly admits to spending a good 2 hours a day in the gym as a minimum. Yes since he burst on the scene back in 1997 Tiger has bulked up but has that helped him? The answer must be a yes!

A semi fit Tiger can and does hit the ball longer than most players on the tour.

Personally their is no change for good old fashioned meat i.e. John Daly the 18 stone will always be able to hit the ball a country mile but up until recently he didnt know what a gym looked like.

In golf is their such thing as too much time at the driving range?

Personally i think there isnt as my game seems to go from strength to strength the more i play but is that just on the course?

Many professional golfers hit hundred of balls every single day so they know that whichever golf club they have in there hand they have full control of it and know matter how pressure is on the shots (some swings of club could be a difference between 1st and 4th, which in money terms in some tournaments is a couple hundred thousand).

The first few rounds of my 2009 golfing year have thrown together a bit of a mixed bag if the truth being known.

The driving has been up and down (even considered leaving the driver out of my bag for my next round, which says it all).

Long Irons and 5 wood have been good and on several occasions made up for a poor tee shot.

Mid range irons have again been good with some accurate shots played into the green.

Wedge shots to the green have been up and down with some shots flying through the green and some coming up short.

By far the best part of my game has been my putting and some good long putts have been sunk, which I  hope continues.

It looks like a few trips to the driving range are in order though!!!!

With the British “summer” looking like being another wash out is it going to affect your game?

Personally I am a fair weather golfer and play a lot more if the sun is shining or at the very least the rain is to a minimal (in fact the summer i knocked 6 shots of my handicap was a sunny one with me playing 3-4 times a week).

So far this summer i have played twice and i can’t see when the next game is going to be???

The majority of golf clubs in the local area have recognised this and are offering some very good golf deals with the most putting golf fee’s as low as £15 for any tee time after 3pm.

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

Every golfer who has the time and patience should try to hit a couple of hundred golf balls every 10 days (7 days would be better) if they want to improve their game and more importantly lower that handicap.

But what should we actually work on at the Driving Range?

The answer is simple is your whole game. Yes with every golfer there is strengths and weaknesses so what you should is work to these. If for example you get a hundred golf balls then tailor it so you are using 15-20 golf balls on the clubs you struggle to use and maybe 5-10 golf balls on the golf clubs you are comfier using, this way both aspects of your game should be strengthened.