And, those mistakes will have to be unlearned before they are going to be able to learn the correct way to swing the various clubs.

Of course, it helps if one is a natural athlete. Babe Ruth was a great golfer. He used almost the identical swing whether he was hitting a baseball or a golf ball, with the same result.

His drives were always over the horizon. A beautiful golfer.

The young men and women who grow up on the golf courses of America learning from an early age to practice correct swings have a much better chance of reaching their personal best than those who at the age of twenty purchase a bag of golf clubs, spend a few hundred dollars buying buckets of balls on the range, and then hit the links for real.

The lesson here is “Don’t practice mistakes.”

Just take a look at your driving ranges sometime, concentrating on the form of the golfers.

50% of what you see will end up hurting rather than helping when it comes time to calculate handicap.

It all depends on what your priorities are. Many guys just want to have some fun and don’t want to put a lot of effort into developing their games.

As for ranges, Double Eagle is right. While I am a bit of a range rat, I have to say that there’s no shortage of pros who mainly just played dozens of holes a day growing up. And I can tell you one of the reasons why it’s so common: Kids who grow up doing that aren’t getting too technical (kids often aren’t too technical to begin with), and the worst thing you can do is try to orchestrate your swing with a lot of technical thoughts. It’s like the difference between being a martial artist who mainly fights on the street and one who mainly practices forms and strikes. The former is getting practical experience and is learning to “put it all together,” to be effective. The latter can’t really be sure how effective all his training will be in ‘real life.”

mmm, not sure. The PGA here did a survey and most people who took lessons only took maximum 3 lessons, with a majority not taking any at all. Last club round I went to, guys were drinking before, during and after the round. Where I live is like Florida in climate I guess.

Imagine never going to the driving range. That means you could only practice your tee shot 18 times in a day, assuming you play a full round. When would experiment with different techniques. No wonder so many golfers have trouble getting any distance from their drives.

I also believe that a lot of range isn’t the only good way to be a good player. I read Lanny Wadkins saying that when he came up, he would hit balls at the range once a week, but would play 54 holes a day in between.

Doug, thanks for catching that! I’ll correct that momentarily. I’m curious as to why those numbers are lower in Australia. Do Australians just prefer to play and leave it at that?