From Range to Fairway: Taking Your Practice Game to the Course
The Gap Between Practice and Play
There's a particular kind of frustration that every golfer knows intimately—the maddening disconnect between striping balls on the range and then promptly finding the woods off the first tee. I've felt it at windswept links in Scotland, at desert layouts in Arizona, and at my humble home course in Virginia. The practice swing feels pure. The real swing? Something else entirely.
With June nearly upon us and courses across America finally rounding into their peak summer condition, now is the moment to bridge that gap. The extra daylight hours beckon, and the greens are firm and true. It's time to make your practice actually practice something.
Rethink What Practice Means
I've watched countless golfers beat balls on the range with all the intentionality of someone scrolling through their phone. There's no target, no purpose, just the satisfying crack of contact and a vague hope that repetition equals improvement. It doesn't work that way.
Practice with a target on every single shot. Not a general direction—a specific target. The drain cover 140 yards out. The flag that sits just right of center. Your brain needs something to aim at because that's exactly what it'll need on the course.
Create Pressure on the Practice Green
The putting green is where strokes are truly saved or squandered, yet most golfers treat it like a warm-up afterthought. I've found that the players who putt well under pressure are the ones who've manufactured pressure in practice.
- The circle drill: Place tees in a three-foot circle around the hole and don't leave until you've made ten consecutive putts from that distance.
- Play the course on the green: Pick a hole, imagine the approach, and putt accordingly. Move around. Vary your distances.
- Compete against yourself: Keep score. Make it matter.
Simulate Course Conditions
The range is a lie—a beautiful, comforting lie. Perfect lies, no consequences, no pressure. That's not golf. That's just hitting balls.
When I'm preparing for a course I've never played, I try to simulate the shots I'll face. Punches under trees. High cuts around obstacles. Three-quarter wedges when the wind picks up. I change clubs constantly, never hitting the same shot twice in a row, because on the course, you don't hit seven straight seven-irons.
Practice Your Pre-Shot Routine
This might be the most overlooked element of practice. Your pre-shot routine is the bridge between practice and play—the one constant that travels with you from the range to the first tee. If you're not rehearsing it in practice, you're not really practicing.
I take two practice swings, visualize the ball flight, and step in. Every time. On the range, on the course, on the putting green. The routine becomes an anchor, and anchors are invaluable when the pressure mounts on the back nine.
Take Your Practice Game on the Course
The finest practice I've ever done has been during twilight rounds when the course empties and I can drop a few extra balls. Playing the same approach from different angles. Hitting the tee shot I was afraid of earlier. There's no substitute for practicing where it counts.
If your course allows it, consider a late-afternoon nine where you focus on specific situations rather than your score. Play everything out. Face the uncomfortable shots. This is where practice becomes performance.
The Takeaway
As summer stretches the days longer and courses reach their finest condition, the opportunity to improve has never been better. But improvement requires intention. Practice with targets. Create pressure. Simulate reality. Build a routine that travels with you.
The range is where you build your swing. The course is where you build your game. Make sure you're doing both.