Drive it farther or Hit long irons better

For hack golfers like myself, it is a lot harder to put a 3 iron shot onto the green than it is to put a 7 iron up there.  Unfortunately, my drives usually leave me in a position where I am much longer than a 7 iron out on my approach shot.  I figure there are two solutions to this problem.  The first one is to drive the ball farther.  For me, it seems the harder I swing with my driver the less desirable the result is.  The second solution to the problem is to hit my long irons better.  I told a 2-handicap friend of mine that I could not hit my long irons and I was getting to the point that I was afraid to pull them out of the bag.  He simply said “choke up”.  This advice helped me get over my fear of the 3 iron but that doesn’t mean that I can put it where I want.  Here are a few videos which may help you do one or the other better:
Drive it Farther:

Hit Long Irons Better: Watch video and read this article.

Try this to cure your slice....

If you like to slice your drives off of the tee than one of the potential culprits is an open club face at impact.  This video shows a couple of drills to try to cure your slice. 

Pop Flies

Hitting a nice drive is always a great way to start off a hole.  It gives you confidence to complete the rest of the hole, which is a big part of it.  Don’t get me wrong I have started out plenty of holes with great drives (for me) and still ended up scoring miserably.  Often times I get what feels like a decent swing with the driver, but ends up as more of a “pop fly”.  Which leads smart-ass comments from my equally-hack buddies which inevitably elude to baseball.  “…and he pops out to shallow left field.”, "Nice hit, Magglio", etc.  On the next tee box-or, cough, if I tee up a mulligan- my natural reaction is to try to tee the ball lower.  I always thought that pop files came from having the ball teed up too high.  PGA instructor Frank O’Connell shows in this video that is not necessarily true. He suggests the next time you fly out to right field, go against your natural instincts and try teeing up the ball a little higher.

Stop shanking by using your noodle

I came across this video from the Golf Channel which shows a drill you may want to try if you are consistently shanking the ball.  My first instinct was that I would probably look ridiculous standing there trying this drill at the range, but on second thought I look even more ridiculous when I shank it off the tee box and it doesn’t even get up to the ladies tees.  Plus, I can just practice this in the privacy of my backyard where my ridiculousness will only be seen by my wife.  And believe me she is already well aware of it.

I've been doing it all wrong...Big Suprise

The weather was so nice when I was driving home from work yesterday, I decided to stop off for a medium bucket of balls at my local driving range. Once I got my little plastic bucket my range routine went as follows:

1. Tee up a range ball

2. Grab my driver and start pounding away

3. Scratch head about lack of consistency

4. Almost as an afterthought, I used about the last 1/3 of my balls to work down through the rest of the clubs in my bag

5. Spent a few minutes on the putting green

6. Went home

Since it was such a nice day outside I decided to roll down the windows and take the scenic route home. As I was driving home I started thinking about my time at the range. I have played hockey since I was 5 years old (oddly enough I play hockey lefty and golf righty, but that another story) and I realized that when I had a hockey practice we always followed a set routine. We would start off stretching, and then do several other drills to get warmed up. Our drills would focus on all of the fundamental skills that we needed to work on, not just on taking slapshots which was always the most fun. We had a good sweat going before the coach ever let us touch a puck. When I went to the range, I didn't stretch, I didn't follow a routine and I mostly worked on only one fundamental skill.  I came across an article by Teresa Justine Kelley which lays out a pretty good routine for the range.  She recommends that after stretching you should start hitting your sand wedge and your pitching wedge first, focusing on aim and making solid contact. Then go to your mid-irons (5,6,7) and hit a few balls with each.  After the mid-irons you move to the fairway woods and finally the driver-only swinging about 80% strength.  Finishing up on the putting green was about the only thing that I did right, and I should have mixed in some chipping as well.  I don't think that everyone should have the exact same routine at the range, but I think everyone should have a routine.  My next time at the range I will be sure to stretch and follow a routine that makes sense for me, working on all of the fundamentals of the game.

Driving Range Tips for Beginners | GolfLink.com