How a clever mindset change can improve your range sessions

If you ask 100 golf instructors, 90 of them will likely tell you that one of the most frustrating habits they see from amateur golfers is the way in which they warm up on the range.

It’s rushed. There’s no plan, and it is certainly not the best way to prepare themselves to go shoot low scores on a golf course.

“Rapid fire is one of my least-favorite things,” said Adam Smith, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher to Watch and the head golf instructor at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Va. “You go to the range to be mindful of the outcome of the shot.”

As for Smith’s key to fix a bad range session? Hit fewer shots. Or at least think that way.

“If everyone was allotted 10 range balls in a range session they would be a lot more mindful and, therefore, more productive instead of just banging balls,” Smith says. “Less is more.”

It’s a mindset thing, Smith says. If you only had a limited number of golf balls to warm up with, wouldn’t you do everything you could to make sure you made the most of those 10 swings? You’d hit the proper clubs, the ones you need to work on. You’d go through your pre-shot routine. You’d actually aim at something off in the distance instead of just hitting balls into a vast open space. In short — you’d focus.

Now, there are two ways to do this. You could literally just hit 10 balls, focus on those and be done. Or you could hit more balls but do so using the mindset of having a limited number. Either way, if you focus on the process and have a plan, you are going to be better off than you would with a scattered warmup.

“It’s also the cliche to say quality versus quantity,” Smith says. “You exercise your mind and the quality of each golf shot, and when you practice golf practice your routine. It’s being mindful.”

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