Opinion & Analysis
Scoring Practice: How I took my success on the range to the course
This is what typically happens with me. I hit an extra large bucket on the range and I am fairly consistent and feel confident. I put in 30 minutes chipping and 30 minutes putting. I think, “I’ve got this!” Then I go out on the course and make 7 pars, a birdie, 3 triples and two doubles on simple par 3s.
Front 9, ‘nemesis’ shots on a couple of holes.
Back 9, after blocked practice.
What happened? Why did great practice not translate to consistent play on the golf course? The problem is that my practice sessions consist of one club that I hit many times in a row, called “blocked practice.” I also discount the first worm-burner or occasional duck-hook to not being “warmed up.”
When I warm up, I typically move through my bag sequentially, ensuring after a dozen or so shots that I am satisfied with my ability with each club. Next, I go to the putting green, and before I know it, I’m lipping out 50-foot putts and draining 8-footers from every angle. Feeling like the Champions Tour is probably Google-searching me, I go to the chipping area, where 30 minutes later, Mickelson would be impressed. I am SO ready! I confidently walk to the first tee, and on the second hole I barely hole that 3-footer for a triple bogey.
After a round like that, I started to think about how an actual round of golf works. I make a couple of practice swings, then have one chance, with one ball, to execute a good shot with one club. I then walk for 4 or 5 minutes, decide how far I need to hit the ball, select a club, take a couple of practice swings, and again have one chance with one club and one time to hit a good shot. A few minutes later, one chance at a pitch, then one chance to lag putt, then (hopefully) one chance at a short putt. Now I’m on the second tee box. I last hit my driver about 15 minutes ago, and perhaps the image of a big slice is burned into my memory. I take two practice swings, then have one chance, with one ball to hit a good shot.
Think about the less common shots. A green-side bunker, or the flop shot, or the long, uphill bump-and-run. You might have just a few of those in a four-hour round of golf. You still only have one chance with one ball to make a decent shot, but you haven’t done it in hours or days. The point is, I realized I tend to practice totally differently than I play, then wonder why I was not able to score… or can score on half the holes in a round of golf, but not the other half. I have reasonable consistency, but I can’t seem to take it out to the course and post a better score. “How can I be more effective,” I wondered.
Five years ago, I played golf with a friend that had been playing a couple of months at Torrey Pines. He almost beat me the first time we played, and I’ve played for decades! I was shocked, and determined to improve. I started downloading golf apps, but I was frustrated with all of them because they were so cumbersome to use. I found that I was focusing on using the app, not my golf game, and playing more slowly as a result. Therefore I decided to design and built my own app. In ended up calling it 80BREAKR, and I wanted it to have the best scorecard as the core, as well as an integrated game improvement mode modeled after spreadsheets I developed trying to improve with my friend at Torrey Pines.
Since my app has an easy way to track the quality of my shots on the golf course, it is equally effective on the range. Using this feature in my app, an idea came to me that I call Scoring Practice. It’s not very fast, and I get some strange looks at the practice area, but it is extremely effective. I go to the range, and after warming up like I would for a regular round of golf, I pretend to play a round of golf. I use an iPad and an app, but it works fine with a piece of paper and a pencil. I pick my most frequently played golf course, and pretend I’m walking around that particular course. When I start, I imagine I’m on the first tee and do my normal routine. I imagine the fairway, pick markers on the range that are trouble left, sand traps right, etc., and then play the shot.
I carefully note how far I hit that shot and if it lands in the fairway, left, right, and project what kind of shot and distance I needed next. I characterize shots as Good, OK, or Bad, and enter how far from the hole I would estimate I am for my next shot.
On the range, I pick my Good, OK, and Bad Targets
Here’s how I last played that hole in Scoring Practice. After my “drive,” I picked up my clubs and walked to the far edge of the driving range. The first shot was in the fairway (per the markers I picked before the tee shot), so I estimated I needed an 8 iron to the green. I took out my 8 iron and selected the size of the green with features or markers on the driving range. I took my practice swings, and then I hit one 8 iron shot noting if it was “on the green,” and if not, how far off the green the shot ended up. Then, I picked up my clubs and range balls and walked to the chipping area. I dropped one ball about as far away from the green as I imagined I was after my 8-iron shot. Next, I placed it for the kind of shot I would be facing on the imaginary course. For instance, I imagined I missed the green right, which has an uphill pitch to a close pin location. Therefore, I selected the wedge I would normally take, selected my landing spot, took a couple of practice swings, and hit one shot, one time to that pin, noting how far from the pin the ball ended up.
First hole approach short-sided, on upslope
Now, I was on the green of that imagined first hole for this Scoring Practice round of golf. I took out my putter and walked to the practice putting green and set the ball down as far away and on as similar of a slope as possible for the result of the previous pitch. I did my normal ball-marking routine, set up, practice stroke, and then hit the putt. If I missed, I would finish putting as if this were actually the first hole on my favorite course, and I would record each shot and characterize if they were Good, OK, or Bad.
Actual distance left after pitch. It was an “OK” shot.
One hole was completed on my imaginary round. Next, I picked up my clubs and range balls and walked back to one side of the driving range. I then imagined the look of hole No. 2, and picked targets again for trouble left, right, and continued in this manner. I recorded the quality of every shot, and I made my way around the imaginary first nine holes of my favorite course this way one shot at a time.
I usually leave my bag right in the center of the practice facility
It goes faster than a normal round, and sometimes I’ll leave the bag at the middle of the practice facility and just grab a new club and put the previous one back in on my way by.
So how did Scoring Practice work for me? The reason I came up with this idea was that every time I got to the fourth hole at a local course, it would typically be the first 7 iron of the round (or week). Routinely, I would pull this shot into the hazard left, top it into the stream in front of the tee and get a big score. It occurred to me that my 7-iron practice of hitting 30 in a row was completely different than having one chance on the par-3 fourth.
First Scoring Practice Matched On-Course Problem!
Shown above is an imaginary round played using Scoring Practice for the same course. Identical results! I knew I was on to something. I did scoring practice for this course two more days in a row, and then on the third day I actually played the first few holes late in the afternoon. I hit a decent 7 iron on the third hole! Why does this work? From this Golf Digest article, apparently there’s science behind the idea of “random” practice. Although this isn’t exactly random, it does focus your brain on changing shots at the same pace as on the golf course.
After just three days using Scoring Practice on my local course, my “Nemesis ” hole was conquered!
What are the other benefits I found from Scoring Practice? Very interesting things started to happen while practicing. All of a sudden, I was facing “real” situations, like a 10-foot birdie putt at the range with only one chance to make it. I was facing what felt like a real 4-foot, par-saving putt, and trying to recover from a poor bump and run. I realized I was actually practicing scoring situations, practicing my pre-shot routine, practicing reading putts, practicing alignment, and actually making a difference in my game!
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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ooffa
Jul 2, 2017 at 4:23 pm
Everything in your post is wrong.
Jack
Jun 30, 2017 at 10:01 am
Playing on a simulator with movable platform and rough and a cheap sand bunker doesn’t really help though and that’s even a step bone this. It’s still too easy.
T
Jun 29, 2017 at 3:07 am
As a teacher, I get asked this all the time: “How does beating balls on a flat range help me when I get out to a real course with slopes and hills and I have to hit those shots but I have no idea how to?”
Yes. The only real way to practice those full swing shots from tricky sloped lies, also with tricky thick lies on a slope, is go out there and practice those on the course. Until you conquer those tricky shots, it’s hard to break 80, unless you can find the fairway with your drive 9 out of 10 times on to safe, relatively flat areas on the fairway.
Either that, or, you must get your arm and hand strengths up. Be ready to brace for hard hits and still be able to keep the face square. That’s more important than just going through the bag. How hard can you grip the club and how hard can you beat the ball with the shortest swings and still hit it really square and with enough speed? Henry Cotton would have told you it’s more important to beat the tyre and learn to hang onto the club that hard and develop strength before you start to beat balls meaninglessly. Most people can’t control their clubhead because they’re too weak to hold on through the tough impacts.
Denny Jones
Jun 28, 2017 at 3:29 pm
Another nice way to practice if the putting and or chipping green are in close proximity. Several courses I play have two separate greens, one for putting and another for chipping. This approach would not be practical at theses courses.
I was interested but found that this is “click-bait” for iOS.
Tom
Jun 28, 2017 at 2:53 pm
I try to do the best I can with the technique that’s burned into my neuro-muscular system for the last few decades. I’m not talking about taking a change in my swing from the range to the course in a few hours, just a mental tune-up to help me better face the on-course challenge. YMMV.
Mat
Jun 28, 2017 at 2:03 pm
I found this to be an interesting read and I am do something similar in my practice sessions.
I would be very interested in knowing how you created your app as I have a similar Idea that I have been toying with for a while that makes practice fun and challenging.
Regards.
Edge of Lean
Jun 28, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Retired IndE here. Agree, this is logical advice, and very practical and useful. Good article. Why so many haters?
Daniel
Jun 28, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Good concept for sure. The best practice then is to play a round or 9 holes as if it’s a real comp game? There’s a time and place for practicing your swing and other techniques at the range and practice facilities. Only one place to practice golf… the golf course.
The dude
Jun 28, 2017 at 10:36 am
Bingo…
Radim Pavlicek
Jun 28, 2017 at 2:07 am
Nice read. I downloaded the app from iTunes Store and will try it.
Speedy
Jun 27, 2017 at 6:14 pm
Basics and good tempo, that’s all you need.
Adam
Jun 27, 2017 at 5:53 pm
I’ve been practicing this way after my old swing coach suggested it maybe 12 years ago. Not every time, as there are certainly practice sessions where I’ll work on one thing/club exhaustively.
When “game practicing”, I’m not as thorough as you are, but I will go through holes 1-18 and hit every shot that I would outside of putts and bunkers. (Shot from the rough are “cheated”, as well)
Funny enough, I do this routinely at Torrey and use basically the same lines that you illustrated in the downrange shot in the article.
Strongly recommend this method as one for the last practice day before a tournament/outing/serious round. At that point in time, you want to get your mind acclimated to playing golf, not fixing your swing.
Bishop
Jun 27, 2017 at 5:08 pm
This is a great suggestion! I actually already use Random Practice, to be able to better “Gamify” while on the range. However, the addition of keeping score though writing my shots, and then the implementation of using the chipping and putting green, as well as the walk to and from would really help further.
Thanks!