How to practise at the driving range

Decide what the session is for

Before you start, pick one thing to work on, ideally the part of your game costing you most shots, not the club you enjoy hitting. A session with one clear aim does more than a bucket spread across everything. Our guide to what to work on shows how to choose it from your scorecards.

Split the session in two

The first half builds the move; the second checks whether it survives when every shot is different, which is the only test that matters on the course.

• Technique practice (about two thirds). Work on the one change, with the same club and the same target, slowly at first. Film a few swings to check the change is really happening.
• Course practice (the rest). Change club and target on every ball, and go through your full pre-shot routine each time, as you would on the course.

Play a hole on the range

1. Picture the first hole of your home course.
2. Hit your usual tee club at a target that stands for the fairway.
3. Judge where it would have finished, then hit the approach that shot would leave you.
4. Carry on for nine holes, keeping score of fairways and greens you would have hit.

Measure something

Write down one number each session: how many balls of ten finish inside a target, or the carry and spread of a club on a launch monitor. A number you can compare from week to week tells you whether the practice is working, which a feeling cannot.

Caddora records your range sessions club by club, measures each launch-monitor reading against the benchmark for your club speed, and builds your gapping from them. Its drills are chosen by what your own numbers say, so range time goes where it will save the most shots.

Do not forget the short game

Shots from within 100 yards and on the green make up a large part of every round. If your practice ground has a chipping area and a putting green, give them at least as much time as the range.