If you love to practice your golf fame as much as you play, this article is for you!
This is very broad terminology when describing a club’s area to practice golf. This will be very important when deciding where to join if you love to hit the range. Below, you will find descriptions and a little insight on what your club may offer.
The Driving Range
Now when you think of a driving range at a golf club you may just think of a big open field where you hit golf balls. However, it’s really so much more! It has a lot to do with the quality of the area and whether there are enough hitting bays to allow for the daily play.
Number of hitting bays
This is important to know as a potential member. You need to know how many rounds of golf are played per day. Think about it this way – if a club runs tee times every eight minutes and each player warms up for 45 minutes, you would need at least 22 hitting bays to ensure that no one is waiting. That’s also given that no one has shown up just to practice at the club in the morning. This is where a hitting area at the back of the range comes in handy.
Back of the range
Find out if your club has an area at the back of the range for practice. Oftentimes, golf clubs will have an area at the back that is primarily used for private instruction. You should ask how you are able to use that area.
Distance
When it comes to older clubs, the distance of the driving range could be an issue. Typically, clubs that were built before the advent of the technology we know in golf club design today, the driving ranges were built shorter because the average player wasn’t hitting drives further than 250 yards. Most clubs have renovated their driving ranges to allow for longer hitters to ensure that the ball was not going through the driving range.
Type of Practice Golf Balls
Take a look at the balls provided on the range. Are they brand new “ProV1s” or are they the 10-year-old, beat-up golf balls with a nice red stripe? This is important if you are a low handicapper or if you just enjoy practicing. This may also be a view of the financial stability of the club if the balls are old and cracked.
Water Ranges
Now if you have never played golf in Florida, hold on to your seats. For the 20-40 minutes you practice, you will be hitting balls into the water. Most commonly found in Florida, this is often found in a golf community that was built by a housing development company. But if you aren’t a huge range rat, then this isn’t that big of a deal.
