# Playing the bucket



## Stretch (May 15, 2010)

Not sure if I read a post here or on another site but someone posted about after a bad round, the next time he went to the range he played the bad hole over to help him out.

I have thought about this and was thinking of trying it out. I mapped out a few holes that would work with the pin layouts at the range and had a par 3, 4 & 5 ready to go... just need to hit the range.

Well today at lunch, I went to the range and nobody was there... the sun was shining... and a lil breeze to make 82 not so hot.

I stretched a bit, swung a few different clubs and said lets do this.
Now I did have it planned to be fair for OB shots. I do slice a bit here and there still but when I think swing thoughts I have been good at nice straight shots.

The greensman does a nice job and cuts a little lower around the pins for about 10'. You can see the bounce and roll so you can guess the puts. If it isn't 2' away, its a 2 putt.

Playing the 4 then the 5 then the 3...

DB, B, DB
DB, DB, B
B, B, DB
B, B, B
B, P, B

Not the best, could have been lower but if I could have putted then, the scores would have been different. I don't mind using the 2 putt system I mentioned, makes you want to hit the other shots even better.

Well I was curious if any of you have ever tried this or something like it. I thought it was very productive for me. I am a new to this, played before a bit here and there, but have gotten bit and have the fever and am loving this thing called GOLF!


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## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

After warming up, I do something similar. Not all the time, but sometimes. I will play the actual score card, hole by hole, less putting. Since I have the score card, with the 18 laid out holes to look at, I play each hole as I normally would on the course. I might even factor in the weather. Some holes might be driver, 3W, and wedge. Others might be 3W, and a mid iron. Maybe on a skinny par 5 I might go 3W, 3W, and short iron. A long, 200 yard par three might be my 7W. I might aim left or right of my target to accommodate the the wind that day, letting it bring the ball back into play. I might hit and intentional hard draw, or fade, pretending I am in jail, behind a tree with little, or no shot to the green. With all of these, hitting to range targets, I can pretty much tell if I would have a GIR. I will also hit shots out of left over divots. Once I am done at the range, I might factor in my short game handicap on the practice holes I figured I missed the greens. On the holes I figured I hit GIRs, I factor in my putts per green average. Surprisingly my final, practice score relates closely with what I might have shot if I had been playing for real. Just like when actually playing. Some practice days are better than others. Once done on the range I'll go hit a few balls out of the practice bunker. Hopefully the bunker practice area is void of other golfers so that I can work on up & downs with my putter. I might do the same with some chips, and pitches from various lies. After that it's off to the putting greens for some work. This whole scenario takes me some where between 2 and 3 hours.


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## Stretch (May 15, 2010)

Thanks for sharing FrogsHair. Glad to see I was not the only one. It did help and it was fun to do. Sadly it has been very hot up here and the last couple of weeks trying to drive at the range was silly. Sweating in the blazing heat and humidity and only being able to see maybe 1 out of 10 drives was not very fun, the sun was right in your eyes and none of my sunglasses were any help.

Luckily my uncle had given me a shag bag and I have had all sorts of people give me all of their old golf balls so I went through them and filled the bag with 60 of the best balls. My lil guy always wants to help so as I was marking them, to make it easier if other golfers were using the pitching facility, gave him some gloves and a big blue sharpie and had him make 2 circles around the balls. Kept him busy for 2 hours and he had a blast.

So anyhoot, I go back to the car, grab the shag bag and head over to the pitching area. Wow, nobody down there and total shade. I have been going and doing this 2 to 3 times a week for the last 2 weeks and everyone stays up in the heat, driving into the sun and I have been pretty much the only one down there every time. Its awesome.

I dump out he 60 balls and do my PW. Pick them up and if I have more than 10 that are not on the green, I do the club over. I then do my 52*, follow the same rules and then on to the 60*. I will venture into the tall grass and hills, both right and left lies, under the trees and hot the trap from flat to 3' and then to 6'. For those shots I take 15 shots and if good, I move on, if not so good, I do again. This has been very helpful to my shooting and a lot of fun. Just yesterday I finally dropped one from 40'. Actually its the only one I have ever dropped while practicing there, have hit the sticks many times, just never dropped one in. I was happy.

Having a facility like this available to you is great. It is so much better than your average driving range with just the stalls with mats and sometimes a grass section to use your irons.

3 more weeks and then I an on vacation. Going to hit a par 3, then do 9, then play 18. Hope all this practice pays off. This will be my first time hitting any course this year. Wish me luck!!!


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