[JPsuff]

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Years ago, I was a big-time practicer. My shag bag as well as my clubs and a pair of spikes was always in my car and most days, after work, I'd head down to the schoolyard and empty that shag bag maybe 3 to 5 times before sunset (it held 50 balls). I'd pace off all of my yardages and depending on what schoolyard I went to, I could hit everything from wedges to full driver as well as setting up just about any lie I could ever imagine dealing with. For sand practice, I'd use the long jump pit down by the track. Other nights I'd go play nine or maybe go to a course and practice putting for a few hours and when I worked at one job and my hours were 6:00AM to 2:30PM, I was off to Bethpage for 18. Back then, I was hovering around a 2 handicap from the tips at the Red Course at Bethpage and to a 5 or so on the Black (regulation tees) and in addition to all the practice time, I'd play as much as 72 holes on a weekend and never under 36 unless it was raining.

These days, I'm lucky if I play one round a week and get out to the local driving range twice a week (usually it's just once, the day before I play). It's all artificial everything and of course there are mats, but their mats are pretty lush and I think they give a pretty good feedback. The only problem with this particular range is that they use "Limited Distance" balls. I know this because a guy I know there is buddies with the owner. The whole range is barely 250 yds. to the net at the back and if he used "real" balls, 70% of them would end up in the woods behind. So the LD balls work OK until I start getting into long irons and woods. That's when the performance falls off dramatically.
There's another range I go to that has all the room in the world and it's a grass range too. They use "regular" balls and I can immediately tell the difference - especially with the driver and long irons.

I miss the schoolyards, but these days with soccer, lacrosse and liability issues, virtually every school has banned golf practice, so all that's left is ranges. I like the "artificial" range because it's close and it's open until 2:00AM in the summer months which is very convenient. The grass range is great and their putting green is outstanding, but the course is about a 30 minute drive from my house and of course there are no night hours.

I miss the days when all I worried about was golf and practicing golf and I miss my single-digit handicap. Right now, I'm probably playing to a 10 or 12 depending on the course and I feel like I should just pencil in an "8" before I start and just add the other number after the round. But if things work out, I may be able to get out more often and practice much more often and I know that if I could dedicate at least three days (or nights) to practice and play more than just one round a week, I'd be back down where I belong in no time.

We'll see.


-JP