Are you are talking about "warm up" as opposed to "practice"? I treat them as two distinct and different things. Stretch and warm up before a round has me going up through the bag but I usually just do every-other club with the irons, some days even numbers and some days odd. I don't want to get too tired before I even get on the course. Practice sessions are either right after playing a round or on a separate day where I would not be playing. Those sessions are usually focused on one specific area of my game and might be just wedges, or just a few mid-irons, or just the driver. Usually focusing on corrective actions using drills. As for alignment sticks, yes, I use them in both practice and warm up sessions. I just try to avoid getting too focused on swing mechanics in a warm up or I will be fighting it all day. I just try to see what's working that day and take it to the course and factor that into shot selections to get the best score possible that day.

More of practice I treat them deferent too but I wanted to see some deferent practice routines fellow players and I love the practice after a round I never tried that gotta try it next round you gave me such a great idea like if I didn’t do so good on a hole make a note of the club I was using sound I love it … little things like that is awesome thanks for the comment

Sounds like your routine is a good one. Mine all depends on the weather outside. If it is June-August in Charleston, SC, my range time is very limited. I do not count the number of balls and I do always hit every club. I usually work on a wedge and always my nine iron, seven, five, one hybrid, fairway and driver. Until I get a good feel until I hit two or three great shots on my target. I usually find a target with my Bushnell rangefinder and for each club I will be working with. Then I go to the putting green to work on the money club and do some chipping/pitching. I do not set a time limit. When my body says stop, I do. I am 75 and just cannot go as long as I use to. My game is about alignment, feel and tempo. When I get those three elements worked out with those three parts of my game I go home and take a hot shower. It is all about the individual and works best. Main thing is not to over do it and work on what needs improvement, not just hit golf balls.

There is always some active stretching (5-10 min) in the car park prior to my pre-game warmup in the driving range.

Pre-game warmup routine in the driving range (25 shots)

8i 1-5: check backswing positions (slow)
8i 6-10: different flights/targets
6i 11-15: different flights/targets
H 16-20: different flights/targets
D 21-22: check backswing positions (slow)
D 23-25: 'maximum' speed

This routine may change slightly depending on the golf course. I..e., the course determines the clubs in my bag that I will be mostly using.

If I go to the driving range to work on my game, I go there with a particular objective and this may entail a drill that I will work on. Apart from that, I always like to dial in my wedges after I have successfully accomplished my goal for the day.

I love it great routine

I am a big fan of watching what pro's do, check out Tommy Fleetwood's routine

www.youtube.com/watch

I would recommend some dynamic stretches or a brisk walk before hitting balls. Maybe it is my 62 years, but getting the blood flowing first really helps. A few swings with the Orange Whip to help me loosen up and check my tempo.

Then I start with a 5 iron, move up to a couple of hybrids, some drivers and then an 8 iron and a couple of wedges. With all the clubs I am always picking a target area, the target area getting more narrow the shorter the club.

Then I will play the first couple of holes on the range hitting the clubs I will hit on the course. It is almost like a football offense scripting the first few plays, for me it paints a good mental picture.

I like starting out with partial swings. If you cannot make solid contact on partial swings - what makes you think you can do it on full swings?
Practice = Only focusing on 1-2 things at a time. Most of the time I only use something like a 9 iron and 5 wood for most practice swings. Then some wedge work - again partial shots and distance/trajectory control.

I love to make every range session about something specific. I always go through my entire bag, but have an agenda for my time there. Standard would be short clubs to long. I leave my real short game practice to another session dedicated to putting and chipping. This is where I spend a lot of time and focus.
All in all my time practicing is put to good use and enjoyable.

Before leaving home or hotel, I try to do a little bike spinning for about 5 minutes and then some dynamic stretches with bands and some yoga. I've had both hips replaced, so no chance to start cold anymore. Once I get to the course, I'll do a little more stretching if needed (depends how far from course I am from home or hotel). On the range, I like to start with my 3 wood and just take long easy fully swings. I used to start with wedges and work my way up, but found I'd get stuck trying to hit the wedges after chunking one after the other since the whole body wasn't ready. I recall reading about Tom Watson starting with a 4 iron on the range with long easy swings...I find it really works well. After hitting about 10 balls like that, I like to play as many holes in my mind as possible for the course in order. Modern science as clearly proven that hitting one club multiple times is no where need as useful as hitting various clubs (like you would on the course). So, if the first hole is a par 4, 400 yards, I'll hit a driver, followed by a 6 or 7 iron, then a wedge. Then play hole 2, etc...Prefer to do this for about 10 minutes (total 20 minutes at this point). Then I'll hit the putting green for the final 10 minutes, starting with the clock drill from 2 feet, then 4 feet, then lag puts from 20+ feet. Then, hit the course! I was floundering around with a 12 handicap for a long time due to inconsistency. Now I'm a 7 and playing much more consistently in the low 80s, without that blow out mid 90 round once in a while...

After I'm fully stretched and warmed up, I have recently changed my driving range routine to start with my 3 wood off a tee, with long 70% speed swings. I find it gets all the parts of my body going together. Before, I used start with partial shots, or easy wedges, etc, but found I'd get in a rut since I wasn't hitting them well...then, before I knew it, I hit 20 wedges (none of them good), and didn't get to do anything I came to the range to work on. I believe I read years ago that Tom Watson would start with a 4 iron to warm up. I don't carry a 4 iron, so I use my 3 wood. I really like it now. Then, after that, it's getting to work on the 2 or 3 things I pre-planned to work on. I'll do that for about 30 minutes. Then, I always like to finish off the session with a real-world practice, i.e., play a few holes of my home course on the range, changing clubs every swing as I would on the range, lining up every shot, and not using alignment sticks. Modern science has clearly proven that hitting repeated shots with the same club does very little for your game since that's not how you play on the course. The key to improvement is changing clubs often. I was stuck at a 12 or so handicap for a long time before incorporating this method of practice. Now I'm at a 7. Was sidelined for the last few years before getting my second hip replacement (I'm 52) in April. Been playing a few rounds of 9 holes and range sessions to get back into the swing of things and this routine really helped. My distance isn't fully recovered yet, but ball striking is still good. Shot 37 the other day for 9 (par 36), and felt great. Hoping to get down to a 5 soon. Biggest hiccup has been fatigue and limitation/pain in my right hip affecting my turn and rotation. That's gone now!

I incorporated seriouswedge practice awhile back. More Justin Thomas hip control than the Pelz four position stuff. The low three quarter wedge shot cuts strokes very quickly I find.

My routine today is hitting around 1500 shots per week on the range. Each session, I now only practice full shots. When playing a round I aim away from trouble so I do not practice trouble shots or half wedges or punch shots. Every day I hit a wedge, a mid iron, a long iron, and my driver. When I can hit 10-15 balls in a row exactly where I choose, I move on to the next club. I repeat the process until my buckets are empty. Between roughly 2012 and 2014 I did not play a single round. I spent almost everyday on the range and on or around the putting green. I made my game extremely mechanical. I took detailed notes on how I personally played each shot. I know most will say that golf is mostly feel. However, when feel fails me, I have my notes to remind me of what works for me personally. Whenever I could hit the ball 10-15 times in a row exactly how I wanted, I would record the ball position in my stance (left heal, 3 inches forward of center, 1 inch back from center, etc.); how far I stood from the ball; my grip, my swing plane, my backswing, my follow through, etc. It's personal. I learned how far back to swing my wedges (or mid irons) for chipping to the cup (12, 15, 30 inch backswings to carry onto the green that included distances for carry, height, and roll). I know that a backswing of 10 inches with my 43 degree wedge will carry 10 yards and roll 10 yards and will have a height of 5 feet (I hood all my chips). I learned that if walked from my ball position to the cup and it took three paces, I could stand with three inches between my feet (each pace equaled one inch), having a putter backswing of three inches, the ball would roll three paces. I learned that I could use the putter shaft as a plumb to help read the break. I don't talk to anyone on the range either and try to avoid conversation while playing. It interrupts my concentration. Some may say Golf is supposed to be fun. To me, this is fun!!!

I work a lot on my wedge game from 40 yards to 100 yards. My process is ball position off centre and left and right and centre then working on rotation moving hands around the clock on my back swing making notes that I take onto the course. This also gives me a good indication on ball flight and release with different wedges typical session is 2 hours long and I've seen a big improvement in my ball striking and G.I.R

Just to ask, do you practice a green grass range or private course?

When I'm able to get down the range, I'll start with a couple of mins stretching. Before I hit any balls I pick out a random iron have a few swings of the club just clipping the tee peg. I'll hit a few full shots with my wedges then work through the irons, I don't tend to hit every iron and I'll mix it up a little so I might use the odds then next time the evens. I'll play a few low, then high and try to fade/ straight shots as my natural shot is a draw. I'll then go hybrid, 3 wood then driver. I like to play a little game where I make up a distance I have to a hole, hit my tee shot with whatever club I choose (I have to guess the total distance by using the markerboads on the range) then play the remaining shots into the green. I find it just gives me a bit of focus rather than just hitting balls, always good to have something to think about and for me I find it works

I usually warm up with an 8 iron 6 iron, 4 iron. Hit a few wedges and a couple of 3 woods off the turf. NEVER hit driver 'til the first tee. For me, picking my spot to drive the ball in the fairway is a positon shot and hitting my driver on the practice tee is targetless.

It really depends on the type of facility available to you. For example, the course I practice at includes two fake pins to practice chipping (up to 40 yards out), two practice bunkers, a practice green that you're allowed to chip on to (most practice greens don't allow that), plus the range of course.

So for my practice sessions this is usually my routine with average amount of shots:

- 12 pitch shots from 35-40 yards out
- 5 bunker shots
- 8 chips onto the green (doing these 3 really helps me get loosened up before going on the range)

Then I go to the range:
- a few solid contact 50* wedge full swing shots
- a few PW solid contact full swing shots
- I do this all the way down to my 5 iron (right now it's the lowest iron in my bag)
- I try to work on my consistency with all of my clubs on a limited time basis
- I then finish up on the range with a handful of 3-wood shots off the tee and Driver shots (always try to end on a good one)

At the end of my session, I walk back to the practice putting green and put for a good 10ish minutes working on my putting speed. To me, besides putting on a straight line, knowing your putting distances is very important to avoiding 3-putts!

And that's it! Might have seemed like a lot, but I can get this in with in an hour or hour and a half!

I need to get to the golf course earlier before a round.

Roll in with about 10 minutes to spare, stretch my back. Blade a couple wedges, hit a slice or 2 with the big stick and head to the tee!

One of my 2022 Golf Goals is to practice and warm up with a purpose. This article is an excellent guide for me and hopes it works for you, too.

www.golfdigest.com/.../best-range-gameplan-pre-round

Great article thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing such an interesting article.

My CURRENT Range Routine (#2-6 are in no particular order):

1. 10-minute warm-up with short pitches and full short irons. Just getting in the groove. Not worried about mis-hits.

2. 10-15 minutes of target practice at the yardage markers with wedges and low irons. Take about 1 min between shots.

3. 30-40 minutes at the chipping green. Alternate between sand and turf.

4. 10-15 minutes back at the range for more target practice with different types of shots (high/low, fade/draw) with mid/long irons. I make a game out of it. Sometimes I will close my eyes and randomly pick one iron from try to hit each yardage marker (within its distance).

5. Drive a small bucket for fun. Still keep stats on how many miss or hit my intended shot.

6. Then I like to play a couple of simulated holes allowing ample time between shots to simulate how it is on the course.

7. The Main Event: I like to end on the putting green with greenside chips and putts. I'll practice putt for about 10 minutes to see how the green is acting. I only use one ball. Then, I play a full round on the green while keeping up with my score (par 36 for 18 holes). I spend more time there than anywhere else, and I never play the same holes or from the same lie from my previous session.