borntobesting:
No generic driving range would show you lets say that a drive with full back spin would clear the big tree on # 4 @ CCC or Big tree on # 5 or #10 @ Olympic. Or a drive with full topspin would go under the big tree on #5 @ Olympic. Those you just have to learn on the course during play.
In real life there are mainly 3 reasons people go to a driving range.
#1 to loosen up before a round. Here there is no need to loosen up.
#2 to work out a kink in their swing. Here our swing is a good as it is going to get. No matter how many shots you might hit on a driving range it is not going to improve your ability to hit the ding.
#3 to get rid of some frustration by busting the ball a hard as you can. Here if i'm frustrated I just sign off for a while.
In short a generic driving range would be in my opinion a waste of WGT's resources that could be better spent else where.
i agree with your points, but only to an extent .. here are mine:
1. a driving range with target greens spread out over intermittent distances serve a lot of purposes:
A) testing of new equipment & how they behave with diffirent balls
B) practising shots with balls of choice under various wind conditions; said conditions which players can determine themselves
2. i usually play a practice hole or 2 to "loosen up" my trigger finger when i'm using the Burners .. i think this is valuable & some might prefer doing this instead of playing a practice round or hole
3. call it a testing range then rather than a "driving range" .. i know that, speaking for myself, i will use such a range before i play a ranked round .. every time
4. this request will not go away .. it keeps on being asked for; not only by starter players, but by more experienced players also ... it doesn't have to be fancy or photoreal, just a range with say at least 5 target greens at +- 50yd intervals up to 250yds ... how hard could that be ?
5. it will benefit WGT in terms of equipment rental & ball sales if a player chooses to test or practice equipment using their balls of choice; as i would do
6. it becomes a simplified atlernative to playing practice rounds; especially to those who want to practice approach shots at diffirent distances under a variety of conditions
and i can carry on .. but i think these are reason enough