BigJem1103:
WGT
We desperately need a driving range. Mapping balls is an ongoing issue and trying to do it on one of the courses is to say the least, a royal pain. We really need a driving range. No wind to deal with. Choose our clubs and our balls and not worry about the area around us affecting our shots.
Please consider this. It is way over due
The first hole at Kiawah is a great place to map your ball with all of your clubs from the tee (other than wedges). Go to practice mode with low wind and the fastest green your practice mode will allow. Start the practice session only when the wind is blowing at 45 or 15 minutes. You may have to keep restarting the round until the wind is right. 0-2 mph is ideal but is rare to find going in those directions. Once you have your tee shots mapped move on to fairway mapping. You can map 3i down to wedges from the fairway. Always map from fairway to green. Not fairway to fairway, otherwise you are defeating the purpose. You may have to restart the round at some point if you run out of shots.
I map my 3i from around 220 yards out. When I’m finished with that club I pitch up to get in range with the next iron. And so on. Once you are at the green you can start mapping your short game. Pitches, chips, flops, etc. This is where the green speed is important. Some map everything on 10.0 speed and then adjust accordingly in a game depending on what the green speed is.
Once you are confident all of your numbers are correct then move on to the Back 9 of Bethpage to map your 3w. Set the wind and green conditions the same. When you get to the 12th hole hopefully the wind is headed the way you want it. It seldom is so I adjust mentally on each shot. Drive to the far right of the fairway to give you plenty of room to the green. If you hit the rough just pitch out to the fairway. From here you want to map your 3w from fairway to fairway and then move up to map from fairway to tee.
This is a very limited reply on how to map clubs but the fundamentals are here. Take this and apply it to bunker and rough mapping from all lies. Mulch, fescue, brush, hard sand, etc... There are no limitations except what time permits.
As you can see, there really is no need for a driving range because it wouldn’t serve the purpose you are looking for if you really want to improve your game.
Hope this helps.
~ Tony
Edit: Basically you are ball mapping not club mapping unless you upgrade your clubs. So if you change to another ball you will need to remap.
To do it right, expect to go through about 10 sleeves of balls.