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NEW GOLF TECHNOLOGY: Parking Lot Driving Range |
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PARKING LOT GOLF DRIVING RANGE: Everyone jokes about how golfers never practic e. But they don't joke about how most golfers can't break 90. The reason is obvious, most golfers don't have the time to get to a range enough to actually groove a real golf swing. Well, unintentionally, I discovered an easy way to solve this time honored dilema of access by creating my own, super convenient, home driving range within walking distance from my house. So here is a breakdown for how - why and what the benefits are of creating your own 'golf training facility' as close to home as possible. 
HISTORY OF HOW OUR FIRST DRIVING RANGE CAME ABOUT: It all started in 2002-3 as I was inventing the almostGolf ball. I would come back from a prototyping session at the factory, and sprint the 90 yards to the First Federal Bank Human Resource Training Center parking lot down the street. There I would take our new batch of balls and beat them into submission, hoping that this batch could take a punch. I knew I was inventing a new golf ball, but I didn't know I was inventing a new way to practice. Eventually this driving range became the official 'almostGolf Testing Laboratory' in Santa Monica, CA.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN GOLF DRIVING RANGE...AT HOME: The key to creating your own driving range is to first find the location. It should be at least 60 yards long to accomodate at least a 5 iron. Also make sure you have access to adjacent buildings or areas..because you will shank balls. Finally, make it convenient, because Jack Lalanne, the inventor of the modern day gym, proved that if you live too far from where you work out, you stop going and working out. So your driving range or personal almostGolf course needs to be CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT. Your range can be a park, schoolyard, parking lot, anywhere there is open area. Learn more about creating your own backyard golf course>
 THE ADVANTAGES TO CREATING YOUR OWN GOLF DRIVING RANGE: The best ways to convey the upside of creating your own golf driving range and practicing regularly is to tell you what happened to me as I walked to my parking lot nearly every day to beat my prototype balls into submission. First, I began to discover things. Then, after a while it hit me why. There was no pressure because I wasn't renting any balls. I could hit as many or as few as I wanted. As a result I didn't 'need to get my values worth' out of every ball. What that meant was that I could experiment and discover and generally just screw around if I wanted to. After all, it was my range. And I was the local pro with access to as many balls as I could shag.
I BEGAN TO DISCOVER NEW WAYS TO HIT THE BALL: I played with foot position, grip, stance. You name it, I tried it. I was learning shot making and shot creativity. I even began to understand what they were talking about on the Golf Channel Monday night teaching shows. Suddenly I found myself paying more attention to creating a consistant, repeatable swing and less on prototyping a bloody golf ball.
THE SECRET TO HITTING A GOLF BALL HAPPENED: One day, before I had even finished inventing the almostGolf ball, I hit somewhere between 3-5 crisp 7 irons in a row. They felt great and went exactly where I wanted them to go. I stood back like a guy who just walked across fire and pondered what just happened. But I was in denial. No way. This is not real. After all this is not a real golf ball. I had to go to a real driving range and put this to the test with the real Golf ball.
 OFF TO THE DRIVING RANGE: So I jumped in my car and weathered eight torturous Los Angeles highway miles to my nearest driving range. I got my tokens - balls, then tentatively walked up to my rented feeding trough, surrouned by other ball counting golfers...and proceeded to hit it like a champ! One shot after another. Even better than at home.
BUT WHY DID MY GOLF GAME IMPROVE? It hit me that I had a whole different relationship with that little pile of dimpled monsters. Unlike those around me who were thrashing and crashing their way through their bucket, I was no longer afraid of my ball. I was no longer trying to kill the thing with every swing. Basically I didn't have a bunch of ideas. I may not have known my 'yardage per club' but I could hit repeatable straight shots to the green of my choice. I was no longer intimidated by the ball because I had spent the last few months 'shooting free throws' just like basketball. I had also grooved enough of a swing so that all the various large muscles one uses to swing worked together effortlessly. So I highly suggest finding an area that you can walk to so you can hit shots. It doesn't have to be for hours either. My adage is that a bucket a day will keep the 90's away.
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Off-Course Blog 
