I like to hit a few balls before I go out to play. If I don’t thoroughly loosen up the joints before attempting a full swing, I’m as likely to spend three weeks in agony on my settee as I am to find the middle of a fairway.
So I am no stranger to the club driving range, net, field – or whatever mess you want to call it depending on where you’re playing.
To say the facilities can be, well, variable is to state the obvious. If there’s one thing some golf clubs don’t seem to give too much of a toss about it is what players do in the minutes before they tee off.
How can I come to that conclusion? Have you tried hitting range balls recently?
I don’t suppose selling them brings that much into the coffers. Frankly, that’s no surprise given the state of the spherical objects on offer.
Why do I use that turn of phrase? Because no one in their right mind would EVER call them golf balls.
Range balls: Wouldn’t it be great if they were half decent?
Golf balls are round. Some of the things I’ve received after putting my token in the machine can’t be classed as that.
They have dimples. They are usually white, not some sort of filthy grey colour.
Those are the ones, of course, that have some discernible hue to them. Most of those I hit are covered in mud. And yet they also always seem to be soaking wet. How does that happen?
You accept a few rogue ones will get into the mix. This is not the tour. But if I grab a basket of 25 and eight of them are refurbished lake balls, six are cracked, and four look like they’ve been chewed by that Alsatian that’s always running around threateningly whenever I’m gearing up to hit (never look them in the eye), I’m not going to ease any tension in my swing.
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Look, I’m not trying to reshape my game in the half hour before a monthly medal. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to hit something at least half decent?
I’ve enough scorch marks on my clubs from striking the rock that’s been there since the days of the old Dunlop 65 to know that’s not what we’re being offered week-to-week.
Sort it out. I know range balls cost money. I know some clubs have probably got better things to spend their limited budgets on.
But think of it as giving the members a little bit of TLC. And then perhaps they’ll find a few more people frequenting what has become the desert plain of a club.
Now have your say
Are you constantly despairing at the lack of quality in range balls? Let our Angry Club Golfer know in the comments below or you can send him a comment on X.
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