Instruction

The caddie-inspired range ball routine this tour winner uses before every round

July 13, 2023
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If you're a range rat you know the feeling. You've got a round upcoming but you're not quite at your best, swing wise. So you begin to up the pace, hitting more and more range balls as you desperately — frantically — try to fix your swing.

Billy Horschel is a heavy practicer. One of the hardest working players on tour, when it comes to the driving range. But before rounds, that good quality can backfire. He can get lost hitting too many balls. All that does is leave himself sapped of energy, short of time, and full of swing thoughts.

So as Horschel explained to the DP World Tour before his first round at the Genesis Scottish Open, his caddie at the time Scott Vail (who is now on Keegan Bradley's bag), began arranging his golf balls in small groupings.

"I know that with this setup I hit [40] balls, and it's going to take me about 25 to 30 minutes to hit all my golf balls," he says. "I'm always on track. I'm not going to get lost in time."

Horschel says he does it "the same way every time." Here's how it breaks down...

Billy Horschel's 40 ball warmup routine

  • 5 balls lob wedge
  • 5 balls sand wedge
  • 5 balls gap wedge
  • 5 balls 9 iron
  • 5 balls 6 iron
  • 3 balls 5 wood
  • 3 balls 3 wood
  • 5 balls Driver
  • 2 balls 7 iron
  • 2 balls PW

It's a simple, clever way of providing him a sense of structure and routine. Something maybe the rest of us should try, too.

Also, notice how many shots he hits with his wedges and short irons? It goes back to the 68 percent rule which is a big key to better practice, and you can read more about here.