Water range

[superduper]

has anyone been to of those driving range where you hit balls into a large pond?   Why would anyone build something like this? (it's not cost effective because you need a raft to pick up the balls and takes longer to find the balls). 

 

I notice the floating balls is kinda lighter.... how much shorter do they fly from a good golf ball (Prov1, Bridgestone e6)..... ???

[banacek303]

That'd be fun in winter when it's frozen.

[MattF]

First time I saw it was in Florida this past February. The wind would push the balls to a certain point in the pond and they could scoop them out with a net.

 

In terms of warm up, I thought it was a great idea, no so much if you wanted to work on your distances.

[fozcycle]

Several clubs have water ranges.......I really dont like them because you cant judge the distance well as you skip over the water.  However, it does provide full range of motion practice.

 

My Nephew lived at an aparrtment complex in Tampa that had a water range for it's Residents.

[Kenny B]

I've hit on two water ranges; one in Naples FL, and the other at the Coeur d'Alene resort in N. Idaho.  Naples was a long time ago and memory is not too good, but I thought that the balls at Coeur d'Alene felt pretty close to most balls on any other range.  They have island targets at specific distances just like at a normal range.  I am not sure but they may account for the distance loss in the setup of the targets, because it seemed that the yardages weren't all that bad.  And remember... range balls at normal driving ranges don't fly as far as regular balls anyway.

[revkev]

As Foz said they are common place in Florida.  The pond is normally a retention pond not only for the course but also for the associated housing development.  I'm not a fan of them and have never used one for practice purposes, only for warm up.  I haven't a clue in regards to distance differences.  Many more courses have ranges with restricted flight golf balls, I'd suspect that the floating ones are similar. 

 

My course has full range balls and I don't even especially like those for practice but have no alternatives.  We share a range with a high end daily fee facility so I'm sure that's why we have the balls that we do - When I lived in Wisconsin you could go to Black Wolf run or Whistling, pay a daily fee ($10 at the time) and they had pro level Nike Practice balls.  I'm sure Bayou would do that if it weren't a shared range.

[sp0rtsfan86]

I've played on one. There's no getting your distances, because the balls are designed to float. It is cool to aim at the water and not have any fear though. Plus I think there was a fountain in the center everyone was aiming at. Hitting it felt great.

[DarthGolfer]

Ever since that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets excited to hit balls into the ocean, I've always wanted to try it. It does seem relaxing and fun, but probably not good for the ocean...

[Kanoito]

Ever since that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets excited to hit balls into the ocean, I've always wanted to try it. It does seem relaxing and fun, but probably not good for the ocean...

I was once in a cruise ship with a driving range on deck hitting balls into the ocean. The balls used were made of some kind of organic material that decomposes safely into the water. At least that's what the guy in-charge told us

[sp0rtsfan86]

Ever since that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets excited to hit balls into the ocean, I've always wanted to try it. It does seem relaxing and fun, but probably not good for the ocean...

Did that once in Daytona. Hit about 6 balls into the ocean. Fun times. Had no idea though it was illegal until years after when I told the story to a sherriffs officer/ beach patrol.

[apprenti23]

Had a buddy who went to one, brand new driver, head flew into water. Went back to the counter where he was shown a large sign stating "not liable for clubs that end up in water." Think it was a super quad he had reshafted and the head went bye bye.

 

Never gone to one, but there is one by my house... Hmmm maybe I'll go there today?