Randy Joyner believes golfers can make their game worse before reaching the first tee. His argument challenges conventional pre-round preparation, but the distinction between warming up and fixing a swing is what makes his advice worth hearing. What if your driving-range session is the reason you start your round with doubts instead of confidence?

That is the question raised by Randy Joyner, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based PGA professional and PGA Tour coach. He believes golfers spend too much time trying to fix their swings when they should be preparing to play.

In an appearance on The Pursuit | Chasing Golf Greatness, Joyner questioned the value of conventional range practice. He argued that golfers cannot fully learn to play the game in an environment that lacks the demands of an actual course.

It’s all about the golf shot. And the golf shot right in front of you is the only thing that matters right now. And it’s always gonna be different. That’s why what’s out to our left right now is a driving range, and I can’t stand them. Because it’s not golf. Twenty-six acres out there, and anybody can hit it in 26 acres, and there’s no consequence, and it’s dead flat, like hitting it off this table,” he said.

“How you learning anything doing that? Well, I’m working on my golf swing. Okay, but you’re never gonna have any of this. Yeah. It’s always gonna be different. So what are we doing? Let’s just go play. Let’s learn how to play the game. Because this is the only sport that is not learned on the field to play that drives me literally insane.”

Joyner’s criticism centers on the difference between hitting golf balls and playing golf.

A typical driving range offers a flat lie, a wide landing area, and few consequences for a poor shot. Golfers can hit dozens of balls with the same club and repeat the same motion. As a result, they might judge their session by how consistently they strike the ball.

The course presents a different challenge. Each shot comes with its own target, lie, distance, and potential consequences. Golfers must choose a club, assess the situation, and commit to a shot without knowing exactly how the ball will respond.

Joyner argues that practicing a swing in a controlled environment does not automatically prepare golfers for those decisions.

His Tour Techniques coaching philosophy reflects that approach. The company says it takes players from the range to the course as quickly as possible. This emphasizes the importance of learning to perform in actual playing conditions.

For Randy Joyner, the objective is to develop golfers who can manage the game they bring to the course that day, rather than depend on a perfect swing.

Joyner’s argument also addresses golf’s mental side.

Imagine a golfer who normally plays a fade but begins hitting draws during a pre-round warm-up. The unexpected ball flight might appear to be a technical problem. This could prompt the player to search for a swing correction before the round has even started.

That reaction can create a chain of doubts.

The golfer begins worrying about whether the usual shot will be available, how the ball might behave on the opening hole, and whether the unfamiliar flight will damage the scorecard.

Instead of entering the round focused on the first shot, the player arrives at the tee thinking about everything that could go wrong.

This is where Joyner’s emphasis on the shot in front of the golfer becomes particularly relevant. The task is to assess the current situation and make the best available decision.

Joyner has been a PGA Professional since 1999 and a PGA Tour coach since 2008. He also played professionally on both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.

According to his Tour Techniques profile, his students have recorded nine PGA Tour victories, four Korn Ferry Tour victories, and two major championships. Those credentials give his comments considerable weight. However, they don’t prove that every golfer would benefit from the same approach.

The coach had expanded on his philosophy in a previous video.

He had argued that trying to repair a swing immediately before competition can be counterproductive. He also said that he wants students to be “done with the golf swing in an hour.” This reflects his preference for moving beyond technical instruction and toward playing.

The Derek Ernst story that explains his approach

One anecdote from Joyner’s follow-up discussion illustrates his thinking.

Joyner recalled working with Derek Ernst, the winner of the 2013 Wells Fargo Championship. Ernst was struggling with his driver on the range before a round at Quail Hollow.

Rather than offer another technical adjustment, Joyner took the driver and carried the bag instead of continuing to coach him.

Ernst then hit his opening tee shot down the middle of the fairway. Later, he asked Joyner whether he had deliberately taken the driver away.

Joyner’s explanation was simple. With only a few minutes remaining before the round, there was nothing worth trying to fix.

Joyner’s position raises an obvious question. If the driving range can be counterproductive, why do professional golfers use it before tournaments?

The answer lies in the difference between purposeful preparation and frantic troubleshooting.

A Golf Digest analysis published in August 2026 examined 256,064 range shots from 228 players across eight major PGA Tour events and championships. The data showed that professional golfers use the range extensively, but their sessions tend to follow recognizable patterns.

Scottie Scheffler, for example, devotes more than half of his warm-up shots to the shorter clubs in his bag, while Hideki Matsuyama is particularly wedge-focused. Aaron Rai takes a slower approach, averaging roughly a minute between shots.

These routines suggest that the range remains an important preparation tool at the highest level. They also challenge the idea that an effective warm-up requires hitting repeated full swings until everything feels perfect.

Randy Joyner’s criticism makes the most sense in that context. He questions the habit of using a pre-round session to rebuild a swing, not that golfers should abandon the range altogether.