Because Noah’s Ark would have been a more suitable mode of transportation on local golf courses than the traditional golf cart in recent weeks, chances are most golfers are itching to get back on the course and take their requisite hacks at trying to break 80, 90, or even 100.

Before running to the first tee and leaving a trail of divots for everyone to follow, perhaps it would be best to spend some time at the range .

Many weekly, semi-weekly, or bi-weekly golfers, will run down to the range for answers to all of the prayers they have offered to the golf gods.

“This time,” some say, “this time, I’m going to hit five buckets of balls, and, well, we all see what practice does for the pros, so the more I practice, the better I’ll get.”

A golfer that hits 10 buckets of balls is no better off than one hitting one or two, if those 10 buckets are all hit badly.

“It’s good to hit a lot of balls if you’re getting something out of it,” said Fox Ridge Director of Golf Bob Darling. “If you’re night after night after night coming down to the range, and hitting out to the right, hitting those little cut shots, that’s not going to do you much good. You have to have some focus on what you’re trying to do, not just come down and hit 500 balls because Jack Nicklaus used to hit 500 balls.”

And thanks to the rain-induced layoff, most golfers will be heading to the range with muscles wound tighter than your golf ball of choice. That, too, is important to note.

“It’s just like every other sport that you don’t play for a while,” said Darling. “You use every muscle in your body. If you come out and start swinging driver all day, you’ll probably be sore the next day. It’s good to do some stretching, though, nothing too fancy, but you have stretch out.”

If you’re like most golfers, and perhaps in order to give yourself a psychological boost, the first club that seems to see the light of day is the driver.

Not a good move.

Honestly, if you are having driver problems, the best place to start may be with your irons. The shorter the club is, the easier it is to control, thereby giving the average golfer a tempo by which to judge the rest of the day’s swings.

“You don’t have to go out and hit five shots with your sand wedge, then five shots with your pitching wedge and just work right on up,” said Darling. “Just to loosen up, though, you need to start with a low club, and what I like to do is to work on something specific. Most people will come and tell you that they want to hit their driver straight, but the irons, the irons are fine, don’t mess with those. The truth is that if you are doing something wrong with your driver, chances are you’re doing it with your irons, too.”

Frustration, meanwhile, is more evil than the gopher from the Caddyshack movies.

The range is a place for practice. Your ball will not fly perfect and straight and long every time. If it did, you would be the subject of this column and not a reader.

And have a purpose. Start with your set-up, and move on from there. Execution is one thing, but you can hit the ball pure all day and still knock fishermen off boats in the lake next to the third fairway with a good swing.

“Set-up is really the key,” said Darling. “It’s mostly just set-up and how rigid people get during the setup and/or how much you can practice the proper setup, like the guy I was just talking about (that hits 500 balls at a time). If he was down here just concentrating on working with his setup, he probably wouldn’t have to spend as much time as he thinks he needs to here, and he could get out on the golf course and try to get some work in there.”

The course?

Oh right, a golf course. I’ll have Noah drop me off there (with a couple of birdies, of course) this week. For now, it’s off the the range.

Justin Pelletier is a staff sports writer. He can be reached at [email protected]