Club Distances

So I was just thumbing through John Daly's new book, 'Golf My Own Damn Way' yesterday when he came across club distances. He did mention that it's not easy for us to go to a golf course and just practice certain shots on some holes unless you owned a course (as he does) or had a membership to a club. He's the first pro to ever acknowledge that we just can't practice the same way pro's do.

However, he did say to go to the driving range and start hitting a bunch of balls with just one club, then track the approximate distance according to the flags. We're talking 50 swings with one club. Then move on to the next club and take note of the distance. It makes complete sense. There's just one problem, and this is the problem with pro's and pro teachers. We're hitting 3 year old golf balls that have been beaten, crushed, waterlogged, and mowed. Am I to believe that these golf balls at the local driving range are going to fly just as far as brand new Titleists? This is the frustrating part of golf and trying to get better at it. We can only know that info if we're standing on a par 3, we're given the exact yardage, and we hit 50 golf balls. But unfortunately, it's just not realistic.

I was at the driving range today, and I didn't learn a thing about my distances. There was a 30 yard discrepency depending on the ball and the wind. When will we amateurs be given affordable but necessary resources to help our game?