I'm just coming back into the sport and I'm bringing theories from two other sports I've been involved in. Archery being the first and biggest lesson learner for me. I got into it to help with some loose tendons in my shoulder due to dislocation. I started out shooting 50 arrows for a few days then up to 100 then 200 up 500 within a few short weeks. Purpose was to develop the muscles and tighten the tendons primarily. While this worked like a champ I developed my shooting skill as well and I intended to hunt with it in the future. One thing I started from day one. I bought equipment that I intended to use both in practice and when it counted in the field. I also kept everything as I shoot in the field at the indoor range. Meaning I shot with gloves on, ball cap, selected broad heads that shot like a field point with the same gram weight tip. My arrows were never intermixed with a different batch. The spine alignment is identical, virtually every arrow was exactly the same. This is important in not just tournament environments when people shoot near perfect scores like 296 out of 300 (300 is all bulls eyes.). You don't mix different arrow weights, stiffness, straightness rating, flights etc as you will never build the proper techniques that will make you a good shooter by being consistent. You will spend more time and money trying to make up for bad habits developed by hitting something that is different every time. That's not to say I don't believe in carrying a few water balls with me for when my game is so off that I have more than a 50% chance of sacrificing a ball to a hazard. The ball is the one of the few pieces of equipment used on every shot. I feel one should try to keep it as consistent as possible.

I also learned from racing that a bunch of minor little things for improvements can make a huge difference when the separation between 1st place and 14th is a tenth of a second. I believe that a golf ball is just the start of game improvement. I think someone can improve their game much more by trying to keep everything the same and it is then easier to find corrections by not questioning the equipment so much.

When you are learning your distances and how much backspin affects your shots when they hit the green, you really need to use the balls you would use when you are trying your hardest to score low.

I like to use my laser rangefinder and take several approach shots on days when it isn't busy to really get a feel for the distances of all my irons. And range balls will never help you learn touch around the greens unless you play with rocks exclusively.

If you've ever bought an a wedge from Eidolon, they ship with a booklet describing an efficient method (SCoR I think?) to dial in your approaches and short game shots.