Do you want to improve your golf but you find it difficult to get to the golf course often. With this in mind - what can you do to practice golf at home? In this article I will cover my top ways to maximize your golf progress while you are stuck at home. This is not an extensive list of 50 drills, but rather the best set of ideas to help you become better at golf. In total it will give you about an hour of focused practice. Putting skills home (20 min) I doubt anyone would deny the opportunity to be a better putter. Best home placement skills should achieve three goals: 1. Refine your placement basics. 2. Improve your stroke mechanics and accuracy. 3. Build confidence. The following drill should achieve all three. The key to this skill structure is getting clear feedback on why your putts are missed, even by 1º. After every putt you need to know is the error due to your alignment, club face or swing path. If set up correctly this skill can help you become an epic putter. Set up a target 5, 10 or 15 feet away, depending on your skill level. Use a target slightly smaller than a golf hole. You can use a Puttout pressure trainer or a drink bottle - both pictured below and working properly. The final step is to use a placement aid, club or stick alignment to get clear feedback on your swing path (pictured above is my own set up). Aim to put help on your target (using a laser if you like), then press 20 putts towards your target. For more square-to-square placement styles use a straight rail placement. If you put in an arch, choose an arch, check the pictures below to see the difference. Keep the head of the putter or the rail near to start, then move forward to use the rail more as a guide. Practicing your placement this way ensures your alignment and swing path are right for each stroke. The only variable that causes inaccurate placements is the angle of your club face by impact. If you miss leaving your club face is open. If you look for the right one it is closed. Keep hitting the putts in batches of 20 and keep track of your best score. When you reach 20 out of 20 move your target farther and repeat. Chipping at home (20 min) Even a small carpeted room can provide some great chipping skills. Below are two simple drills to master your strike, accuracy and distance control at home. 1 Chipping for strike and accuracy Take your bottle or Puttout trainer from the task put and place it 10 - 15 feet away against a wall. Take 10 balls, make a crisp strike with each other and see how many chips you can get to roll up your trainer with PuttOut or hit your target. You should give yourself a point for each. Upon reaching 10 out of 10, change clubs or move your target away. 2 Chipping for distance control Place 5 golf balls 15 feet off the wall. Chip a ball towards the wall, aiming your shot to finish half the distance (7 1/2 feet). Your next chip shot should pass the first ball, but stay out of the wall. Your next shot should be beyond your second chip shot, but stay out of the wall … this drill is very simple, but try to complete it with only 5 golf balls. This chipping drill lets you master your strike. Many golfers will speed up failed attempts. To succeed in this drill and to become a good chipper you must accelerate through impact to create a crisp strike. Golf swing drills at home Golf swing drills are an obvious way to practice golf at home but most golfers do not exaggerate their progress in golf swing drills. There are three ways you can practice your golf swing at home. 1 Golf strategy optimization (10 min) Right now the most commonly used swing drills are to improve a position or movement on your golf swing. The following is, as far as I know, the best way to help these movements move on the golf course. To get started, you will need clear feedback on when you are performing the action correctly. To help, use a mirror or widow and slowly move to the required position. Check your position in the mirror and correct if necessary. The part-training outlined above leads to an ability to swing the golf club smoothly at home, but not a good move to the scope and golf course. Once you have achieved the ideal positions five times in a row without correction, it is time to proceed with the steps below. The next step is to train your golf swing changes with a slow, continuous swing - non-stop. This is surprisingly hard to do, but it helps to link movements to your golf swing and move them into range. Again, use a mirror or window for feedback. Finally, practice your swing changes at 50 - 75% speed and work towards full speed swings. Again, you will struggle at first as the forces and feedback your body experiences change significantly with speed. In summary: 1. Positions in the master part of the skill. 2. Slow-mo full training 3. Full skill at different speeds This combination of part-rehearsal, full practice and finishing with different swing speeds is the best mix to drive swing changes when you are away from the golf course. 2 Swing drills for impact impact (5 min) Do a swing exercise using a 6-iron and stop the impact. See where the club face is pointing and the relationship between your lead arm and club shaft. I have always been amazed at how many golfers practice an impact position copying their bad shot (open / closed club face resulting in cuts / hooks, or a bad angle between the lead arm and club shaft causing false golf shots). The following drill is one of the fastest ways to start feeling a strong, neutral impact position, and translate it well into your skill and game. The practice can be performed by draping a towel on the club, like Andrew Rice below, or by pressing the club head on the corner of the wall. Start in a set-up position, then without making a backswing just press the towel against the towel or the wall. You will find that as you try to generate more force, your body will want to move to the pro tour position you see above - circular body, hands first at the club head, square club face. Train this drill effect 5 - 10 times in a row, before resting and repeating. 3 Controlling your basics (5 minutes) If you keep your grip on golf, golf posture and alignment you will rarely fall into the bad habit of swinging Mastering the basics at home is a simple way to ensure that you continue to do well. developed as a golfer. Use a mirror or window to set up what feels like your 'natural' grip and posture. Check them out against some book examples and tweak as needed. You want to train your perfect grip and posture over and over again, until you feel second nature. Practice golf with extras at home (optional) The three sections above will give you a good 1 hour home golf training session, but more importantly will help you become a better golfer. For you the real golf nerd below is some extra content. Golf fitness at home I wrote a few articles about golf fitness. Working on your conditioning will not magically make you a rubbing player, but better fitness will allow you to: swing the club better, develop more club head, exercise longer in a more effective manner and reduce the risk of injury. Golf psychology There is no getting around the fact that how we feel affects our golfing performance. Imaging is a practice of showing yourself performing a skill, such as driving, chipping, placing, without moving from your armchair. There is growing evidence to support the notion that training and imagery interventions are far more effective than mere practice. So as simple as that, spending 5 - 10 minutes seeing yourself hitting great golf shots, chips and putts over and over again is worth it, even if it offers little benefit to performance and confidence.