How to Practice Golf at Home
[8 Step-By-Step Drills]
To ensure that you’re completely ready for the next round on the course, we have compiled step-by-step drills on how to practice golf at home that will keep your golf skills sharp. We have made sure to target all aspects of golf, from putting, chipping, and perfecting your swing – this way, you can rest assured that your overall performance will increase, and your handicap will decrease.
We have divided the various drills into categories so that they’re easy to navigate through. Feel free to focus on individual categories or mix and match depending on your needs.
General Drills
These general drills will keep you in shape and teach you how to practice golf at home. They’ll also help with those essential golf fundamentals that you may otherwise lose.
Start and Stop Drill
Skills Improved: Balance, controlling weight, driver play
Equipment Needed: Golf club (driver)
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Easy
This simple driver drill is especially important for beginners and anyone who needs help with balance. This consists of swinging without actually hitting a target
- Swing your driver and imagine hitting towards a target while doing so
- Start your backswing slowly, but pause for a few seconds when the shaft of the club is parallel to the ground
- Continue with your backswing and pause again when the club is pointing to the sky
- Proceed with your backswing and pause when you reach the top
- Begin your downswing, stopping just prior to impact
- Finish the swing, making sure you follow through and complete the circle of your swing motion
This drill addresses problems with balance and allows golfers to realize which part of the swing they need to work on. It also helps with driver play and overall form.
Swinging A Towel Drill
Skills Improved: Swing, tempo
Equipment Needed: A bath towel (opt for a thin bath towel for better results)
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Easy
When thinking about how to practice golf at home, this is the first drill that comes to mind. Especially great for beginners, this requires no equipment – just a thin bath towel.
- Roll up the bath towel length wise
- Tie a knot at one end of the towel
- Use the towel as a golf club, with the knot serving as the club head
- Take 25 full swings with a 5-10 second interval between swings
Because the towel obviously isn’t as sturdy as a golf club, it’s important to move it slowly and steadily. This will help to impart a more controlled tempo when swinging your golf clubs. Once you get the hang of it, you will feel more confident in the tempo of your swing. Next time you’re on the golf course, ready to swing your golf clubs, try to remember how it felt to swing with the towel.
Credit Card Grip Drill
Skills Improved: Chipping, grip
Equipment Needed: Golf club, two credit cards
Space Required: Any space will do
Difficulty Level: Easy
Grip is something every golfer has struggled with at one point or another. This at-home golf drill can help fix your grip using only two credit cards and a golf club.
- Put a credit card against the soft skin between your thumb and index finger in each hand
- Use pressure between the thumb and index finger to hold onto the credit cards
- Keep the cards in place while gripping your golf club, using your favorite grip (Interlocking, Overlapping, or Ten Finger)
- With all three items in your hands, the credit cards should be parallel to each other and the grip on your club perfect
- Get used to this grip and see it benefit you in the rounds to come
Chipping Drills
Mid and high handicappers, these drills are for you. Practice your chipping skills and watch as you save strokes. With these at-home drills, there’s no excuse for not improving your chipping game – practice these every day to see a big difference in your short game.
Coin Chipping Drill
Skills Improved: Chipping, aim, accuracy
Equipment Needed: Plastic coins or poker chips, wedges
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Medium to hard
Chipping coins allows you to make your chip shots more precise and improves accuracy.
- Place plastic coins on grass or a turf mat and start chipping away
- For a bigger challenge, try and chip the coins into a cup
- Try and beat your score and at the same time, master the art of accurate chipping.
We recommend using plastic coins or poker chips for this drill since metal coins can damage your clubs!
Coat Hanger Chipping Drill
Skills Improved: Chipping, grip
Equipment Needed: Golf Club, plastic coat hanger
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Medium
This is another excellent at-home chipping drill because the only items you need are a golf club and plastic coat hanger. Using a hanger will allow you to understand how to work your hands and wrists function during chipping.
- Place the hanger on the left side of your grip (if you’re right handed)
- Grip the hanger and the club as normally as you can with the bottom of the hanger parallel to the club
- Make sure the hanger is touching the end of your left wrist and swing
- Keep swinging and make sure that the hanger does not stop touching your wrist
If the hanger breaks contact with your wrist at the end of the swing, you’ll know you’re doing the drill incorrectly. This drill helps keep your hands passive and in line with the hanger, which in turn will improve your chipping greatly.
Chipping to a Spot
Skills Improved: Chipping, aim, power distribution
Equipment Needed: Golf club, golf balls, towel, plastic/paper cup
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Easy
Chipping to a spot is one of the most popular golf drills out there, and for good reason. This drill ignores the hole and allows golfers to focus on a target. The purpose of the drill is to hit the target without bouncing and help you with power distribution.
- Place the towel on the ground 1-3 yards from your chipping area. The towel will be your target.
- Place golf balls on grass or a turf mat and start chipping. Aim to hit the towel without bouncing the golf ball first
- Repeat this until you’ve hit the towel 3 times in a row
- Move the towel to a different location (still within 1-3 yards of your chipping area) and repeat Steps 1, 2, and 3.
Putting Drills
If you’re trying to lower your handicap, the best way to achieve your goal is through putting drills. Amateurs forget that putting is one of the most important parts of golf, and instead, grab their driver for practice. Ditch that driver and start working on your putting skills.
In his autobiography, Tiger Woods stated, “I’m at least as captivated by putting as I am the full swing. That’s why I practice putting so much.” When figuring out how to practice golf at home, channel your inner Tiger Woods by practicing these putting drills and watch as your score steadily drops.
Three-Footer Streak
Skills Improved: Control, Putting, Short game
Equipment Needed: Putter, golf balls, paper/plastic cup
Space Required: Open space
Difficulty Level: Easy
This drill is simple, but effective.
- Set up a makeshift green with a cup acting as the hole
- Stand 3 feet away and try to sink as many putts in a row as possible
- We recommend starting with 5 putts and then slowly move onto 10
- Repeat the process from 4 feet away
- Repeat the process from 5 feet away
If you fail to sink the putts, you have to start all over again from three feet. All of this practice is integral in perfecting your short game.
The Ladder Drill
Skills Improved: Speed, Putting, Control
Equipment Needed: Putter, plastic/paper cup, stick or marker, golf balls
Space Required: Flat, open space (carpet will do just fine!)
Difficulty Level: Medium
If you’re looking to improve your putting skills as well as improve on speed and control, the ladder drill is perfect for you. Not only is it effective, but it can also be fun – especially when you’re competing to beat your own scores!
- Use a plastic or paper cup to act as a target hole and place it 30’ away
- Put sticks or markers 20’ away and 10’ away
- Place 5 balls in front of you and start putting
- Hit the ball past the 10’ mark but make it stop before the 20’ mark
- Continue hitting balls and aiming slightly farther every time
- If you’re successful, the balls will line up like a ladder
This drill helps golfers vary the speed of their putts and learn how to control them. Once you get the hang of it, you can even try it backwards or try to hit the ball shorter every time instead.
Final Thoughts
Not having access to the course shouldn’t be an excuse to let your skills slide – you now know how to practice golf at home. By taking a few minutes every day, you will not only maintain your skills, but vastly improve them. The next time you’re playing a round, you’ll be sure to see a difference.
We hope you found this guide useful – if you did, consider checking out our article on Golf Club Distances!
– GOLF MAMBA OUT
