Simple Indoor Golf Drills

To Keep Your Game In Shape During The Off Season -

Master the three scoring clubs—the driver, the wedge, and the putter—and you’ll improve your game dramatically.

With 14 clubs to hit, golfers often have trouble deciding which part of their game to work on.

If you’re serious about working on your game, focus on the three scoring clubs. They have the greatest impact on your score.

Unfortunately, not all of us live in a climate where we can always practice outdoors. Even if we do, we don’t always have the time to go to a driving range and hit balls.

That doesn’t mean we can’t work on the fundamentals needed to master the three clubs. We just need to do it indoors.

Below are several indoor golf drills that will help you master these three clubs. They can are done in almost any location, even your office.

Putter

There are three “musts” in becoming a good putter:

1. your stroke must follow target line;
2. your putter must remain square to the target line;
3. and your forward stroke must equal (or slightly exceed) your backstroke. The following drill emphasizes these putting musts. The next drill focuses on distance control, also a key aspect of putting.

Drop two phone books on the floor. Position them far enough apart so that your putter head barely squeezes through them. Place a golf ball between the books, assume your putting posture, and make your stroke.

Use the books as a visual guide to match the lengths of your backstroke and forward stroke. Matching the lengths ensures a smooth stroke with perfect tempo. You’ll find it difficult to guide your putter between the phone books unless your stroke follows the intended putting line. If your putter strikes the side of either book, your stroke strayed off-line.

Also, mark your ball with a straight line. Set that line parallel to your target line. Marking the ball makes it easier to align the putter perpendicular to the target line at address. See if the line falls to the right or left of center as your ball rolls after impact. If it does, then your stroke may have deviated off-line or made contact with a slightly open or closed putter face.

This drill improves distance control. Set or balance a ball (or a tee turned upside down) on a penny and putt a second ball to this ball so that it touches the first, but DOESN’T knock it off the penny! This one is SUPER TOUGH! Try various distances. You should soon forget about the line and “making” the putt—distance control is everything. Rolling the ball to the target with an acceptable “sink” speed becomes second nature as you try to just touch the target ball.

Pitching Wedge

These drills can be done just about anywhere. It improves one of the most important parts of your game—wedge play.

Find about 10 feet of open floor space. Put a small towel on the floor and stand about 10 feet away. Use a short, smooth stroke, keeping your hands ahead of the clubface. Try chipping 50 balls onto the towel. Practice so the balls land on the towel, not come to rest on the towel. Start with an 8 iron, then move to a 9 iron, and then to a wedge. The more you practice the better control you’ll have over those short chips.

Next time you’re on the practice range, try the same drill. Watch how far each club makes the ball roll on the putting surface. Now you’ll have more control over your chips under different conditions. After awhile, you should be able to nestle every shot close to the pin, or sink it!

Driver

Many golfers turn their hips and shoulders simultaneously when they swing a club. Too much lower body rotation eliminates torque between the upper and lower body. Adding more backswing torque to your swing generates distance.

Sit down in a chair. Spread your feet out wide and keep them flat on the ground. Hold a 7 or 8 iron out in front of you. Hold the clubhead with one hand and the end of the grip in the other hand. Raise the club over your head and rest the shaft across your neck and shoulders. Turn your shoulders to the right. Hold this position for a few seconds. You should feel a lot of torque along your left side. The turn your shoulders back and face forward. Relax and repeat.

Many golfers use their hands and arms only when swinging the driver. They don’t rotate their shoulders, sapping power from their swing. This drill helps keep your hands, arms, and shoulders in sync as you swing back and through.

Lower yourself down to the floor onto your knees. Hold a ball between your hands and out in front of your. Start by making some small moves swinging the ball back and forth. The idea is to keep the ball in front of your chest as your arms swing and your shoulders rotate. Increase the length of your swing going back and through. As you reach the end of your backswing and forward swing, allow your arms to fold. Swing back and fold your arms. Swing down and unfold them. Swing through and fold them again.

These drills improve control of the three most important clubs in your bag—the driver, the putter, and the wedge. You can do them in your house or your garage. Each focuses on fundamentals you must master to take your game to the next level.

My good friend Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros!” and is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that was able to figure out the secrets of shooting in the 70’s on a consistent basis without quitting your day job. Jack has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.

I know he can you too.

Good Golf Practice Drills

If you’re serious about improving your golf game, then you know that you must practice your golf swing and the various golf shots that you may be confronted with.

Developing and taking the time to go through a daily golf practice drill or practice routine will go a long way to expediting the improvement of your golf score and Austad’s golf warehouse is second to none when in comes to offering a full line of golf practice equipment and training aids.

Simply playing your way to better golf may ultimately over time result in some improvement in your game, but some good golf practice drills will get you there much more efficiently.

As you are well aware, on the market today there is no shortage of golf practice equipment and golf swing aids. Many of which can be quite effective in improving your game. The key is that you have to practice

your golf swing on a consistent basis. Remember it’s not how much you practice at one time; its how often you practice that will best improve your golf game. Effective practice routines will improve your golf scores. Practice equipment, when used properly and consistently, will certainly aid in the process.

We all learn differently and when learning the golf swing, I don’t think any two people key on the same thought process. For me, purchasing a golf net to practice my swing was a huge help. With a golf net you can turn your back yard (or your basement as I did) into your own driving range. Hitting into a net allows you to take full real time swings. This allows you to actually feel the contact you make on the golf ball and work on your shot routine and tempo. Also, with a net you can work on every club in the bag.

If don’t want to (or don’t have room for a net) there are other types of golf practice equipment and training aids you can purchase such as tethered golf balls, restricted flight golf balls that will allow you to take full swings without launching a golf ball.

If your short game needs help (and who’s doesn’t) smaller chipping nets provide for some great target and accuracy practice and are easily moveable so you can vary the distances of your pitch and chip shots. For your putting practice there are a multitude of indoor putting greens and swing trackers that can check your putting line and swing path.

Of course, let’s not forget how computerization can help you with your golf practice drill. You can find computerized products that will measure and log your swing tempo your club head speed, and just about any other part of your swing.

Certainly, golf practice equipment can be an important part of your practice routine. The key here is ‘practice routine’. You have to take the time to practice. No amount of practice equipment is going to magically improve your game. It takes a commitment to improve your golf game on your part.

If you are willing to put forth a consistent effort to understand and improve your golf swing, improve yourself physically, use your golf practice equipment and swing aids wisely, and be patient with your progress, then you will begin to drop strokes from your game in no time.

Golf Tips: Correct Golf Grip

Let’s begin with the first physical connection that happens when you prepare to execute a golf shot.

You reach for and grab a golf club. And hence the golf grip is born! Perhaps not a proper golf grip… but you do have a hold of the club at least.

It seems that so little attention is given to such a large influence of (ultimately) your golf shot.

Developing and getting comfortable with a proper golf grip early on is essential to making consistent golf shots.

Quite simply, your golf grip is the foundation of your golf swing and as such we not only want to see a proper golf grip, but a comfortable one as well.

It’s important to develop an aesthetically neutral grip that doesn’t feel as though you need to make additional adjustments during your swing.

The prototypical golf grip is one where the ‘V’s formed between the index finger and the thumb of each hand end up pointing toward your right shoulder (right handed golfer). If someone is standing directly across from you they should be able to only see the first two knuckles of your left hand.
golf grip the golf grip

Most all lower handicap golfers will not have these said ‘V’s pointing very far off from this position. Variations of this ‘neutral’ position will affect the flight of the ball.

For instance, moving your left hand ‘V’ further toward your right shoulder is known as a ‘strong’ grip position and with such you’ll have more of a tendency to cause more rotation through impact and as a result, more of a tendency to hook the golf shot.

Side Note:
My good friend Jack Moorehouse is considered one of the best golf guru’s in the country and he’s here to help you with his best-selling golf eBook, “How to Break 80… And Shoot Like the Pros.”

I have talked him into not raising the price of his book for me, as he stated he would, so I want you to hurry and get this gem while it’s still half price.  It’s jam-packed with easy and simple golf drills, strategies and advice that will quickly improve your distance, accuracy and handicap.

However, for now and early on, we want you to get comfortable with basic or neutral positioning of your hands in the golf grip.

Get comfortable with this grip and use it as your foundation. Don’t experiment early on with weak and strong grips. We want a foundation or a baseline from which you can work. And certainly, don’t attempt to make radical adjustments to your grip in order to compensate for some other flaw in your golf swing. Stay with the basic grip.

Overlapping golf grip vs. the interlocking golf grip; the lion’s share of golfers today use an overlapping golf grip (otherwise known as the Vardon style). Some players still prefer the interlocking golf grip. No matter your preference, again, let’s keep the hand positioning neutral and build the rest of our swing around a good solid grip.

As far as grip pressure goes, I think the best description I have heard is that you want to grip the golf club as though you are holding a baby bird… not so tight that you will injure the bird… yet firm enough that the bird can’t fly away. Tight grips and muscles restrict flow and movement, while too relaxed muscles offer no control.

In summary, a proper golf grip will reduce your tendency to slice your golf shot. A proper golf grip will help produce a square clubface at impact.

Work to establish a firm but relaxed golf grip when it comes to the pressure you apply to the club.

Establish a good comfort zone with yourself using a neutral grip (your ‘V’s pointing somewhere between your chin and right shoulder).

Experimentation with grip changes can come later once your swing falls into place. Don’t attempt to correct swing flaws with radical (and frequent) grip changes.

Early on work to accept the feel of the proper golf grip by simply taking the time to grip the club and do some mock swings… no golf ball involved here… just learn to love that golf grip!

Golf-Weight Shift

To get the proper distance on your golf shot while keeping your rhythm and timing in place, you have to execute the proper golf weight shift.

In fact, the improper golf weight shift is the cause of a myriad of shot problems not the least of which is a lack of distance.

Golf Weight Shift: Right Foot / Left Foot Drill

Select one of your mid irons and assume an address position with your feet about shoulder width – no further apart than that. Begin by slowly executing your swing. After several practice swings this is what I would like you to do.

As you take your backswing, I want you to lift your left foot slightly off the ground. Then, as you initiate your downswing, place your left foot back on the ground and as your swing transitions through the shot, and you begin to follow through make sure your weight transitions to the left foot by now lifting your right foot slightly off the ground.

If you initially struggle with this drill it will indicate to you that you aren’t executing your golf weight shift properly.

Note: for this drill you are not actually hitting golf balls. Rather I want to get you to comfortably and rhythmically work your golf weight shift from the right foot to the left foot…. right foot/left foot – right foot/left foot and so on until it becomes a natural movement incorporated into your golf swing.

As your foot work and weight shifts improves you’ll begin to gain much greater consistency in your golf shots and you’ll also notice much more effortless distance in your golf shots. In essence you are learning, and building tempo. Tempo is executing your backswing and downswing in the same rhythmic motion.

This drill is also an extension of your tempo building from the previous drill.

As you begin to get the hang of the golf weight shift you will be well on your way to playing better golf because now (along with what I’ve covered for you so far) you are beginning to understand and feel how all of this is coming together to provide you with a great foundation from which to work and to build your swing upon.

Continue the good work and continue to play better.

Remember it’s practice that makes permanent.

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