Best Indoor Golf Drills to Practice
Winter is just around the corner. If you live in a particularly cold state, chances are your local driving ranges and golf courses will be shut down for the season. It’s a very painful time for those who love golf to the core.
However, if you’re a new player, you can use this break from the course to improve your skills and come back stronger than ever. That’s what today’s post is intended for. We’re going to look at very simple winter drills that you can practice at home to improve your fitness as well as improve your short game.
Resource: Step by Step Golf Practice Routines + Training System
Why are these Drills Necessary?
You might feel the urge to take the winter off and have a good time with your family. While we don’t want to interrupt your fun time, we do care about your golf skills. So, we believe every player can take out a little time here and there to practice indoor drills during the winter.
There are various benefits to this. The most obvious one would be retaining your muscle memory and fitness. Golf is mostly a sport played with muscle memory. The more tricks you can teach your body, the farther you’ll go with each shot, and that too with more accuracy.
What happens when you take a break is you lose some of the sharpness of those skills. If you absolutely don’t play any golf, let’s say, for 3 months, you’ll lose some valuable muscle memory, especially on your short game.
While it’s not the end of the world, it’s always better to keep it in practice rather than going through the learning curve again. You don’t need nearly as much time to get back in shape after the first time. But why take the risk if you have the option?
That’s why we’ve created this guide as your indoor golf drills during the winter. If you’re more interested in improving and retaining your fitness during the winter, we have a dedicated post on winter golf workouts that you can check out on our website.
Best Indoor Golf Drills for Winter
Enough talking. Let’s jump right into the drills we’ve designed specifically for the winter. It means you won’t need to leave the warmth of your home for once!
Chipping Net Drill
It’s wonderful to see how affordable good quality golf accessories have become. Chipping nets are one of those. You don’t need practically any space to set this up. Chipping nets are one of those training aids that offer amazing value for the money.
To use the chipping nets, you may also want to invest in a golf mat. You can always get away with an ordinary mat but investing in a high-quality one will only help you in the long run.
The goal of this drill is to improve your trajectory in a short distance. Many players struggle to keep the direction and height in control in the short game. If you’re one of them, this drill will help you big time.
How to Perform:
- Install the chipping net in a relatively open space in your home.
- Place the mat at a comfortable distance.
- Get your favorite wedges and start chipping. This is the time when you want to experiment with different address positions and ball positions to see which one works best for you.
- Be careful not to break stuff around the house!
Follow this Indoor Golf Training Program
Chipping Coins Drills
The key to a successful chip shot is picking up the ball with the perfect divot. If you mess up the impact, you won’t be able to generate the backspin you need on the ball to cover the distance you want.
That’s where chipping coins come into play. These are specifically designed to work with wedges so that you don’t have to worry about scratching the shiny club face. You can always use regular coins as well. Just make sure to stick some masking tape on the club face.
How to Perform:
- Place the chipping coin on the mat where the ball is supposed to be.
- Start taking swings slowly to make contact with the coins and pick them up in the air.
- If you’re confident that you’ve nailed this skill, try with an actual ball and the chipping net from the previous drill.
- Keep practicing until you have absolute control over the divot. As a result, when you get back to the course after winter, you’ll notice the improvement in your short game immediately. It’s a fun little way to surprise your friends as well.
Chipping with Towel
If you think we’re relying too much on chipping, there is a very good reason behind it. You won’t believe how many players struggle with chip shots at the beginning of their golfing days. It’s one of the trickiest shots to master.
In our opinion, chipping feels hard because players don’t pick targets for the shots. You can change that with this drill we’re going to learn today. As a result, you’ll know exactly where to target the ball so that you can lower your score.
You’ll need a rolled-up towel for this drill. A small hand towel will work better than a full-sized towel.
How to Perform:
- Roll the towel on the short side and place it where you think the hole would be.
- Get back to your chipping position and target the towel as your destination.
- The closer you can get to the towel, the more chances you have to lower your score. Because you’ll be cutting your putting distance short with a longer and more targeted chip shot.
- Keep practicing until you hit the towel in the middle.
Resource: How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan
Driving Net Drill
Well, to be honest, this is not exactly an indoor drill. You’ll need quite some space for this drill to work. It works best if you have some free space in your garage or your backyard.
Basically, you’ll be investing in a driving net and installing it at your convenient location to practice the shots. Driving nets are usually quite tall and cover at least one storey of the area. Many nets have a target drawn in the middle of the net to give you an idea of how accurately you’re hitting.
The purpose of this drill is to keep your large muscles active during the winter. Although You won’t be able to see the full trajectory of the shot, you’ll have enough mobility to see how you’re holding onto your driving skills.
How to Perform:
- Install the driving net where it’s convenient for you.
- Get some distance from the net and place your mat.
- Place the ball on a tee and start swinging.
- Go all out because the net should be covering the entire pane in front of you. Unless you get very cheap nets, it shouldn’t tear.
- Practice this drill from time to time during the winter to keep your swing speed intact.
The Ball on the Wall Drill
It’s one of the most fun drills you can practice at home. It’s a posture correction drill that will also help you stabilize your core muscles for more explosive shots and better accuracy in your short game.
For this drill, you’ll need an inflatable exercise ball.
How to Perform:
- Take the ball and place it between your hips and a wall in your house.
- You’re basically putting pressure on the ball to keep it in place, which should be a few feet off the ground.
- Place the ball in front of you and perform a full swing. You can do without a real ball as well. The swing is of the essence in this case.
- No matter how you swing, the ball shouldn’t drop. You won’t master this drill overnight. But if you keep practicing throughout the winter, you’ll see a noticeable improvement in your swing accuracy once you hit the course.
Resource: Get the All Access Pass. Learn about our training programs with step by step practice drills, weekly schedules and routines to follow so you can break 90, break 80 or scratch golf. Plus access our video lesson library in addition to following the practice plans.
Impact Bag Drill
It’s one of our favorite ones. This drill has helped so many players who struggled with keeping the club face square at impact. An impact ball is basically designed to show you the position of your club face and club head at impact by pausing it mid-way.
How to Perform:
- Place the impact bag where you would normally put the ball.
- Go through your regular pre-shot routine to address it as a real shot. If you’re yet to craft a pre-shot routine for yourself, you may check this guide for pointers.
- Hit the bag with your clubs. After impact, take time to evaluate what you did wrong. Is the club face square? Did you hit where you intended to hit?
- Keep practicing and keep making small adjustments to your swing to nail the impact every time.
Final Words
Winter doesn’t always stop players from going to the course unless it’s snowed shut. If you’re one of those unfortunate players, this is the post you needed. Now, you can keep practicing and improving your skills without even leaving your home.
Golf Practice Plans to Follow
- How to Score in the 60’s Golf Training Plan
- How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan
- How to Score in the 80’s Golf Training Plan
- All Access: Get Every Practice Plan (Lifetime Membership)
Thanks for reading today’s article!
Nick Foy – Golf Instructor
