Although more and more golf courses across the country are opening their doors, you should still be thinking about creative ways to practice in your home. These times might be unprecedented, but being away from the golf course for an extended period of time is nothing new (winter, anyone?). With that in mind, it’s important to keep your game sharp even when manicured fairways and pristine greens are unavailable.
To help you get the most out of your time away from the course, we’ve enlisted the help of professional golfer James Nicholas to give us some drills to work on for our Home Practice series. Today’s drill is a simple routine you can do at home to dial in your putting stroke. Watch the video above or read below for more.
For this drill, all you need is your putter, two cups, a few golf balls and one other club. Start by setting up the cups two to three inches apart from one another six feet out in front of you. You can place them closer together if you want added difficulty with the drill.
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Next, put your iron on the ground parallel to your feet with the clubhead facing the right cup. Put a ball down and address the ball while trying to get the toe of your putter as close to the shaft on the ground as possible.
“The grip on one of these clubs gradually gets bigger, so it’s going to let you take the club back on a naturally inside arc, which you should be doing,” Nicholas says.
If you address the ball too far away from the shaft on the ground, you won’t get this feedback. As long as you get the toe lined up properly and close to the clubhead, you will get that gradual arc on the way back.
“The goal of this drill is to stroke this ball while keeping the putter head as close to that grip as possible,” Nicholas says.
If you want to make the drill even harder, take a putter headcover and place it inside the heel of your putter at address to create a gate for your putter head to swing through.
“The tighter the gate, the harder this drill is going to be,” Nicholas says.
Set a goal for yourself on number of putts you can roll through the cups and work your way up as you get more comfortable. If you do that, you’re sure to improve your stroke.
Check back tomorrow for more from our Home Practice series.
