5 Drills to Improve Your Putting At Home
If you regularly work on indoor Golf putting drills at home, you can actually improve your overall putting skills instead of just trying to maintain them.
Improving your putting at home for just 15 minutes a day, a few times a week, can help to build muscle memory and create good putting habits, improving your putting stroke, improving technique and accuracy without a whole lot of effort. Improving your putting at home has additional benefits as it can help you relax and de-stress. So here is the complete guide on how to improve your putting at home.
Putting drill #1: Putt to a card or sticky note
Putting drill focus: This is a hard practice drill aimed at improving your putting distance control and accuracy from your preferred practice distance. Using a small target zone like a playing card or sticky note helps simulate the hole on a green ensuring your working on the alignment of your putter face especially from longer distances.
Putting drill Instructions: Get a playing card or a sticky note and put it on your floor or carpet, 3 feet, 6 feet, 9 feet or 12 feet away from your start line. Whatever the distance you want to practice on.
Now practice putting the golf ball with enough speed and distance that it stops on top of the card or sticky note. If it touches it and goes past it, try again until it lands on your target.
Items needed for the putting drill: Golf balls, sticky note or playing card, measuring tape (optional) and a putter
Putting Drill #2: Putt to an object
Putting drill focus: This putting drill is aimed at improving your putting distance control and accuracy from your preferred practice distance. This is one of the best drills I have used for practicing your putting at home. I spent many a year using this drill at home when I was training to become a PGA Professional. The further the distance the more focus you will need to place on hitting the sweet spot of the putter if you starting line is correct and you miss the object you’ll know you have opened or closed the putter face during this drill.
Putting drill Instructions: Mark your required practice distance from whatever length. I have a 3, 6, 9, 12 markers usually set and focus on what distance I want to practice on. Line the ball up and try and hit the object with the ball. Line your golf balls up in a circle around the object so you don’t have to keep placing them.
Items needed for the putting drill: Golf balls, tape as distance markers, measuring tape (optional) and a putter.
Putting Drill #3: Pencil putting
Putting drill focus: This putting drill is aimed at helping you improve your contact and ball glide path by finding the sweet spot of the golf ball when you putt, allowing you to form a good foundation for your putting stroke to build other techniques on.
Putting drill Instructions: Simply get a pencil or a pen of any length and position directly behind the middle of the ball. Ideally, the pencil should be aligned with a target like or a cup/glass on the carpet at home. Now position your putter directly above the pencil and go ahead and strike your putt. If the position of the putter looks and feels normal you will know you have been positioning the putter correctly prior to trying this drill. If the position of the putter behind the ball looks strange or different then more than likely you have not been addressing the ball out of the center of the putter.
Items needed for the putting drill: Golf ball, putter, pencil/pen, cup/glass
Putting Drill #4: Putting to a tee
Putting drill focus: This putting drill is aimed at helping you improve and focus on your pinpoint accuracy, as well as keep the putter face square, while also having the added benefit of allowing you to ensure this can be done at various stroke speeds by bringing various distances into this putting drill.
Putting drill Instructions: Place a golf tee upside down. Now measure a distance of 3 feet from the tee. Place a ball from the 3 foot distance marker. Now try and knock the tee over. Once your comfortable at this distance, measure out 6 feet, 9 feet,12 feet and 15 feet (or extra distances at a time you’re confident at further distances). Now focus on hitting the tee.
This drill is one of the best for getting a feel of when you’ve closed or opened the face of your putter during your stroke as your target is small and is without a doubt, a challenge to hit accurately.
Items needed for the putting drill: Golf balls, golf tee, tape as distance markers, measuring tape (optional) and a putter.
Putting Drill #5: Golf Putting Stance Practice
Lastly, we want you to improve your putting set up and your stance. This is a fundamental step to helping you make a straight putting stroke.
Have your putter sitting next to the couch and during TV shows or during commercial breaks, stand up and work on the proper putting stance set up.
Doing this for just 15 minutes per day can build muscle memory and turn into a good habit so that your putting stroke improves without a whole lot of effort.