Drills Library
Golf instruction on YouTube is enormous and mostly repetitive. We've cut it to the drills actually worth your limited range time — organised by level, so you always know what to work on next. Save the ones relevant to your game and come back to them.
Bookmark drills below to build your personal practice plan — they'll stay saved in this browser.
Showing what a free Par account sees today. Upgrade in the app to unlock the rest — same 117 drills either way, no separate paywall on this page.
You haven't yet built a repeatable swing. That's fine. These drills build the fundamentals — putter face control, connected chipping motion, and a compact half-swing — so you have something consistent to build on before reaching for driver.
Stand upright, arms crossed on chest. Rotate shoulders 90° left and right, feeling the coil in your thoracic spine. 20 reps each direction. Keep lower body quiet.
Keep your head perfectly still — only the shoulders move. This unlocks the thoracic spine before you swing.
Hold a club across your hips. Draw large slow circles clockwise then anticlockwise. 10 reps each direction. Feel the full range of the hip joint.
Stiff hips cause early extension. 5 minutes here will improve your impact more than 30 minutes on the range.
Hold your 7-iron at address. Slowly hinge wrists straight up — no rotation — hold 2 seconds, return. Maps the correct hinge plane before your first full swing. 15 reps.
Wrists hinge straight up, not roll open. If the face opens dramatically, your takeaway plane is off.
Hit 10 balls at 50% speed with deliberate half swings. Focus only on smooth rhythm. Build gradually to 75% over the next 10 balls. Never go full speed until tempo is found.
The first 20 balls of any session are warm-up — not impressing yourself. Players who smash driver from cold rarely make clean contact in the first 6 holes.
Place two alignment sticks just wider than your clubhead on each side of the ball. Swing through without hitting either stick. 20 reps at half speed then full.
Gate drills reveal your swing path instantly. Clip the outside stick = over the top. Inside stick = too much from the inside.
Hold at a 4 out of 10 pressure throughout the swing. Hit 10 shots maintaining it consciously. Allow it to increase to 6 at impact only. Feel the difference in clubhead speed.
Most amateurs grip at 8–9 throughout — this kills lag and speed. Pressure only increases at the exact moment of impact.
Tuck a small towel under both armpits. Make full swings without either side falling. This drills the connection between arms and body rotation.
The towel falls when arms outrun body rotation. True connection means body and arms move as a single unit through the entire swing.
Place two tees just wider than your putter face, 6 inches in front of the ball. Putt through from 6 feet without touching either tee. 30 putts.
If you hit a tee, your face is open or closed at impact. Gates give instant binary feedback — the most important variable in putting.
Use your 7-iron to chip from just off the green. Ball back, hands forward, minimal wrist hinge. Land 1m on, let it run. 20 chips from 5m.
7-iron removes the loft variable and forces you to land on the green first. Once mastered, wedge chipping becomes instinctive.
Draw a circle 15cm behind the ball. Goal: enter sand at the back edge of the circle. Splash the circle out. 20 shots.
You never hit the ball in a bunker — you hit sand 15cm behind it. The circle makes this literal.
Draw a line in the sand. Without any ball, make bunker swings entering exactly on the line every time. 30 reps before adding a ball.
Consistency in bunker play is all about entry point. Learn the entry without the ball first.
Cross a club behind your shoulders. Rotate your upper body while keeping hips still, then reverse — rotate hips while keeping shoulders quiet. 10 reps each direction.
This isolates the separation between shoulder and hip turn — the 'X-Factor' that generates real power without needing a longer backswing.
On hands and knees, place one hand behind your head and rotate that elbow toward the ceiling, following with your eyes. 10 reps each side.
Most 'restricted backswing' complaints are a mobility problem, not a technique problem — this opens the exact joint that limits shoulder turn.
Hit 15 shots and hold your finish position completely still until the ball lands every single time, no exceptions.
A finish you can't hold in balance almost always traces back to a fault earlier in the swing — this is a diagnostic drill as much as a fix.
Putt with a counted tempo — 'one' on the backstroke, 'two' on the through-stroke — for 20 putts of varying length.
Tour average putting tempo is close to a 2:1 ratio, backswing to through-swing — inconsistent tempo causes more missed putts than a bad read.
Set two tees just wider than your clubhead at ball position. Chip through the gate without touching either tee, 15 reps.
This drill exposes an inconsistent low point — clipping the back tee means you're bottoming out too early.
Draw a 15cm oval in the sand around the ball. Enter and exit the sand within that zone on every swing, 15 reps.
Consistent bunker play is about a consistent entry point, not how hard you swing — most bunker misses come from an inconsistent low point.
Set alignment sticks on your target line and foot line for every single shot in this session, even ones you're confident about.
Poor alignment is the single most common, most invisible fault in amateur golf — most players who think they aim well are consistently off by several degrees.
Grip the club naturally, then check: you should see 2-2.5 knuckles of your lead hand from your own view down, and both V's (thumb-forefinger) pointing toward your trail shoulder. Adjust and re-grip 10 times until it's automatic.
A strong grip (too many knuckles visible) sets up a hook and often gets misdiagnosed as a swing path problem. A weak grip (too few knuckles) sets up a slice the same way — check grip before you ever touch swing mechanics.
Grip the club and check your trail hand's palm is facing the target, not turned under or over. Rehearse re-gripping to this exact position 15 times, eyes closed on the last 5.
A trail hand palm turned away from the target is one of the most common causes of an open or closed face at impact that has nothing to do with your swing path.
Set your grip so the club runs diagonally across your fingers, not deep in your palms. Make 15 practice swings checking the club doesn't slide into your palms at the top.
A palm-dominant grip restricts wrist hinge and clubface control — the fingers need to stay the primary contact point for the hands to work freely through the swing.
Stand on one leg with a club held across your chest for stability. Hold for 20 seconds, then switch legs. Do 2 rounds each side, progressing to closing your eyes for the last 10 seconds.
Golf is a rotational sport played on unstable footing at impact — weak ankle stability shows up as swaying or losing your spine angle through the ball, especially on uneven lies.
Without a ball, walk through your full pre-shot routine 5 times: pick a target, take your practice swing, set your feet, take one more look, then swing. Time yourself — aim for under 20 seconds each time.
A routine you've rehearsed becomes automatic under pressure; one you're inventing on the course is where nerves creep in and tempo speeds up.
Lay an alignment stick perpendicular to your target line at your front heel. Check ball position against it for driver (off the front heel), mid-irons (just forward of center), and wedges (center) — 5 setups each club, verifying every time.
Ball position drifting back or forward by even an inch changes your angle of attack and low point — a huge, invisible cause of thin and fat shots that gets blamed on swing mechanics instead.
Place 8 balls in a circle 3 feet from the hole. Putt all 8 in a row — if you miss even one, start the circle over from zero. Keep going until you make all 8 consecutively.
Confidence on short putts is built by real consecutive success under real consequence, not by putting the same 3-footer once and moving on.
Stand in posture with soft knees. Rock the pelvis forward and back, keeping the shoulders still, then hinge from the hips into a neutral spine. Dose: 3 sets of 10 slow tilts, then 5 hinges to your posture.
You have it when: you can hold the posture through a slow swing without the chest rising.
Grip at 4 out of 10, where 10 is a death grip. Rate your pressure at address, the top and the finish. Dose: 10 swings at 4 of 10 grip pressure; rate each swing.
You have it when: forearms stay soft and the club does not slip.
Set the grip in a mirror. Check about two knuckles on the lead hand and the V shapes pointing between chin and trail shoulder. Reset it 10 times. Dose: Set the grip 10 times in a mirror, check knuckles and the V shapes.
You have it when: the grip looks the same on all 10 resets.
Swing with the trail hand only. Let the weight of the clubhead release the face through the ball. Dose: 3 sets of 8 slow swings, then 5 half-speed balls.
You have it when: the toe points up after impact and the face feels square.
Slow short swings keeping the clubhead outside the hands after impact, toe pointing up. Build to half swings, then balls. Dose: 20 slow short swings, then 10 half-swing balls.
You have it when: the toe stays up through the short follow-through.
Take the club back to hip height in a mirror or on video. Shaft parallel to the ground, face matching your spine angle, arms and chest turning together. Dose: 10 takeaways to hip height, check face and arms in a mirror.
You have it when: face and arms look the same on 8 of 10 takeaways.
Put a sturdy chair behind you so the seat touches your backside. Swing slowly and keep that contact on the way down. Build to half speed. Dose: 10 slow swings, then 15 half-speed balls.
You have it when: you stay in contact with the chair through impact.
Set an alignment stick behind your hips and keep your backside against it through the downswing. Dose: 10 slow swings keeping the stick touching, then 15 balls.
You have it when: the stick stays touched on 8 of 10 swings.
Stand with feet touching. Hit half swings with a wedge, then a 7-iron. You cannot lunge, so rhythm smooths out. Dose: 20 half swings with a wedge, then 10 with a 7-iron.
You have it when: balanced finish with no stepping.
Count 1-2-3 on the way up and 1 on the way down, or use a 60 beats a minute metronome: top on beat 3, impact on beat 4. Dose: 20 swings counting 1-2-3 up, 1 down, then 10 balls at 60 beats a minute.
You have it when: The app's tempo reading comes back near 3:1.
Swing from hip height to hip height, keeping the wrist angle until the club returns to hip height. Dose: 3 sets of 10 swings from hip height to hip height.
You have it when: the club lags behind the hands on the way down.
Draw or spray a line on the turf and put the ball on it. Make contact on or just past the line with most weight on the lead foot. Dose: 15 balls with the ball on a line, strike on or past it.
You have it when: the divot starts on or after the line.
Lay a towel one clubhead behind the ball and hit mid-irons without touching it. Dose: 15 balls without touching the towel.
You have it when: 15 balls with no towel contact.
Stand with the lead hip a few inches from a wall. Start the downswing by sliding that hip to touch the wall. Dose: 3 sets of 8 slow slides, then 10 half-speed balls.
You have it when: hip touches the wall and weight moves to the lead side.
Start with feet together, step the trail foot back as the swing begins, then swing through. Dose: 15 swings stepping the trail foot back to start, then 10 balls.
You have it when: weight finishes on the lead foot.
Hold a club across the shoulders. Turn until the lead shoulder is under the chin and the club points at the ball, hips turning less. Dose: 3 sets of 10 slow turns, check the club points at the ball.
You have it when: club points at the ball at the top without the hips sliding.
Place a soft headcover just outside the ball, angled slightly outward. Swing slowly without hitting it. Dose: 10 slow swings missing the cover, then 15 balls.
You have it when: no contact with the cover on 8 of 10 swings.
Reach the clubhead toward the target after impact with the lead arm extended, not folded. Dose: 20 slow swings reaching the club to the target after impact.
You have it when: lead arm stays long through the follow-through.
Chip with about 80 percent of your weight on the lead foot and keep it there. Dose: 20 chips with 80 percent of weight on the lead foot.
You have it when: weight and head stay forward through the chip.
Set an alignment stick along the shaft against the lead hip. Hands slightly ahead of the ball, not extreme. Dose: 10 setups with a stick on the lead hip, then 15 chips.
You have it when: shaft leans a little, not a lot.
Stop the backswing at your trail pocket and control distance with the follow-through. Dose: 20 chips with the backswing stopping at the pocket.
You have it when: same backswing length every chip.
Tuck a towel under both armpits and make short rocking chips without dropping it. Dose: 20 rocking chips with the towel held in place.
You have it when: towel stays in place for 20 chips.
Chip with a putting grip to quiet the wrists, then repeat with your normal grip. Dose: 20 chips with a putting grip, then 10 normal.
You have it when: face stays steady through the ball.
Place two coins about a foot in front of the ball. The ball must roll through the gate, even if the putt misses. Dose: 20 putts from 3 feet through two coins, then 10 from 6 feet.
You have it when: 16 of 20 through the gate.
Aim the printed line on the ball at the target. Watch the roll. Dose: 20 putts aiming the printed line, check the roll end over end.
You have it when: the line rolls end over end without wobbling.
Set up with your back or heels against a wall and rock the shoulders to putt without any hip sway. Dose: 20 strokes with the back or heels to a wall, no body sway.
You have it when: no hip movement on the wall.
Lay alignment sticks along your forearms and putt with the shoulders, so hands and arms move as one. Dose: 20 strokes with sticks along the forearms, hands and arms as one.
You have it when: sticks stay in place during the stroke.
Put a small piece of tape on the putter face and check where the ball marks it. Dose: 20 putts, check the tape mark sits at the sweet spot.
You have it when: marks cluster at the sweet spot.
Hold your finish after every putt until you hear the ball drop. Dose: 20 putts holding the finish and listening for the ball to drop.
You have it when: head stays down on all 20 putts.
Drop a ball from the bridge of your nose at address and see where it lands. Dose: 10 setups dropping a ball from your eyes to check position.
You have it when: it lands on or just inside the line of the ball.
Hit 10 balls with each swing length for each wedge, then log the average carry on the Launch Monitor or a range finder. Dose: 10 balls at each of 3 swing lengths with one wedge, log the average carry.
You have it when: a chart of your own numbers you can reuse on the course.
Seven moves: trunk rotations with arms out, deep squats, knee-to-chest tucks, lunge turns, prayer stretch hold, leg swings and a cross-body arm stretch. Finish with slow practice swings. Dose: 7 moves, then 5 slow practice swings.
You have it when: hips and shoulders feel loose. Stop if anything hurts.
Repeat the same stretches after the round, holding each for about 10 seconds. Dose: 5 holds of 10 seconds after the round.
You have it when: no stiffness the next morning.
You've got a repeatable swing and you're scoring, but consistency and shot-shape control are the next ceiling. These drills sharpen tempo, sequencing, and precision so your good rounds stop being outliers.
Make slow half-swings into an impact bag placed at ball position. Hold impact for 3 full seconds. Feel hips clearing while your head stays behind contact. 3 sets of 10 strikes.
If the bag flies forward, weight transfer is correct. If it barely moves, you are striking with arms only — drive from the ground up.
Swing to the top of your backswing and pause for 1 full second. Hold completely still. Then complete the downswing with full speed. 15 reps. No balls needed.
The pause exposes transition errors. If you topple during the pause, your backswing is not loaded correctly.
Start with both feet together. Step your lead foot toward target as the downswing begins — like a baseball batter. Hit 15 balls this way.
The step forces the weight shift to happen in the correct sequence. Players who hang back will immediately feel the correct sensation.
3 balls at 20m, 15m, and 10m. Putt each to within 1m of the hole. 5 circuits. Focus entirely on pace, not line.
90% of three-putts come from poor distance control, not bad line. Practise pace exclusively and the line will take care of itself.
Place 6 balls at 1m around a hole — 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 o'clock. Make all 6 without missing. Miss one, start again. Complete 3 full rounds.
Breaking putts from all sides trains your brain to read slopes automatically. The restart rule creates real pressure that transfers to the course.
From 3m, 6m, and 9m, roll 3 balls each to the fringe without rolling off. No hole target — pure pace training. 4 rounds.
True pace control means knowing exactly how hard at each distance. After 50 repetitions, your body knows the distances automatically.
Place a towel 2m onto the green. Chip to land on it from 3 different lies: fairway, rough, tight. 5 chips per lie.
Always chip to a landing spot — never directly at the hole. Where the ball lands controls both line and pace.
Chip with your lead hand only. Makes the correct motion — no flipping, no scooping — the only option. 15 chips from 5–10m.
One-handed chipping makes the flip structurally impossible. The ball will not get airborne if you scoop with one hand.
Place a hula hoop 3m onto the green. Chip to land inside from 5 positions around the green. 4 chips per position. Count your score.
Target-based practice transfers to the course far better than repetitive technique work.
Place a face towel under the ball in sand. Try to take the towel out while popping the ball up onto the green. 15 shots.
The towel makes ball-first contact immediately punishing — the correct approach is the only way to succeed.
Hit 3 draws, 3 straight, 3 fades with a 7-iron. Repeat with driver. Adjust face angle and path deliberately for each shape.
Course management starts with knowing which shapes you can hit reliably on demand.
Hit 20 balls with your 7-iron, note carry distance for each. Average the 15 most consistent results — that is your real stock carry. Repeat for every club monthly.
Most golfers use their best-ever distance. Your stock carry is the 75th percentile of consistent shots.
Loop a resistance band around your shoulders and turn against it to the top, focusing on turning the lead shoulder under the chin. 3 sets of 12, hold 2 seconds at the top.
Target 80–100° of shoulder rotation for a full swing. If you're consistently short, the restriction is usually mobility, not effort.
Stand with your glutes lightly touching a wall at address. Make slow half-swings, keeping contact with the wall through impact. 3 sets of 10.
If your hips push off the wall before impact, that's early extension — the exact fault this drill is built to eliminate.
Tuck a headcover or small towel under your trail armpit. Swing to the top and through impact without letting it drop. 15 reps, then 10 balls the same way.
Dropping the headcover early in the downswing is the classic signature of coming over the top — the move that causes a steep, out-to-in slice path.
Place a glove or towel between your trail elbow and trail hip pocket at the top of the backswing. Start the downswing keeping it pinned as long as possible. 15 reps.
A trail elbow that flies away from the body early is one of the most common causes of a stuck, blocked, or pulled shot.
After impact, freeze your finish with the lead arm fully extended down the target line for 3 seconds before completing the swing. 15 reps.
A lead arm that folds early usually means the body stopped rotating before the arms caught up — this drill forces the extension to outlast the stall.
Place a golf bag or chair just outside your trail foot at address. Make backswings checking that your weight loads into that foot, not your lead foot. 15 reps.
If your weight moves toward the target on the backswing instead of away from it, you're reverse-pivoting — a major power leak that also causes falling-back finishes.
Place tees at 3m, 6m, and 9m. Putt to each distance in sequence, trying to stop within a clubhead length. 3 full ladders.
Distance control on the greens comes from feel built through reps at varied length, not from a single stock stroke.
Chip to three landing zones at increasing distances, cycling through all three for 15 total chips.
Chipping distance control comes from varying how far your hands travel back, not from swinging harder or softer.
Make chipping strokes focusing on the club toe pointing straight up at both the backswing and follow-through limits.
This keeps the clubface square through impact without any hand manipulation — the biggest cause of chunked and bladed chips.
Using only a 7-iron, hit shots at five different targets ranging from 60% to full effort, focusing on solid contact at every speed.
This isolates strike quality from club selection and builds real feel for controlling distance with swing length rather than always swinging full.
Set an alignment stick in the ground angled to match a square clubface at the P2 position (club shaft parallel to ground). Take the club back slowly and check the toe points to the sky, matching the stick. 15 reps.
A toe pointing too far forward (hooded) or too far up (fanned/open) at this checkpoint usually shows up later as a hook or slice that looks like a completely different problem by the time you reach impact.
At the top of your backswing, feel your lead hip bump laterally toward the target a few inches before anything else moves. Rehearse slowly 15 times with no club, then 10 times with a club at half speed.
This small lateral move is the actual first domino in a well-sequenced downswing — skipping straight to rotation without it is one of the most common causes of an arms-first, disconnected transition.
Place a tee slightly in front of the ball for driver work (ascending strike) or slightly behind it for iron work (descending strike). Practice striking without disturbing the second tee. 15 reps per club type.
Driver wants a slightly ascending strike, irons want descending — using the same attack angle for both is a common, invisible cause of inconsistent contact.
Chip to three different distances using only bigger or smaller body rotation to change length — keep your wrists completely still and locked throughout all three.
Distance control should come from how much your body turns, not how much your wrists add on — wristy length control is inconsistent under pressure exactly when you need it most.
Chip 15 balls focusing on keeping the clubface looking at the target from just before impact to just after — no rolling or rotating the face through the strike.
A face that rotates closed through impact causes pulled, low, and inconsistent chips even when the rest of the motion looks fine — this is often the real cause behind 'random' chipping misses.
From a flat fairway bunker lie, hit 3 balls each with your normal club for the distance, then one club less, focusing on clipping the ball first with a shallower swing than a greenside bunker shot.
Catching sand before the ball out of a fairway bunker kills distance completely — this swing should feel more like a normal iron shot with a slightly shallower angle, not a splash.
Set 3 targets in the bunker area at 10, 20, and 30 feet. Hit 5 splash shots at each distance, varying only the length of your swing, not your speed or technique.
Distance control in the sand comes from how far you swing back, not how hard you swing through — a longer backswing at the same tempo naturally produces a longer shot.
Hit 5 shots each with your gap, sand, and lob wedge at three different swing lengths (waist-high, chest-high, full), recording the actual carry distance for all 9 combinations to build a real yardage chart.
Most golfers only know their 'full' wedge distances — knowing 3 controlled lengths per wedge effectively triples your scoring-zone options without buying another club.
Set up a 30-yard-wide 'fairway' using alignment sticks or towels as visual boundaries at your typical driving distance. Hit 10 drivers, tracking how many land inside the fairway lines.
Practicing driver for pure distance builds bad habits for the course — most rounds are won or lost by how often you're actually in the fairway, not by your longest bomb of the day.
From the top of your backswing, deliberately start the downswing by shifting your lead knee toward the target first, then let the torso, arms, and club follow in that order. Exaggerate the pause-then-shift 10 times, then blend it into a full swing.
The kinematic sequence in a good swing fires from the ground up — hips, then torso, then arms, then club. Most amateurs fire the arms and club first, which is what actually causes an over-the-top slice.
From just off the green with a clear path, play a low, running chip with a hybrid or low iron using your putting stroke — same setup, same tempo, just a different club. Land it just onto the green and let it release toward the hole. 15 reps.
When you have green to work with, a bump-and-run with a lower-lofted club is far more predictable than a lofted chip — less can go wrong with a shot that spends more time rolling than flying.
Before each putt, stand behind the ball and read the slope with your feet — feel which foot is lower to judge the tilt. Commit to a break amount using a clock-face target line, then putt. Repeat on 10 different putts across the green.
Most amateurs read greens with their eyes only, which is unreliable on subtle slopes — feeling the ground with your feet is a far more accurate, repeatable read.
Hold the club with the hands a few inches apart. Feel the lead wrist flat or slightly bowed and the trail wrist extended, with the clubhead behind the hands. Dose: 3 sets of 5 swings with hands apart, then 10 balls.
You have it when: the clubhead trails the hands into the ball.
Hold a club against your chest pointing at the ground at address. Keep it pointing there through the swing. Dose: 10 slow swings, then 10 balls with the club on your chest.
You have it when: chest stays down and the club keeps pointing at the ground.
Fold a towel opposite your trail toe and place a tee opposite your lead toe, with the ball between. Miss the towel and strike toward the tee, trail elbow tucked. Dose: 10 slow swings, then 15 balls missing the towel.
You have it when: no towel contact and the divot starts at or past the ball.
Make half swings and hold the finish on the lead foot for 3 seconds. Dose: 10 half swings holding the finish on the lead foot for 3 seconds.
You have it when: held for 3 seconds without wobbling.
Pick 9 spots around a green. Chip and putt from each, and score against 18. Dose: 9 spots, one chip and one putt each, score against 18.
You have it when: beat your best score each week.
Put a club 2 to 3 feet behind the hole. From about 10 feet, hit three balls: make one and keep the other two between the hole and the club. Dose: 6 rounds of 3 balls from 10 feet, one made and two inside the club.
You have it when: three rounds in a row.
Use three backswing lengths, such as 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30 on a clock face. Hit 10 balls with each and log the carry. Dose: 3 swing lengths with 10 balls each, log carry for each.
You have it when: each length is within a few yards of its average.
Set targets at 30, 50 and 70 yards. Hit 5 balls to each and score points for landing inside the target circle. Dose: 5 balls to each target, score points inside 10 feet.
You have it when: beat last week's score.
Pick 9 holes and hit one real shot each: tee shot, approach, short game. One ball, no re-hits, in order. Dose: Hit 9 real shots in order: tee shot, approach, short game.
You have it when: score yourself and play it again next week.
Your fundamentals are solid — now it's about fine margins. These drills target trajectory control, pressure putting, and the small mechanical details that separate a good ball-striker from a scratch golfer.
At a mirror or phone camera, make full swings in slow motion — 10 seconds back, 10 through. Stop at address, P1, P4 (top), P6 (impact), P7. Check each position.
Speed hides errors — slow motion reveals them. What you feel and what the camera shows are almost never the same thing.
Set up normally. Close eyes before the stroke. Make a smooth pendulum. Listen for the ball to drop. 20 putts from 1m.
When vision is removed, feel takes over completely. Players who look up early almost never do so with eyes closed.
Place 10 alignment sticks in a fan at 150m. Hit 20 balls and track where each lands. Your dispersion pattern reveals your dominant miss.
Knowing your miss makes course management automatic. You aim at the point where your dominant miss still leaves a makeable shot.
Make 10 consecutive putts from 1m. Miss one, start from zero. Repeat from 1.5m. Finish only when 10 in a row from 1.5m.
The restart rule creates genuine pressure — exactly like the 18th green in a competition. No other drill replicates it.
Swing to the top, start the downswing to the point where the club is parallel to the ground with wrists still set, and pause there 2 seconds before completing the swing. 12 reps.
If you can't hold that pause without the wrists releasing, you're casting — throwing away lag and speed before you reach the ball.
Read a putt fully, then step up and putt within 10 seconds without re-reading. 10 putts.
Overthinking a read after you've already committed is one of the most common sources of putting yips — this drill trains decisiveness.
Press a ball halfway into the sand to simulate a plugged lie. Practice hitting it out with a steep, descending strike and minimal follow-through.
Plugged lies need the opposite technique of a normal bunker shot — close the face slightly and hit down aggressively rather than splashing through.
Hit 5 shots each trying to produce a straight, a draw, a fade, a high, and a low ball flight with the same club.
If you can't shape a shot on demand, you don't yet understand your own swing's cause-and-effect — this drill builds that awareness fast.
With one club, hit 5 shots at three different trajectories — low, standard, high — by adjusting ball position and hand position at address only.
Real trajectory control comes from setup changes, not from trying to 'help' the ball up or down with your hands during the swing.
Play 9 imaginary holes on the range, hitting a tee shot then an approach to a specific target, tracking your score as if on the course.
Range swings and course swings feel completely different under pressure — this simulates that pressure before it costs you a real round.
Place a club across your hips and another across your shoulders. Turn to the top checking your shoulders keep turning after your hips stop — aim for hips around 45-55° while shoulders reach 80-100°. 12 reps in front of a mirror.
This gap between hip and shoulder turn — not shoulder turn alone — is what actually creates lag and power. If both turn the same amount, you lose the separation that loads the swing.
Set two alignment sticks: one on your target line, one showing your actual swing path. Hit 10 balls checking where the clubface points at impact relative to each line, not just where the ball starts.
Your start direction is controlled mostly by where the face points, not your swing path — path mostly controls curve. A ball that starts left and curves further left usually means the face is the real problem, not an 'over the top' path.
Set an alignment stick or putting gate on your target line and another showing your actual stroke arc. Putt 15 balls checking whether your face matches the target line at impact, independent of your stroke shape.
Face angle controls roughly 83-90% of a putt's start direction — far more than stroke path. Most 'pulled' or 'pushed' putts are a face problem at impact, not a stroke-shape problem.
Practice bunker shots from an uphill lie (ball above your feet) and a downhill lie (ball below your feet), 8 shots each, adjusting your spine angle to match the slope rather than fighting it.
Your body should tilt to match the sand's slope at address — fighting the slope with your posture is the most common cause of thin or chunked sloped-lie bunker shots.
Hit 10 iron shots off real grass or a divot board, inspecting each divot's direction and depth. Aim for divots that point at your target and start just after the ball, not before it.
Your divot tells the truth about strike quality even when the shot result looks fine — a divot that points left or starts before the ball reveals a fault you'll eventually pay for under pressure.
With a lob wedge, open the clubface significantly before gripping, then take a full, accelerating swing with very little weight shift. Practice landing the ball softly within a 3-foot circle 10 feet away, using a fluffy or first-cut lie.
A flop shot needs speed, not a scoopy hand action — the open face and full swing speed create the height and spin; trying to 'help' it up with your hands is what causes a bladed shot.
