Free practice guide

The 20-Minute Home Practice Routine

Three short blocks you can do in a living room, garage or back yard: putting start line, swing tempo and setup. No range, no net, no ball flight needed. Twenty focused minutes three or four nights a week beats one rushed bucket on Saturday morning.

What you need: about 8 feet of floor, carpet or a putting mat; a putter, a ball and a coin; room to swing safely (check the ceiling and anything breakable). Helpful but optional: a putter laser sight, a tempo swing trainer and two alignment sticks. Every drill below has a no-gear version.

Block 1 · Start line putting

5 minutes

Most short putts are missed at address, before the stroke: the face is aimed a little off, so a good stroke still starts the ball on the wrong line.

Set the gate

Put a coin about 6 feet away as your target. With a laser sight on the shaft, set up so the dot lands on the coin. With no laser, lay a straight edge (a yardstick or alignment stick) pointing at the coin and square the face to it.

Ten strokes, no ball

Make ten slow strokes and watch the dot, or the face against the edge. It should stay on line through where the ball would be. If it drifts, the face is opening or closing: shorten the stroke until it stays on line.

Ten putts to the coin

Now hit ten putts and score the start line, not the make: count the putts that roll over or just beside the coin. Once you score 8 out of 10 two sessions running, move the coin back to 10 feet.

Block 2 · Tempo swings

10 minutes

Rushing from the top is one of the most common amateur faults. A weighted or flexible trainer makes it obvious: it only feels smooth when you let it load before you swing through.

Warm up (2 min)

Ten half swings at half speed, then ten three-quarter swings. Feel the weight pulling your arms around and keep your grip pressure light.

Count to three (5 min)

Say "one-two" on the backswing and "three" on the downswing. The downswing is quicker, but it should never feel snatched. Twenty swings to the count. No trainer? Hold a club upside down by the head and listen for the swoosh in front of you, not behind.

Hold the finish (3 min)

Ten full swings, holding each finish for a count of three: weight on the lead foot, belt buckle to the target. If you cannot hold it, you swung out of balance. Slow down.

Safety: swing only where you have clear room overhead and all around, and check it before every session.

Block 3 · Setup check

5 minutes

Alignment drifts without you noticing. Five minutes on the floor keeps it honest, with no swing needed.

Two lines

Lay one alignment stick (or a club) pointing at a target on the wall: that is your target line. Lay a second stick parallel to it, closer to you: that is your toe line.

Set up five times

Step away, then walk in and set up with a mid iron as you would on the course. Check that toes, knees, hips and shoulders all sit parallel to the toe line. A common miss: shoulders aimed right of the target (for a right-hander).

Ball position

Lay a club across the toe line to mark ball position: middle for short irons, moving forward toward the lead heel as the club gets longer. Set up once with each of three clubs.

Track it: write down your start-line score (out of 10) after every session. What gets measured gets better.

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