Pitching
Many people do not realise, that it’s possible to practice their pitching at home and work. The first thing to note here, is that you should invest is some practice golf balls, that are safer to use indoors. These can easily be purchased online.
For this fun game, you will need your practice balls, 8 iron, 9 iron, pitching wedge and a towel. Find a space in a building which offers you 10 feet of open floor space and lay the towel on the floor. Starting with the 8 iron, address the ball using the appropriate stance and attempt to land the ball on the towel. The key here, is not to worry about getting the balls to stop on the towel but to get them to land on the towel.
Once you can get 5 out of 5 shots to land on the towel, change to the 9 iron and then the pitching wedge. You can also change to a smaller towel and create increasingly difficult challenges for yourself as you progress.
By practicing in this way, you will gain better control over your short chip shots and land your ball closer to the hole. Having great control over chipping on to the green, can be the difference between creating a birdie chance or saving par.
Set-Up
This is a technique you can use to check and work on the positioning of your set-up when addressing the ball.
To complete this indoor drill, you will need to have a full-length, stand-up mirror. Smaller mirrors are also acceptable but a full-length one is ideal. If you do not own one. they can be purchased fairly cheaply online.
Using the golf shot set-up tips on the website, stand in-front of the mirror and adopt the correct procedure for each golf club. Keep checking the mirror to see if it looks correct. You can even use a camera or ask someone else to help and take photos, once you are in the perfect position. You can even take photos on your phone and then refer back to them when you have five minutes.
This will keep them fresh in your memory, for the next time you step on to the golf course.
Additional Tips
Next time you are at the golf club, pick up a course planner and take it home with you. Take the time one evening to go through the course, working out distances, best routes and club selections. This is something you may not have time to figure out when playing and it’s also a great little confidence booster, knowing you have a shot selection guide in your pocket, should you require it.
On-Course Games
When playing a round of golf with friends, why not play a different game to the usual formats available? A good game to play, which can improve your golf, is to award points for each shot. Each player who finds the fairway with their tee-shot gets a point, the player closest to the hole after their tee-shot gets a point, the player who finds the green first gets a point, the player who is closest to the green once all balls are on there gets a point and the first person to get their ball in the hole wins a point.
The great thing about this game, is it encourages you to forget your previous shot, however bad it was and concentrate on the next one, as there are still points up for grabs. Essentially, you remain competitive until the first ball drops in to the hole, regardless of what has happened beforehand.
An alternative to this game but based on the same principles is to award points for the following:
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Hitting the fairway off the tee
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Hitting a green in regulation
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Hitting a green in less than regulation
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Making a par
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Making a birdie
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Making an eagle
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Hitting a sand save
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Deduction for a 3 putt
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Deduction for a 4 putt
Again, this forces you to concentrate on each shot and will really help in the analysis of different areas of your golf game.
