You’ll probably want to hibernate and keep warm this winter, and not go to the golf course.
This is fine, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get better. Scratch golfers will be using this time of cold and rain wisely, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t too.
If you incorporate these tips and use these winter golf drills, courtesy of PGA Professional Jack Backhouse, then by the Spring, you will have found unexpected improvements in your game and stolen the march on your pals.
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Winter golf drills: How to improve in the off-season
Get a club-fitting
Winter is the time of year when brands such as TaylorMade, Titleist and Callaway release new clubs which they promise will improve your game no end. While it’s cold outside, you could go indoors and get fitted for a new driver or irons.
If you don’t have a budget for a brand new set of clubs or a new big stick, there is something else you can do. Find someone to check the lofts and lies of your irons. You need to find consistency in your clubs when you hit the middle of the face, and if the lofts and lies don’t match your swing or don’t compliment the sequence in your golf bag, then your ball-striking might dwindle.
Get faster
Hitting the ball further makes playing golf a lot easier and you can get your body in a place to do this away from the golf course.
Get hold of some speed sticks, or equipment available online that is similar, and find some open space. Any online content to do with speed training programmes will tell you that you need plenty of space to swing your speed sticks.
Swinging wrong-handed or running and swinging could be on the agenda to loosen you up and build freedom in your muscles, so take care and build some speed in the winter.
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Block practice
Block Practice refers to hitting the same shot from the same lie with the same club repeatedly. This is useful if you’re working on something new and when you leave a lot of time to do it on the driving range during a period when you’re not playing in competitions.
This could be something like a grip change or anything that will help to improve your game. Perhaps seek the guidance of a PGA Professional or a coach and find out which part of your game you can focus your Block Practice on.
A coach can give you a full plan and drills and you shouldn’t be surprised if your initial success is limited. This is what the extensive Block Practice is for.
Indoor putting
You need to stick with us on this. You don’t need a state-of-the-art putting green at home, just a half-decent carpet anywhere in your house on which a ball can roll.
When you have free time at home, you can work on your stroke and your ball striking with the putter. You can also purchase a reasonably-priced putting mat or board which can help you straighten your putting stroke.
Indoor putting practice is a very good way of obsessing yourself with your stroke, which will crucially help your short game once Spring arrives.
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Plan ahead
Scratch golfers will probably be planning their next season right now. This is important because once you know when and where you’ll be playing, this allows you to focus on your practice with an organised diary.
Especially with the NCG Top 100s Tour, there are countless events you can choose to play in and you can work backwards from there. Maybe choose four or five events in the Spring and Summer, to begin with, and now your season is up and running back it’s even started.
Branch out to links golf courses
Thousands of golfers play at inland parkland golf courses and they are more vulnerable to rain and water-logging when compared with links courses on the coast.
As a one-off or if you can manage a couple of occasions, venture out to a links course and keep up your practice this winter. There should be a good degree of firmness and a stiff test on a links course at this time of the year and this is what many scratch golfers will be doing to keep their games sharp.
It’s important to practise on the golf course as well as off it if you can still find some firm conditions that aren’t underwater. Following this, if you can find an indoor simulator studio anywhere that is reasonably priced to use, why not take some friends down there with you and challenge yourselves under some semi-pressured conditions?
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Implement these off-season golf tips now! Have you ever seen these winter golf drills before? Tell us on X!
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