3 Best Golf Drills for Beginners
Today, I started thinking about where I would put the most focus if I was brand new to the game of golf. As a result I came up with 3 golf drills for beginners that I’d start with if you’re new to the game of golf or looking to get back to the basics.
Each of these golf drills for beginners covers a different area of the game. For example, the first golf drill for beginners focuses on the driving range while the other golf drills focuses on chipping and putting.
Before we jump into the 3 golf drills for beginners, I would love to send you weekly tips, lessons, and helpful golf advice straight to your inbox! Join the email community by taking 2 seconds to subscribe.
Resource: Golf Practice System with Step by Step Practice Plans + Video Lessons
Golf Drills for Beginners: Part 1 – The Driving Range
The first golf drill is a simple driving range drill that I think will have the biggest impact on the overall performance of your golf swing. This first skill you need to master as a beginner is aligning your stance to your target properly so that you are aiming correctly at your target.
Step 1: Pick a target you want to hit your golf ball to
Step 2: Set your ball on the ground and go through your pre-shot routine, setting up to the golf ball and configuring your stance
Step 3: Take your iron (golf club) and lay it down on the ground so that it touches the tips of both of your shoes to mark the spot your feet were aligned to.
Step 4: Take a second golf club and lay it down next to the golf ball, parallel to your alignment golf club that is marking where your feet were positioned
Step 5: Step back and look down the range at your target while also looking at the alignment rods to see where they are pointing
The goal here is to see how well you naturally align yourself to your target. If you step back and notice the alignment rods aren’t pointing at your target, then you have an alignment issue that needs work. Repeat this drill a few times to gather data and see how accurately you are aligning your stance to your target.
Many beginner golfers have poor alignment yet think they are properly aligned towards their intended target. Then they wonder why their ball went left or right of their target, unbeknownst to them it was because they were aligned in that direction and actually hit it fairly straight.
Variation of this Drill:
Step 1: Grab two golf clubs out of your bag you can lay on the ground.
Step 2: Lay one golf club down so that it points at your intended target on the driving range that you’ll be hitting the ball at.
Step 3: Lay down the other golf club parallel to the first club but leave space in between the two clubs for setting the golf ball.
Step 4: Set up to the ball and take a look at the target so you can get in sync with what proper alignment feels like and looks like from a visual standpoint.
Step 5: Take a step back, reset, and start over setting up to the ball again until you’ve ingrained the process into your mind and gotten comfortable with what proper alignment looks like when you look out at the target.
Resource: Golf Practice System with Step by Step Practice Plans + Video Lessons
Golf Drills for Beginners – Part 2: Chipping Target
This next drill will help you break down a chip shot to determine carry vs roll and give you an ideal landing zone on the green to chip the ball to.
Step 1: Head to the practice green and lay down a golf ball in the rough 5 yards away from the green
Step 2: Select a hole on the practice green to chip to
Step 3: Look at the hole and look at your golf ball to gauge the distance between the two points.
Step 4: Find the 50%, median spot that splits the distance between you and the hole in half.
Step 5: Find the 50% spot of the 50% spot on each side, so that you’ve broken the distance into quarters (1/4).
Now gauge based on natural feel how far you feel the ball would roll if you chipped to 25% point, 50% point, and 75% point. Does it feel like if you land the ball half way, it will roll the remaining half way? Or does it feel like you need to chip the ball 30% of the distance between you and the hole, and let it roll 70% of the distance?
Once you determine the carry vs roll feel for the hole, all you need to do is pick a spot that’s short of the 50% point to chip to.
Overall, by breaking the distance down into sections, you’ll be able to pick out points easier that you want to land the golf ball based on your feel for how far it will end up rolling once it lands on your desired spot.
Example: The other day I tried landing the ball 50% and hoped it would roll the remaining 50% using my 54 degree wedge. Once I moved to my 60 degree wedge that has more spin, I had to start aiming for 70% carry and 30% roll. I broke the distance into quarters and found the 3/4 mark, then aimed just short of it to the 70% spot. I set down a ball marker and made a chip shot trying to hit the ball marker. Then I analyzed how far it rolled to see if my 70/30 estimation was correct or not.
Golf Drills for Beginners – Part 3: Speed Control on the Putting Green
This last golf drill for beginners focuses on putting speed control. Jordan Spieth is a successful putter because he has amazing speed control when putting.
As a beginner, you want to be great at lag putting, which is also known as long distance speed control, so that you avoid 3 putting by getting that first putt as close to the hole as possible.
Putting speed control also helps you on short putts because if your aim is off but you had good speed, the ball may drop into the hole from the side instead of lipping out or horse shoe-ing around the rim of the cup.
To work on speed control is pretty simple. Set down coins or ball markers at different 5 foot increments starting at 5 feet away from the hole and going out to 50 feet or 75 feet. Then set a golf ball down at each ball marker and putt to the hole trying to die the ball into the hole.
The ball should literally be close to stopping when it gets to the hole so that the final few revolutions are what tip it into the front of the cup. If it misses to either side it should only go a few inches past the hole.
Master this speed control from many different distances and you’ll be a much better putter overall on both short and long putts due to your speed control.
Try out these 3 golf drills for beginners and see how your skills improve. I believe these are the best golf drills for a beginner to work on because they focus on the key fundamentals of each part of the game.
First, you’re mastering your alignment to the target so you can give yourself a good chance of hitting fairways and greens. Being improperly aligned already sets you back and gives you a higher percent chance of missing the fairway or green.
Next, you’re mastering your ability to develop feel. You’re learning how to gauge carry distance vs roll distance once the chip lands. You’re also breaking the chip into manageable sections to make selecting your landing spot easier.
Lastly, the putting drill helps build up your speed control skills so that you can cut down a few strokes that you’re currently wasting each round on 3 putts and 4 putts. It also builds up your ability to die the ball into the cup on shorter putts so that if your aim is slightly off, you might still get lucky and see the ball drop in the side door.