I want to share with you some golf drills you can practice at home to elevate your skills and help you make more putts when you get back to the golf course to play a round.
These indoor putting drills work on a range of skills that are needed to become a great short game player.
You can spend roughly 20-30 minutes practicing these drills at home each day and you’ll see quick improvement. I’ve been doing indoor practice drills myself for years to keep my golf game sharp, especially during off-season months when golf courses close down.
At the end of today’s post, if you want to learn more about our golf training system you can check out some of the information we’ve provided. It gives you step by step practices and schedules to follow for fast improvement.
Best Indoor Putting Drills to Practice Daily
The following at home golf drills are beginner level to build basic fundamental putting stroke skills. You need just a few books and a coin or tee to set up these indoor drills.
Also, you can practice these putting drills on carpet if you don’t have a synthetic indoor putting green. However, I recommend buying a putting mat like this putting green training aid you can buy on Amazon.
Then simply block out some time each day to practice these putting drills at home.
Drill #1: Straighten Your Putting Stroke Path
Drop two phone books or small boxes onto the ground at home and leave enough distance between them that your putter can barely squeeze through.
Make practice strokes focusing on keeping the putter path straight and putter face square. If you don’t, you may bump into the books which give you feedback that your putting stroke wasn’t straight for that stroke.
Here’s my video lesson on how to setup this drill:
Variation:
Place a 10 foot piece of painter’s tape in the middle of the path and parallel to the books so that it creates a target line. Several feet of tape should be outside the books so that you can see how your ball stays on line for several feet as it rolls away from you.
Set a golf ball down in the middle of the books path on the target line you’ve created and stroke putts. You can use the books to monitor your back swing length compared to your forward swing length.
The forward swing should be equal or slightly bigger than the back swing. Using the books as a guide for a straight putting stroke, try to see how many putts you can keep on the tape/target line.
Drill #2: Two Balls Same Speed
This putting drill has you set two golf balls side by side. Setup to both balls so the putter face is almost touching them. One golf ball will fit along the top half of the putter face and the other the bottom half.
Make a putting stroke trying to hit both golf balls at the same time. Once both golf balls begin rolling away from you on the floor, you’ll notice quickly if one is rolling faster and ahead of the other.
The goal with this putting drill is to hit the putt so that both balls roll equally at the same speed. If one ball outpaces the other, then you’ll get feedback that the putting stroke wasn’t square.
You must have led with either the heel or the toe of the putter face which connect with one of the balls first before the other made contact.
Golf Putting System: Try these golf drills and practice routines that actually work
Drill #3: Putts on Line (Bumper Balls)
For this drill you can use two alignment rods, laid parallel to each other on the ground and a putter head width apart so you have room to make strokes between them.
Set down a 2nd golf ball 3 feet ahead from where your ball is on the ground so that it’s on the straight line with your putt.
Now make a putting stroke, striking your golf ball and watch it roll straight into the next golf ball, bumping into it. If the putt is hit straight, the energy transfer will make the 2nd ball continue on straight into the cup. (Cut out a small circle the size of a hole from a piece of paper to put on the ground)
Drill #4: One Handed Putts
Right Handed Putts
Pick a target to putt to from 3 feet away and using just your right hand, stroke one handed putts trying to hit the target. Make sure to keep the putter path straight still as well as the face square to your target. This will build your putting stroke by ingraining skill with one hand.
Left Handed Putts
Repeating the same golf drill from above, use just your left hand to stroke 3 foot putts to a target you’ve selected. These two one handed putting drills make a our list of the best golf drills at home because of their simplicity but also their effectiveness.
You’ll be surprised how much more confident you feel once you can master one handed putting strokes. Spend 15 minutes each day and it will add up over the month, you’ll see 🙂
Drill #5: Putting to a Tee
One of the best ways to practice putting at home is simply working on your control of the putter face. Set up a golf tee so that it’s upside down.
Starting 3 feet away, putt a ball to the tee trying to knock it over. Then move back to 4 feet, 5 feet, and so on. Try to work your way back to 20 feet away and still be able to knock the tee over.
You’ll gain amazing feel of your putter’s face and know when you’ve closed the face or opened the face during the putting stroke since you’re hitting to a super small target.
Here’s the setup video for this indoor putting drill.
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Drill #6: Putting to a King of Hearts
Grab a King of Hearts playing card from a deck of cards and lay it on the carpet or floor several feet away from you. Attempt to putt the golf ball with enough speed that it stops on top of the king of hearts.
This is a challenging putting drill that will improve your putting distance control before you know it. And using a playing card helps simulate a golf hole since it’s small, so you’ll also work on your putting accuracy by making sure you’re aligned to the target properly.
Drill #7: Five Ball Distance Control
For this putting practice drill, you want create a 1 foot x 1 foot square box using painters tape.
The goal is to putt all 5 balls into this zone with each ball going slightly further than the previous ball. But the 5th ball can’t go beyond the 12 inch zone.
It teaches you putting distance control by forcing you to feel each putt and try to replicate that distance but slightly further without over hitting the ball so that it rolls beyond the 1 foot long zone.
It’s a very challenging drill. You can start with a bigger zone size if needed like 18″ x 18″ or 2 ft x 2ft.
Download: 15 Best Golf Drills to Add to Your Practices (Free PDF List)
Drill #8: Golf Putting Stance & Grip Practice
Lastly, we want you to improve your putting set up and your stance. This is a fundamental step to helping you make a straight putting stroke.
Have your putter sitting next to the couch and during TV shows or during commercial breaks, stand up and work on the proper putting stance set up. You can also practice the proper grip for your putter while at home too.
Doing this for just 15 minutes per day can build muscle memory and turn into a good habit so that your putting stroke improves without a whole lot of effort.
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In this video, I show you the eye test by dropping a ball from where your eyes are in your putting stance to see if you’re standing over putts correctly.
If your stance is off you might have a tendency to push or pull putts do to poor eye line of how you’re seeing putts.
Bonus Guide: Check out our ultimate putting tips guide where we cover all kinds of topics on how to get better at putting. You’ll learn the putting grip, putting set up, how to read green, best putting drills, types of strokes like the straight back straight through and arcing putting stroke.
Drill #9: Metronome Drill
My brother, who is a PGA Golf Instructor in Illinois, loves to have his students use the metronome app and it’s something that I looked into more and have found to be very helpful in my practices.
The app uses sound technology to create different speeds of rhythm of a “tick tock” sound. You can adjust the speed as necessary but it’s a good way to make a backstroke and forward stroke putting motion relative to the sound of the metronome beat.
It will help you build a solid rhythm and tempo in your putting stroke so you strike putts consistently with the same stroke.
It’s a great putting drill for working out a short stroke that feels too quick and inconsistent, helping you lengthen the stroke and building solid tempo for a smoother putt.
Drill #10: High Volume of Made Putts
The High Volume Putting Drill is simply setting up to the hole on your putting mat and making lots of putts. This is a pretty straight forward way to practice putting at home and see improvement in your short game skills.
Set a goal or practice routine like:
- Make 50 putts from 3 feet
- Make 50 putts from 5 feet
- Make 25 putts from 7 feet
- Make 25 putts from 9 feet
And stay consistent by doing this putting drill daily to keep working on makes from these different distances.
I recommend doing this putting drill later in your at home practice routine, so that you can use the other putting drills to first build up your fundamental putting stroke.
Making a bunch of putts with a bad putting stroke motion doesn’t do much good long term. Get the fundamental stroke down first (good tempo, straight path, putts start on line) before you do a high volume made putts drill.
In addition to these 10 indoor putting drills discussed today, here is a bonus section on playing games to make golf practice more fun at home.
Indoor Golf Putting Games to Practice at Home
Want a challenging indoor golf putting game to play? Try the shrinking cup challenge.
This golf putting game asks you to create 5 paper circles with paper and scissors. The first should be a 12 inch diameter circle, then 10 inches, 8 inches, 6 inches, and 4 inches.
For this indoor putting game you will start 8 feet away and hit putts to the 12 inch circle. Get the ball to stop on the circle to count it as a made putt. Once you can do this, move on to the next level.
Level 2 is putting from 7 feet away from the 10 inch circle target. Repeat the above, getting 3 made putts in a row.
Level 3, you will putt from 6 feet to the 8 inch circle target.
Level 4, putt from 5 feet to the 6 inch pretend golf hole
Level 5, the final level of this golf putting game, hit putts from 4 feet away from the 4 inch circle.
The goal of this indoor putting practice game is to make all 5 putts in a row, starting from 8 feet away and working your way in to the closest and smallest target.
You can switch up this putting game by doing it in reverse. As you get farther away from the hole, the hole gets smaller. So putt from the 12 inch circle at 4 feet away and putt to a 4 inch circle at 8 feet away.
Basic Golf Putting Tips:
When working on the above indoor golf putting drills, you should try to follow these fundamental golf putting tips.
- Find a comfortable grip that gives control of the putter face but not too tight
- Line the putter face up square to the ball, not angled, during set up
- During the backstroke, keep the putter straight as possible
- On the forward stroke, keep the putter face straight as possible
- Focus on feeling and watch how far putts roll to learn about speed / distance control
Thanks for reading today’s guide on indoor putting drills. For more tips, see our other blog articles or hop over to FoyGolfAcademy.com for golf training programs to follow.