How To Practice Golf At Home?

[ewoudb]

How to practice golf at home? Does anybody know some tips to practice golf at home? This is what I do know:

indoor golf putting green, to practice putting at home

[CrossGolfPro]

A bit of an off the wall idea but go buy a 8lb medicine ball..take your golf stance and practice making your rotation through the ball.  Also you can hold the ball and make upward hip thrusts to simulate thrusting during your downswing.  Great way to improve performance and get a little more fit.

[AndyC]

Yea, I live in Indianapolis so I understand practicing indoors especially in the winter months.  I like to practice chipping to certain spots.  For example, when I am actually playing golf on the course, I pick out a spot on the green I want the ball to land.  So, when I'm locked indoors, I practice chipping by simply picking a spot on the carpet or place something like a penny on the ground and practice chipping to that spot.  I like to go through my pre-shot routine to keep that in shape as well.  I make sure there is a pillow behind the object so I don't dent any walls. :)

[1puttit]

You can create a makeshift hitting net with two chairs and a comforter. Setup two chairs about five  feet apart and drape the comforter over both chairs. You can hit a real golf ball into the comforter but for safety I would use a foam ball (I like the Almost Golf Balls). Hit off a golf mat or a scrap piece of carpet and you've got a decent hitting net you can setup anywhere  you have room to swing a club. You won't be able to hit wedges with this setup but it's great for working on your swing with a six iron.

[AndyC]

Yea, the Almost Golf balls ARE great.  We used to play a game with them around the shop during winter because it was so dead.

[CrossGolfPro]

Have any of you checked out that optishot simulator?

[namkrats]

Quote:

Have any of you checked out that optishot simulator?

I've got the optishot simulator its pretty good to work on your swing although you need to create a platform that equals the height of the sensor. Optishot does base its distances purely on swing speed and face angle and not angle of attack, smash factor and others that are just as equally important so its hit or miss.

[CrossGolfPro]

We get ads on tv all the time for it, it's just impossible to beat the real thing outdoors

[1puttit]

I got tired of hitting into a blanket so I picked up an Optishot a few months ago. Overall I really like It. Every simulator has it's pluses and minuses but for $400 I think it does a good job.

[GaijinGolfer]

During the winter months I practice putting on the living room carpet.  Its a bit slower than an average green is but its better than nothing.  For chipping, I practice chipping foam or whiffle golf balls into a small waste basket.

[AndyC]

Yeah, my old place of employment picked it up.  Its kind of a quick fix solution.  For the cost its pretty good but there are by far better monitors out there.

[westcyderydin]

Most of the practice i do during the season is at the chipping green...not just to practice short game, but also for my regular swing.

Hitting pitch shots at the hole means that you are always aiming at a target, you get to practice your setup, takeaway, and impact position....and as a side affect get really good at "chipping"...which is what i call it but is really more of a short pitch shot.

So that means that i have the same setup when i chip as i do with my normal swing...but usually with my weight a little more forward and choked half way down the grip.  That might not be the same for everyone else.

But now that it is winter i hit pitch shots with wiffleballs in the house.  But no more full swings, haha...that got a little too dangerous.  It is nothing like golfing or practicing outside, but it is the best option when it is <20* and snowy out.

Then i guess i will putt on the carpet from time to time as well.

[RRLavigne]

I'm very pro Optishot for cheap and fun in home winter practice. It has it's drawbacks, EVERY simulator does, even the $40,000 simulators have drawbacks! The only REAL golf is REAL GOLF played outside. BUT for $399 I think the Optishot is by far the best way to play and practice in your house during winter months. It's far from perfect, but it's FAR from useless and playing it is actually entertaining and you get useful feedback about your swing. Best $399 I ever spent on Winter in New England golf.

Oh and It's plastic but seems to be able to take a good wack from the club with no problem. (I've hit some really BAD fat shots where I smashed it with my iron and nothing bad hapened) I give it a 10 out of 10 for the price and recommend it to everyone I know in New England who golfs. OH i have NOTHING to do at all with Dancing Dog, I payed full price for my unit and accessories, I'm simply a happy customer who thinks it's an awesome product. SOOOOOOOOO much better then putting away my clubs for the winter.

[KRP18]

The typical indoor putting greens are so boring, we got totally fed up with them.  If you're handy -- make one that offers some variations like any green would.  We took a 4x8 sheet of CDX plywood, overlayed it with mastic and thinset (as if you were going to prep a floor for tile).  But instead of smoothing it out, purposely create undulations.  You need to do this with the thinset really thinned out so it doesn't make lumps on the plywood.  Mix it to the consistency of a pourable cake batter and be sure out all the lumps (use a drill w/attachment).  Make some areas "mounded" a little higher than others and leave some areas just bare wood.  If it dries too fast, don't worry, you can mix up more and "pour" it over the edges of your undulations to mimic a true slope to even it out with the bare areas.  Then cover the whole 4x8 sheet with fabric.  Don't like "astroturf" because it's too slow and tramples down.  The best fabric we found was to attach a high grade velour terry similar to a beach towl material.  That will give you a pretty good "stint" meter.  You can find suitable fabrics at hobby shops or craft stores that would be wide enough.  Look at drapery fabrics or bedding blankets or such for fabrics wide enough.  Then just turn it over and staple down tightly.  Best to use something similar to thin wood strips like screen mold on the backside to hold the staples.  It will be taughter and smoother.  Ours has lasted several years.  In fact, we store it in the garage standing up which naturely "warps it" slightly, so each time we use it there is actually some variation in it -- just like a real golf course.

[VegasRenegade]

I am working on setting up my practice area with a High speed video camera 240 frames/second,  I will pair this with VI on swing analyzer.  And maybe the Optishot All together should only cost about $600  Also can use the camera at the range.

[GolfGuy123]

how effective do you think chipping on carpet is for practice? when it was too cold last week...I chipped for 2 hours every night indoors on my carpet and you would have though I became a short game wizard...I was literally hitting any spot I chose at a target and could do it over and over and over. Then when it finally warmed up so I could get outdoors, my chipping was terrible and I skulled / chunked a handful as a normally do during a round. I will admit that I did have better overall mechanics but...based on how I was chipping when practicing indoors, I was thinking I might have better results out on the course...guess nothing beats the real thing ;)

[Hammer 4]

how effective do you think chipping on carpet is for practice? when it was too cold last week...I chipped for 2 hours every night indoors on my carpet and you would have though I became a short game wizard...I was literally hitting any spot I chose at a target and could do it over and over and over. Then when it finally warmed up so I could get outdoors, my chipping was terrible and I skulled / chunked a handful as a normally do during a round. I will admit that I did have better overall mechanics but...based on how I was chipping when practicing indoors, I was thinking I might have better results out on the course...guess nothing beats the real thing ;)

Long time ago I had this really thick area rug in my 3 car garage, and use to chip balls into buckets for hours on end. I also chipped on my front lawn. Without bragging, I became fairly good after a year or so. The one thing you can't replicate is the conditions at the course, i.e. the rough around the greens, so you have to figure out which technique to apply to a given condition. Also, I practiced flop shots on my lawn, takes some nerves as 1 bad swing could end up hitting a car, or a window in a house..lol

[bjwestner]

The typical indoor putting greens are so boring, we got totally fed up with them.  If you're handy -- make one that offers some variations like any green would.  We took a 4x8 sheet of CDX plywood, overlayed it with mastic and thinset (as if you were going to prep a floor for tile).  But instead of smoothing it out, purposely create undulations.  You need to do this with the thinset really thinned out so it doesn't make lumps on the plywood.  Mix it to the consistency of a pourable cake batter and be sure out all the lumps (use a drill w/attachment).  Make some areas "mounded" a little higher than others and leave some areas just bare wood.  If it dries too fast, don't worry, you can mix up more and "pour" it over the edges of your undulations to mimic a true slope to even it out with the bare areas.  Then cover the whole 4x8 sheet with fabric.  Don't like "astroturf" because it's too slow and tramples down.  The best fabric we found was to attach a high grade velour terry similar to a beach towl material.  That will give you a pretty good "stint" meter.  You can find suitable fabrics at hobby shops or craft stores that would be wide enough.  Look at drapery fabrics or bedding blankets or such for fabrics wide enough.  Then just turn it over and staple down tightly.  Best to use something similar to thin wood strips like screen mold on the backside to hold the staples.  It will be taughter and smoother.  Ours has lasted several years.  In fact, we store it in the garage standing up which naturely "warps it" slightly, so each time we use it there is actually some variation in it -- just like a real golf course.

Almost Golf balls are great for practice indoors.  The will not break anything and have the same size as real golf balls.

Regarding putting indoors, it can be boring but not if you have the right equipment.  Before I got the Puttist, which I highly recommend getting to putt indoors, I even had a 15 foot long by 3 feet wide bent grass synthetic putting green and that worked good for a while but I was limited to 15 feet.  I suggest looking into the Puttist because that way you can practice putts up to 45 feet in length.

For swings....I use a weighted swing trainer aid that I got at GG and you can find them anywhere.  It works well I think.