I’m a huge fan of up-cycling and utilising objects that you already own to help improve your game. There are plenty of household items that will help you hit it further and more consistently, as well as lower your score on the green. Here are some of my favourites.
Sock It To Them
If you are prone to an overswing then this sock drill will help. You may think it odd that a sock can improve your action, but it’s really effective in eliminating collapsed arms and engaging your core.
Adopt an athletic golf posture holding a sock at each end and maintain that tension. From the address position, with arms hanging down, make a smooth full turn and keep hold of that tension. If you collapse your arms, the tension will disappear. Make a solid turn through to a finish and notice how rotational the swing feels and how much your body engages.
Chop Out The Scoop
Put a chopstick under your watch strap and practice some small chip shots, or even just the action indoors. If you have a tendency to flick your wrists, you’ll feel that jab of the stick. Harsh, but this will really help you to maintain that lower case ‘y’ as you chip, and will stop you trying to add loft.
Have A Ball
A slightly deflated football or basketball can be a really useful training aid. You can sandwich it between your forearms to help you feel a pendulum action and to eliminate a chicken wing on the way through impact. Much like an impact ball, but this one you happened to find lying in the garden!
My favourite use for a ball that’s seen better days is to use it to help engage the body and transfer weight through impact. Standing in your golf posture, hold the ball softly in both hands as your arms hang down. Your target should be the garage wall or side of the house.
Swing by performing a half swing and feel the weight load behind the ball, then drive through from the ground up and throw the ball against the wall. If your body has moved in the correct sequence your ball will hit straight on your target line. If you neglect to use your bigger muscles and the arms take over (as happens so often in the golf swing) you’ll lose the ball either right or left. Aim for a solid smack into the wall, not a delicate pop. This drill doubles up as wonderful stress relief! You can also do it indoors with a cushion into an armchair.
Add Some Sparkle To Your Putting
Practicing putting along the hallway isn’t a new phenomenon. The best putting mats have helped thousands of golfers improve on the greens. But how about changing your golf hole or putting cup for a smaller target? Enter a bottle of sparkly nail varnish. By putting to a tiny target, your margins of error shrink. Do your usual holing out drills and when you next set foot on the putting green the hole will look like a bucket!
Hang Three Putts Out To Dry
To ensure your putts hit a nail vanish bottle, your stroke has to be silky smooth and an everyday coat hanger can help. Some golfers struggle to feel a rocking action from the shoulders and can get too handsy with their stroke.
Slide a metal coat hanger up your arms and adopt your usual putting grip and posture. Eyes down and rock your shoulders back and through. That feeling of connection means the hands will be softer and quieter and you can finally control the distance with length of stroke, not how much flick you give it. An end to your holing out hangups!
Towel Time
This one is a great DIY project. Roll up a small towel and gently secure the ‘sausage’ with hair ties or elastic bands. You now have a training aid to swing indoors without smashing the place up.
Hold onto one end and allow the other to hang freely. Make some great swings, feeling your body turning and keep the movement going until you finish. The towel will thump your back at the top of your swing.
This drill requires a correct sequence of movements so every part swings in order - body, arms, then the towel. Get out of sync and this action will feel messy. Another option is to take the sock mentioned earlier, and simply add a tennis ball or a medium weight dog ball in the end of it.
Stick It On And Square Up
Blu tack a tee peg to your clubface and point it so it’s at a right angle to your grooves. Use this to check your clubface alignment at address, in the takeaway, and with super slow motion swings, ensure it’s square through impact. A great checkpoint is to swing to hip height. The tee should be pointing away and behind you in a mirrored position.
There are some brilliant training aids on the market, but it often pays to delve into your cupboards at home and get inventive. If you’ve got children who play golf, set them a challenge on a rainy day to invent the best training aid or drill. This is a great activity for junior golfers and you never know they may invent something that really helps your golf and sparks a new idea for a product of the future.
