How to practise golf at home this winter

The principle: train what the room can teach

Indoor practice is excellent for start line, setup, grip and impact positions. It is less useful for judging full-shot ball flight. Build the winter session around the things your living room can measure honestly, then take those habits to the range when weather allows.

1. Five minutes: build the same grip

Take your normal address and place your hands on the club slowly. Check the lead-hand knuckles, the pressure in the final three fingers and whether both hands work together. Make ten careful grips before making a swing. A moulded golf grip trainer is useful here because it gives tactile feedback rather than asking you to copy a photograph.

2. Ten minutes: own your putting start line

Choose a straight six-foot putt. Place a gate just wider than the ball about 30 centimetres in front of it and roll ten putts through without touching either side. The result at the far end matters less than whether the ball begins on line.

A marked 3-metre putting mat makes the start line visible. If your setup changes between putts, add a putting alignment mirror to check eye line, shoulders and face angle before each stroke.

3. Ten minutes: distance control, not just holing putts

Put down three targets at different distances. Roll one ball to each target in sequence, then work back towards you. Your goal is to finish within a putter-head length of the target. Changing distance on every stroke stops the session becoming a groove for one single putt.

4. Five minutes: rehearse impact

Make slow half-swings into an impact bag filled with towels. Pause at contact. The lead wrist should feel stable, the hands slightly ahead of the clubhead and the chest continuing towards the target. Speed adds little indoors; position and repetition are the point.