Practicing golf at home might be easier than you think. If you can find 15 minutes between conference calls or some spare time before dinner with the family, then you have time to work on lowering your scores.

Let’s look at some ways to practice at home that will lead to improving your score on the course:

At-Home Putting Drills

You can do almost any golf putting drill in the comfort of your own home with items you have around the house. Here are a few of our go-to’s:

Putt One-Handed

This one speaks for itself. Start with using your dominant hand to create a smooth putting stroke that properly releases the clubface. Bonus points: this drill also improves your hand-eye coordination.

When practicing one-handed focus on feeling the putter swing without a lot of tension in your wrist or fingers. Allow the putter weight to help you feel how hard you need to hit the putt to get it the intended distance. For this drill focus on a target and your distance, not whether it goes in the hole. As you get more comfortable, switch to your other hand and do the same drill - you will be amazed at the difference in feel and challenge but this is a great way to develop the touch you need to putt better.

Gate Putting Drills

Tiger Woods made gate putting famous, so you know it works. The idea is to set up “gates” to roll the ball through to get to the hole. This requires proper execution of the line and speed of the putt. At home, you can simply use coins instead of tees.

Speed Control Drills

Your home might be the best place to try out different elements and challenge your skills. A hardwood floor could stand in for a very quick green and a thicker carpet could be a slow putting surface. Try different length putts on various surfaces around your house to solidify your stroke.

How to Practice Your Swing at Home

With these tips, you’ll always be able to practice your swing on your time, rain or shine. But first, you might need to pick up some equipment.

Golf Simulator

Adding a golf simulator to your home is the best solution if you really want to make gains in your game. Whether you go with an overhead launch monitor or a ground simulator may depend on how much space you have and how much money you want to spend, but both have similar benefits with some nuances.

Mirror

You can check your posture, swing position, and weight distribution. Take some slow-motion swings in front of a mirror to see where your club is at the top of your swing and what your impact position looks like. This is great practice if you are working on a specific change with your coach or PGA instructor.

Mental Prep

The legendary Bobby Jones once said, “Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course - the distance between your ears.”Any golfer knows there’s a huge mental aspect to the sport, so it’s important to stay sharp and centered. Here’s a couple easy ways to get your head in the game:

Watch and Study the Pros

We figured you’d like the sound of this one. You can glean a lot of valuable insight just by watching the pros play on TV with your snack of choice close at hand. Be sure to listen to their conversations with their caddies and pay attention to how they handle pressure. You can also take note of how they visualize and plan shots before starting their swing.

Reflect on Your Last Round

We all make mistakes, and it’s okay as long as we learn from them! Spend some time thinking about your last round and grade your course management. Think about which aspects of your game caused you to lose strokes and write down the areas you did well. Learn from your mistakes but stay focused on the positive and what you did well.

Manage Your Stress Level

Did one bad shot bring down your whole round? Don’t let a bad hole bring your whole day to its knees. Work on re-focusing your attitude and shaking off the failures to improve your overall game. When we get mad or see our playing partners getting frustrated we are reminded of the great Lou Holtz’s comment. “I see the best players in the world every week, and all I can tell you is, you're not good enough to get mad.”

Improve Your Game on Your Schedule

Life will always have a funny way of throwing roadblocks in between you and your passions. But practicing golf at home means that you’ll never have to put what you love on the back burner when the weather, your schedule, or life in general has other plans. Follow these simple drills and take advantage of the time you have when you have it; it will help you have more fun and keep your skills improving.

Ready to get started? Check out the EYE XO All-in package to get everything you need to build your at-home setup.