Indoor Golf Swing Drills for Game Improvement During the Off-Season

Few golfers look forward to the off-season.

You’d prefer to just keep playing all year long, but that isn’t an option in many climates.

The good news is this – you can leverage the time available in the off-season to work on the weaknesses in your game.

With some hard work and a good plan, you can be ready to hit the first tee with confidence when next season rolls around.

You don’t even have to find a covered or indoor driving range to work on making improvements to your golf swing. This article is focused on a few drills that you can use without stepping foot outside.

Make these drills a regular part of your winter routine and you just might hit the ball better than ever before in the year ahead.

#1 Master Your Grip

For this first drill, we aren’t even going to work on the moving part of the swing. Instead, this “drill” focuses on the grip – and calling this a drill is even a bit generous.

Basically, all you are going to do here is repeat taking your grip over and over again, as often as you like, throughout the off-season.

There is something about getting comfortable with the way the club feels in your hands that can help you perform better once you are back on the course. To do this, just keep a golf club nearby in your home or office so you can quickly pick it up and form your grip a few times.

For example, you might leave a 7-iron by the desk in your office throughout the off-season. When you have a few moments free during the day, pick it up and take your grip.

You don’t even need to get up out of your chair – just take your grip, make sure it feels solid and secure, and put the club back down.

This habit is one of the simplest ways you can get more comfortable holding a golf club properly.

#2 Create a Perfect Takeaway

So much of how your golf shots will turn out is determined within the first few moments of the backswing.

If you take the club away from the ball properly, you’ll be set up for success. Alternatively, if you get off course right from the start, it’s nearly impossible to recover.

One of the best things you can work on in the off-season is dialing in your takeaway just right.

And, since working on the takeaway doesn’t require you to make a full swing, it’s the perfect thing to hone while you are stuck inside during the cold months of the year.

To master your takeaway for next season, follow the steps below:

1. Grab any club other than your putter to get started. While any of your full swing clubs will work, a shorter one might make it easier to find the space you need indoors
2. To start the drill, take your stance as if you were going to hit a standard full shot. Even though you aren’t hitting the ball, or even making a full swing, pick out something to use as a target so you can practice the skill of aiming your shots, as well
3. As the takeaway starts, be careful to keep your hands and wrists out of the equation. Your takeaway move should be driven by the rotation of your shoulders turning your upper body away from the target
4. This drill stops when the shaft of the club becomes parallel with the ground. At this point, make sure the club is not wrapped around you to the back – it should be roughly running down an extension of the target line. If you have wrapped the club around you too early in the swing, it’s nearly certain that your hands are to blame
5. Repeat the drill as many times as you would like, stopping each time when the club becomes parallel to the ground. If you are used to using your hands too actively in the takeaway, this drill will help you break that habit in a controlled environment before you test it out at the range or on the course

It’s hard to find the time during the season to work on your takeaway, so this part of your technique is the perfect thing to work on when you have some time away from the course.

Photo via GolfDistillery.com

With any luck, an improved takeaway will lead to better ball striking and consistency moving forward.

#3 No-Club Tempo Drill

One of the hardest things to rediscover after a long off-season is your tempo.

Having an even, reliable tempo is a huge part of hitting good shots, but the tempo that you have come to use during the past season might go missing as you spend some months away from the course.

With this club-free drill, you can hopefully maintain your tempo and pick up where you left off when it’s time to play again.

This is a quick and easy drill, so you might want to make it part of your daily routine. It goes like this:

• You won’t use a club for this drill, but you do need a good place to stand and make a swinging motion with your hands
• Take your stance and hold your hands down in front of you, as if you were holding a golf club
• Start to make a “swing”, and say the number “1” out loud as the swing begins
• When you get halfway through the backswing, say “2”
• As you reach the top of this pretend backswing, say the number “3”
• When you swing down and reach the bottom of the swing, say “4” and swing on into the finish

This kind of counting routine will serve the purpose of evening out your tempo from start to finish. The goal is to keep the space between the numbers roughly even, so you don’t change your cadence throughout the swing.

It doesn’t matter if you swing fast or slow, as long as the tempo is steady.

No golfer likes the off-season, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be productive. Put these three drills to use at various times until the new season arrives and you just might be able to set some new personal bests in the coming year.