5 Tips To Improve Your Golf This Winter

4 November 2022

Winter golf, cold, wet and often muddy – so how can you make the most of your time over these cold and dark months?

Good news – there are many ways you can improve your golf without playing or venturing out onto the golf course! Data from Shot Scope has allowed us to identify the key areas where amateur golfers need to improve and this article aims to give you some top tips about how you can easily do this – and the best bit is you can do most of this from the comfort of your own home!

1 – Gain speed and power

From the Shot Scope database of over 200 million shots, we can see the distances amateur golfers average with their Driver and 7 iron…  

Safe to say these distances are lower than you’d expect, so there is plenty of opportunity to gain some distance this winter.

Shot Scope data also shows that the closer you are the lower your scores are:

• Average Tee Shot distance when birdie made = 259y
• Average Tee Shot distance when par made = 246y
• Average Tee Shot when bogey or worse made = 233y

You can see for yourself the game of golf is evolving. Professional golfers are hitting the ball further and as more statistics become available everything leans towards hitting the ball further.

Increasing speed, power and Clubhead speed – how can you do this?

One program we highly recommend is investing in SuperSpeed. These are sticks that are similar to golf clubs but with varied weights on the end. Following their online program will help you gain speed this winter.

Alternatively, you can go to the gym. There are huge numbers of golf specific training programs and exercises you can follow that focus on all the key areas you need to improve in order to gain distance; power, speed, explosive moves and mobility. Why not check out FitForGolf?

2 – Practice putting in the house

Shot Scope have highlighted many times that ‘Drive for show, putt for dough’ really is a true thing. Amateur golfers leave a lot of room for improvement on the greens with a typical 15 handicap 3 putting twice per round!!

There are many tips and drills out there about how you can improve your putting, but here is one drill you can do in the comfort of your home that will improve the fundamentals of your putting.

Set up a putting gate

You can get something like this from PuttOut – or set up your own similar to below:

• Pick an area in your house where you can hit around a 10ft putt.
• Place a mug on its side to replicate the hole and give yourself a target to aim for.
• Put a ball down and address the ball. Now place two objects at either end of your putter (heel and toe), not touching your putter but very close.
• Practice hitting the 10ft putt without knocking the objects either side of your putter

This will help you get a more consistent strike, which will lead to better distance control on the golf course.

Training aids

There are many training aids out there than really help you improve the fundamentals of putting. Below are a few we would recommend:

• A putting mirror – checks set up position, shoulder alignment and eye alignment.
• Putting matt – help visualise a path for your putting stroke
• A steel ruler – ensure you start the ball on line and get it rolling end over end / hit it without any side spin

3 – Read golf books

Improve your mind-set and learn how to manage your expectations better by reading a book about golf this winter. Managing your expectations is crucial if you want to see improvements in your game – far too often amateurs think they have to hit every shot really close, or hole every putt. This is not the case.

Below are some of the top golf books we would recommend:

• Shot Scope eBooks – free to download

• Golf is not a game of perfect – Bob Rotella

• Putting out of your mind – Bob Rotella

• The Four Foundations of Golf – Jon Sherman

4 – Practice your swing in mirror

If you already work with a golf coach, you have probably been given drills to work on in your swing, or feelings you should try to recreate. A lot of this can be done away from the golf course and in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a long mirror. Simply stand and practice these drills in the mirror – it can be good to over exaggerate certain movements.

Your golf swing has likely been around for a while, so trying to change it can be difficult. The more you can exaggerate and ‘feel’ the movements or positions you are aiming for, the closer you will get to achieving these in your real swing.

5 – Learn the truth about your own game

No two golfers are the same, everyone has a unique swing and a unique mind – so why would you try and change something based of what others are doing?

Shot Scope allows you to truly understand exactly what your own strengths and weaknesses are and if from there you can start to build a plan for improvement.

Understanding your own golf game is fundamental if you are looking to improve. Just because your buddy says you suck at putting, it really doesn’t mean you are – your data might actually show you otherwise. So don’t beat yourself up or just take assumptions from others about what you should work on – discover the truth about your game with a Shot Scope shot tracking device.

_{Featured / cover image credit: Asiya27 / Shutterstock}