The shortlist. Not the full YouTube rabbit hole.

Groove a square putter face and a straight start line from short range.

1. Place two tees just wider than your putter head a few inches in front of the ball, forming a narrow gate.
2. Set up to a 4–6 foot putt with little to no break.
3. Stroke the ball through the gate without clipping either tee.
4. Make five in a row before moving back a foot.

If the ball can't pass through a gate this narrow, it was never going in anyway.

Build confidence by holing the short ones that matter most for your score.

1. Set six to eight balls in a circle around a hole, each exactly three feet away.
2. Hole every single one before moving to the next drill. No skipping.
3. If you miss, start the circle over from the beginning.
4. Once you can hole all eight consistently, move the circle to four feet.

Dave Pelz's research shows most three-putts begin by missing a short putt after a good lag. This drill fixes exactly that.

Keep your chipping motion connected so contact stays consistent.

1. Tuck a small towel under both upper arms so it sits across your chest.
2. Chip short shots focused on keeping the towel in place throughout.
3. If the towel drops, your arms disconnected from your body — the most common chipping fault.
4. Hit twenty chips trying to keep the towel in place all the way to the finish.

Most chipping misses come from the wrists or arms taking over rather than a connected shoulder rock.

Feel the correct wrist position at impact and train clean contact.

1. Hold your wedge with your trail hand only, dropping your lead hand to your side.
2. Chip short shots using only the trail hand — focus on keeping the wrist firm through impact.
3. If the wrist flips, the ball flies low or thin — that's the fault this drill exposes.
4. Do ten one-handed chips, then switch to both hands and notice the improved feel.

One-handed practice forces you to feel the correct wrist angle through impact — the thing beginners most often get wrong.

Build a repeatable, compact swing before adding length and speed.

1. Set up normally with a 7-iron or 8-iron, relaxed grip.
2. Swing the club back to 9 o'clock (hands at hip height), keeping the club face neutral.
3. Strike the ball and swing through to 3 o'clock (hands at hip height on the other side).
4. Hit twenty balls with this half swing, focusing on contact quality — not distance.

If you can't compress the ball with a half swing, a full swing won't fix it — it'll only make it faster and messier.

Keep your arms connected to your body through the swing.

1. Tuck a headcover or small towel under your trail-side arm, against your ribs.
2. Make slow, half-speed swings without letting it drop.
3. Build up to three-quarter swings while keeping it in place.
4. Hit a few real shots and notice how much more centred the contact feels.

Disconnection between arms and torso is one of the most common amateur faults — this makes it obvious the instant it happens.

Build confidence on the short putts that actually save your score.

1. Place balls in a circle around the hole, like a clock face, all the same distance.
2. Start at three feet and hole every ball before moving to the next position.
3. Miss one and restart the full circle at that distance.
4. Complete the circle at three feet, then stretch to five, then eight.

Most three-putts come from missing the short putt after a good lag — not from the lag itself.

Stop three-putting from long range by training speed first, line second.

1. Lay a club or alignment stick two feet beyond the hole on the far side.
2. From 25–40 feet, putt five balls trying to finish between the hole and the stick — the "safe zone".
3. Any ball short or past the stick counts as a miss, regardless of line.
4. Aim for at least three of five inside the safe zone before increasing the distance.

A two-putt from 40 feet beats a three-putt from 40 feet every time. Speed control is the whole skill at long range.

Train distance control across the full range of putts you face most rounds.

1. Mark 3, 6 and 9 feet from a chosen hole with tees.
2. Putt one ball from each distance, holing all three to complete a "ladder."
3. Miss any putt and restart the full ladder from 3 feet.
4. Count how many complete ladders you finish in ten minutes — beat it next session.

The pressure of restarting on a miss turns a routine practice into something that actually mirrors what you feel on the course.

Stop chunked and bladed chips by controlling your swing path.

1. Lay two sticks parallel, just wider than a ball's width apart, pointing at your target.
2. Place a ball between them and chip normally.
3. Watch whether your divot and clubhead stay inside the track without crossing either stick.
4. Narrow the track slightly once you're consistently staying inside it.

Instant visual feedback on swing path — no guessing where the miss came from.

Train your eye to aim at a landing spot, not the flag — the way good chippers actually think.

1. Place a hoop or a circle of tees on the green at different distances short of the hole.
2. Chip toward the landing circle — not the flag — and let the roll do the rest.
3. Vary club and trajectory to see how the landing spot needs to change for each shot.
4. Track how many of ten balls land inside the circle.

Good chippers aim at where the ball lands, then trust the roll — not at the flag directly.

Fix the "stuck on the back foot" miss that causes thin, weak shots.

1. Push an alignment stick into the ground just outside your front foot.
2. Take your normal setup.
3. At the start of the downswing, bump your front hip toward the stick before the club reaches the ball.
4. Hit a dozen shots focusing only on that hip movement — not the outcome.

If your weight never moves forward, your low point of contact never moves forward either — fat and thin shots follow.

Correct an outside-in swing path — the single biggest cause of a slice.

1. Lay one stick along the ball-target line, just outside the ball.
2. Lay a second stick parallel to it, just outside your stance — forming a narrow track.
3. Swing so the clubhead travels inside the outer stick through impact.
4. Hit ten balls, counting how many feel like they came from inside the track.

An over-the-top path that swings from outside the ball to inside is what creates a slicing contact every time.

Learn exactly where your club should enter the sand — the whole game in bunkers.

1. Draw two parallel lines in the sand a hand's width apart, perpendicular to your target.
2. Set a ball just behind the back line.
3. Swing so the club enters the sand inside the two lines — not before and not after.
4. Once your entry point is consistent without a ball, add one and play the real shot.

Bunker shots aren't about hitting the ball — they're about controlling exactly where the club enters the sand relative to the ball.

Improve transition sequencing so the lower body leads the downswing, not the arms.

1. Swing to the top of your backswing and pause for a deliberate one-second count.
2. During the pause, feel the lower body begin to shift toward the target before the arms move.
3. Then swing down — letting the body lead and the arms follow.
4. Hit fifteen balls with this exaggerated pause before transitioning to normal tempo.

Hideki Matsuyama is the most famous proponent of this — the pause trains the correct kinetic sequence that creates effortless power.

Compress the ball like a tour player — forward shaft lean at impact, hands ahead of the clubhead.

1. Set up with a short iron and drop a tee or alignment stick one foot ahead of the ball, in line with your lead hip.
2. Swing and make contact driving your hands through to the tee position before the face arrives.
3. Focus on the feeling of the handle leading the clubhead through impact — not the other way around.
4. Hit twenty balls with a short iron before moving to a longer club.

Amateurs typically let the clubhead catch the hands at impact (flipping). That destroys compression, spin, and distance. This drill builds the habit of hands-first impact.

Develop intentional control of ball flight — curving the ball on demand, not by accident.

1. Pick two targets: one slightly left (for a draw) and one slightly right (for a fade) of your main flag.
2. For a draw: aim your feet right of the target, close the face slightly relative to your swing path, and swing along your foot line.
3. For a fade: aim your feet left, open the face slightly, and swing along your foot line.
4. Alternate draw and fade on every shot, five of each, then compare results.

Understanding how face-to-path ratio determines curve transforms you from a reactive golfer into one who actually manages the course.

Hit a high, soft shot over an obstacle with no run — the shot that rescues par from nowhere.

1. Open the lob wedge face significantly before taking your grip (so the face points at the sky).
2. Open your stance to match — feet aiming left, face aiming at or right of the target.
3. Swing along your foot line (left) at full speed, letting the open face do the work of getting it high.
4. Practice over a bag or towel acting as an obstacle, building commitment to the full swing through the ball.

The flop shot fails when golfers decelerate out of fear. A committed, full swing with an open face is what gets the ball up — hesitation skulls it across the green.

Simulate the pressure of a short putt that matters — so you're not practicing in conditions that don't exist on the course.

1. Set eight balls at four different distances (two balls each at 3ft, 5ft, 8ft, 12ft).
2. Your goal: hole all eight in succession without a miss. Keep score honestly.
3. If you miss, note the distance, restart that distance pair, but continue counting your overall score.
4. Play three "rounds" (24 putts total) and track your score across sessions over weeks.

Mindless repetition doesn't transfer to on-course performance. Adding consequences and a score trains the mental process of putting under pressure — not just the mechanics.