As the winter months draw closer, the opportunities for amateur golfers to work on their game are few and far between.
Yes, we can head to the driving range in the dark, wrapped up warm, and hit ball after ball until our fingers freeze. We can search for our ball through the leaves during the fall, or rush out in the afternoon to catch the last few hours of sunlight.
It’s simply not as easy, and sometimes impossible, to put real hours into your game during the winter compared to the summer. There are fewer hours of daylight, and the weather is far less forgiving.
But fear not! Bryson DeChambeau has a drill for amateur golfers to work on their game without going outside! You don’t need a golf sim or a hitting net. All you need is a mat to swing your club against and some tape.
Bryson DeChambeau’s indoor drill for amateur golfers
For DeChambeau’s drill, all you need is a mat you don’t mind swinging your club against and some tape.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, DeChambeau told amateurs how they can take a bunker drill he once showed Rick Sheils indoors. In this drill, the two-time US Open winner drew a line in the sand and practised hitting the sand on the line with his club.
The concept of the drill is to ensure consistency with ball striking, making sure the low point of the swing is just after the ball. For those who don’t have access to a bunker or want to practice indoors, DeChambeau told amateurs how they can easily adapt the drill.
He said, “I saw comments saying it’s too cold out, it’s not the right time of the year, all I have is a hitting net, all I got is a mat. I’m here to answer your questions. All you need is masking tape.
“The first thing we’re going to do is go over what Rick Shiels and I went over. After that lesson, most people were like, ‘How do I write on the turf? How do I put a line in the turf? Well, you can put masking tape on the turf.
“You get a piece of tape, tape it down. Or put a Sharpie line in it if you want to draw on your turf. You can spray paint it, you can do a bunch of different things, but you can put a line down, whatever you designate.
“You’ll see if you’re striking in front of it or not. This is a great way right here to start out. Get your 60°, set your line down so it’s like a starting line. If you chunk it, you’re immediately going to pull up that tape, and if you hit in front of it, you’re not going to hit the tape.
“The goal here is to feel like you fractionally just clip the front edge of that tape and make sure that your divot is in front of that line, and you’re going to see on the astro turf will barely start peeking up, and then there’s a lot of turf coming up, so I know that I’m hitting it after the line.
“It’s a great visual aid, and it’s also a way to practice if you’re not in the sand. If you don’t have sand, and it’s too cold out, you don’t need a simulator for this. All you need is just a piece of turf.”
How good a 10 handicapper should be at Bryson DeChambeau’s drill
DeChambeau went on to explain how good you should be at this drill depending on your handicap. Any golfer can hit the right part of this tape once. But DeChambeau said your consistency will determine your handicap.
He said, “I would say a good metric to go off of if you want to be consistent up to let’s say a 10 handicap level, you’ve got to be able to hit this thing, I’d say five times in a row. If you can do five times in a row, you’re well on your way to breaking the 10 handicap level.
“If you want to be a scratch golfer, I’d say you’ve got to hit this about 10 times, probably. 10 to 12 times is when you can start feeling like you’re close to becoming a scratch golfer with the consistency that you can produce.
“And then a tour player can do it 20 times pretty easily without making a mistake. I think that’s something that a lot of people miss, is that they focus on, ‘I did it once, and that’s good enough. I know how to do it.’ No, golf is not a game of, ‘Oh I can do it once.’
“It just goes to show you it’s not about what you can do, it’s about how many you can do. I think that’s a huge key that most people don’t realize, and in order to be one of the best golfers in the world, that’s the level of thought that you have to get to in order to maintain that level of ball striking consistency in your game.
“To play at the highest level, you’ve got to be able to do this once, twice, three times, and as you get better at it, you’re going to start seeing your ball striking improving over the course of time.
“Lowering your handicap, getting to a place where you can consistently hit good shot, after good shot, which is the key to the game. It’s not about how good your good shots are, it’s about how good your bad shots are. That’s the most important thing in the game of golf.”
So thanks to DeChambeau, we all have something to work on over the winter. This is a key aspect in becoming a scratch golfer, and an area where we can make vast improvements without leaving the house.
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