Tips for Practicing Your Golf Swing in the Winter

Winter is the ideal time to buckle down and sharpen your golf swing before the spring season arrives. By practicing regularly and following a few simple steps, you can keep your club hot through the winter months!

Swing a Weighted Club  

Weighted clubs are designed to help players build strength and improve timing and form while swinging. By swinging a weighted club a few minutes per day, you can strengthen your wrists and stabilize your clubhead speed. 

Practice in the Mirror 

Use a mirror to watch your golf swing. Seeing your swing from a distance can help you visualize where you need improvement. Full-length mirrors work best, as they allow you to see all aspects of your swing.

Record Your Swing

Recording your gold swing using a video camera or cell phone helps you notice minor details and inconsistancies in your swing so you can make target improvements and drive your scores down. You don’t need an expensive setup to film your swing—modern smartphones are more than capable of shooting a sharp enough picture.

Improve Your Grip  

Maintaining a firm grip is arguably the most important aspect of a strong golf swing. A strong grip is conducive to a powerful swing, while a weak grip can lead to weak hits— not to mention the dangers posed by losing your grip on your club, sending it flying.

Try out these tips to improve grip strength and position:

Purchase a club with a training grip attached
Grip your club during TV commercials and release once it’s over
Wrap a piece of paper around the grip of a regular club—when you hear the paper crinkle, release and start over

Winter Golf Drills for Chipping and Putting  

Golf drills are among the most effective ways to improve your swing in the offseason, especially if you run through them at a facility with tools to help you improve, such as an indoor driving range or a dedicated golf school. If there’s nowhere to golf in the winter near you, you can practice your swing on any carpet floor. Although carpet doesn’t provide accurate speed, it can help with practicing the motion of chipping and putting.  

Putting 

Practicing indoors will help improve your putter face alignment, putting routine, and proper eye position. Each golf course green will differ in slope, but making general improvements to your technique helps establish consistency. 

Putter Face Alignment 

Running through indoor drills can help keep your putter aligned during your swing. Find indoor winter golf drills you’re comfortable with and practice keeping your wrists and elbows firm while you swing.  

Putting Routine 

Most golfers struggle with keeping their head down during putting, especially during tense moments. Use the offseason to work on keeping your head low so you can maintain control throughout your swing.  

Eye Position  

Focusing your eyes on the ball during your swing helps bridge the gap between where your club is and where you want it to go. Changing where you focus on the ball can impact where, when, and how strong your contact is. Improving your eye position between the ball and your non-dominant eye is one of the easiest aspects of your swing to work on during winter. Because eye position drills don’t require hitting a golf ball, this is a great area of focus for those who don’t have a convenient place to golf indoors.

Chipping 

Practice chipping indoors to improve your chances of consistently hitting your target landing zone. 

Hitting a Target Landing Spot with Different Trajectories 

You don’t need very much equipment to practice chipping to a target landing zone. Line up chipping clubs, grab your bucket of golf balls, place a target—a net if you have one—and chip away! 

Develop a Chipping Routine 

Each golfer’s chipping style is different. For example, some golfers prefer to keep the ball ont he ground as much as possibe, while other golfers prefer the ball bounce and spin as it rolls toward the hole. Read up on the different strategies and practice those which align with your golfing style. Remember, a strong chipping routine should consistent, powerful, and above all, repeatable.

Improve Strength and Flexibility  

While improving your body’s strength and flexibility won’t improve your swing on its own, keeping your body strong will help you avoid injury and fatigue when the spring season arrives. The three most active muscle grousp during a game of golf are the legs, chest, and back. Strengthening these three musucle groups can add speed and power to your swing while lowring the risk of pulled muscles or other injuries. Hitting the gym in the offseason to lift weights or work on cardio will prepare you to walk 18 holes and hit tough shots. 

Sign Up for Golf Lessons 

Lessons are among the most effective ways to improve your swing. Meeting with a professional golf instructor allows you to drawn on their experience—as well as your own—and improve your form, power, and control beyond what you could have done on or own. Many golf instructors will even personalize their curriculum to focus on the areas where you need the most improvement.

For those new to golf, professional lessons are a great place to build confidence and get your swing where you want it to be before your first game.

Show Off Your Skills at Blackberry Ridge 

Blackberry Ridge Golf Club is among the most luxurious golf clubs in Minnesota. Our beautiful, 18-hole course caters to all skill levels, and our specialized golf simulator helps golfers hone their craft so they can shatter their score goals in the spring. Take a virtual tour and view our special rates to be green-ready for the regular season.