5 quick at-home drills that will help you hit the ball solid immediately

Professional golf instructor Tony Ruggiero, known for his work with players of all levels, has shared five effective drills designed to help golfers improve their ball contact without ever leaving home. These drills, crafted for quick implementation and immediate impact, focus on correcting common issues related to posture, rotation, and lower body stability.

Ruggiero emphasizes that most amateurs don't need a complete swing overhaul. Instead, the focus is on developing the right feel for how the club can work and finding the optimal impact point. "Most amateurs don’t need a swing overhaul, they just need to find the ground in the right spot to get solid contact, and do it with a good pivot," he notes. Simple exercises that can be performed at home, in the gym, or in a parking lot before a round encourage consistent practice and yield tangible results.

These five drills require neither a bucket of balls nor a trip to the course. They can be run through in a living room or backyard and will help golfers find the ball at the bottom of their swing more consistently, make more solid contact, hit it farther, and gain more control over its curve.

1. Find your balance

Before you can do anything else well, you need to be hinged correctly at your waist so your hips can turn and load instead of sliding. Set up in your posture and check that the base of your spine is stacked under the top of your spine — not tipped forward or hanging back. You should feel roughly 50/50 in your weight distribution, evenly balanced between your feet. Get that feeling right at address, and everything downstream gets easier.

2. Stabilize your lower body

A lot of golfers move their pressure side to side instead of rotating — sliding laterally on the way back and again on the way down. When your lower body is sliding around like that, it’s nearly impossible to find the same low point twice. Stand on two small balance discs so your base is a little unstable. Hold a club across your chest and make some slow backswings and downswings. The instability underneath you won’t let you lurch or slide; your body has no choice but to stay centered while it turns.

3. Add rotation to your forward swing

If you stay stuck on your back foot and never rotate your upper body through the ball, you’ll never get the low point of your swing out in front of it, where it needs to be. Grab a light resistance band and stretch it so your arms are fully extended out to your sides — like you’re about to give somebody a big hug. Get into your golf posture, then turn your shoulders fully going back and fully going through, all without ever letting the band go slack. That tension is what teaches your upper body to keep rotating instead of stalling out.

4. Hold your spine tilt

This one will feel strange the first time you try it, but the results show up immediately. Hold a club across your chest like you did in tip 2, and this time watch the angle it makes with the ground as you turn back and through. If you keep the same spine tilt you had at address, that club stays at a consistent angle the whole way around. Lose your posture, and it’ll move parallel with the ground. Come over the top, and it’ll go more vertical. Use the club as your mirror, and keep that angle locked in.

5. Push off the ground to rotate your hips

The last piece is learning to use the ground to rotate your hips while staying in posture, instead of standing up or leaning through the shot. Use that same stretchy exercise band and have a partner the middle of it. Grab each end in one hand, and start your backswing like you’re pulling the cord on a lawn mower with your right (trail) hand. Push off the ground, and don’t let the band pull you forward! Now initiate the downswing by pulling with your left hand. The pull from the band forces your hips to actually rotate instead of stalling at the top or through impact.