How to Practice Putting at Home: 9 Drills & a 25-Minute Practice Plan
When golfers think about improving their putting, their first thought is usually to find a perfect practice green.
But the truth is this: some of the biggest gains in putting happen at home.
Putting is one of the easiest skills to train indoors because you don’t need perfect green speeds or slopes. You only need a putter, a flat surface, and a plan.
Indoor putting practice works because it trains the mechanics that actually control your stroke, including wrist angles, face stability, center contact, and tempo.
We will show you what to practice at home, share some tips on how to do it correctly and give you the drills to make putting practice both effective and entertaining.
Work on Putting at Home (Key Takeaways)
- You don’t need a fancy indoor green to get better at putting a carpet can work just fine.
- Green speed doesn’t matter when practicing indoors because the skills that transfer to the course are face control, wrist stability, center contact, and tempo.
- HackMotion provides instant feedback on wrist angles so you avoid practicing the wrong motion.
- Use simple tools (cups, towel, alignment sticks) to build a reliable start line and better touch.
- A structured weekly plan beats randomly rolling putts across the living room floor.
- You’ll see the biggest gains when you combine mechanical feedback (HackMotion) with skill drills (gates, ladder, towel).
Contents
What You Need to Practice Putting at Home
You don’t need much to practice putting effectively indoors, just enough space and a few simple items.
- A flat carpet, rug, or hard-floor surface
- A putter
- 3–10 golf balls
- Two cups or tees for gates
- A small towel
- Alignment sticks (optional)
- HackMotion sensor (optional but extremely valuable)
- A doorway or straight edge for start-line checks
Tips for Better At-Home Putting Practice
Most golfers practice putting indoors without a plan and never see improvement.
These simple tips make your practice meaningful:
- Ignore green speed simply work on training the mechanics that transfer.
- Use immediate feedback. HackMotion shows your wrist angles instantly so you don’t guess.
- Keep your setup the same every day (ball position, stance width, eye line).
- Use a straight edge or doorway to check your start line.
- Hold your finish for one second to feel face stability.
- Use stroke-length checkpoints (tee, coin, tape).
- Experiment with grip pressure to find your most stable feel.
- Add pressure by giving yourself indoor challenges.
- Record your stroke weekly from face-on.
- Mix in “no-ball” reps to isolate motion patterns.
Want to go beyond putting and work on your entire game at home? How to Practice Golf at Home shows you a complete at-home routine for full swing, short game, and putting.
9 Best Putting Drills to Practice at Home & Indoors
1. Loft Control Drill
Indoor practice is the perfect time to build a repeatable impact position.
Since green speed doesn’t matter at home, you can focus entirely on how much loft you deliver at impact, something controlled by your wrist flexion/extension.
If you want to understand exactly how wrist action affects putting, you can also explore our full guide on Wrist Action in Putting.
HackMotion Putting Flexion / Extension Drill
Get a feel for the wrist movement that controls your putter’s loft.
HackMotion Putting Flexion / Extension Drill – Step by Step
- Open the Loft Control Drill inside the HackMotion app and connect your sensor.
- Set up for your putt and allow the app to detect your address position.
- Make a few strokes and monitor how much your lead wrist is bowing (flexion) or cupping (extension).
- Let the vibration feedback signal when you’re outside the ideal range.
- Practice stabilizing your wrist angles so the putter delivers the same loft every time.
- Repeat until your data shows a repeatable stroke within the app’s target zone.
2. Chopsticks Drill
Great putters move the putter, arms, and torso together. They eliminate handsy and inconsistent wrist flicks.
This drill helps you feel that connection instantly and is perfect for indoor mechanics training.
- Video Timestamp: 7:18
Chopsticks Drill – Step by Step
- Take two alignment sticks and secure them at the bottom with a rubber band to create a “V” shape.
- Tuck the sticks under your arms so they stay in place during your stroke.
- Rest the putter shaft or grip in the cradle formed between the two sticks.
- Make strokes while keeping the shaft cradled and maintaining a unified motion through your body and arms.
- Wear HackMotion to ensure your lead wrist stays steady and doesn’t collapse or overextend.
3. Stroke Length and Timing Drill
Tempo is the most underrated skill in putting. A smooth, reliable rhythm transfers perfectly from indoor carpet to outdoor greens.
This drill uses HackMotion’s metronome so your timing stays consistent no matter the putt length.
Stroke Length and Timing Drill – Step by Step
- Use tees or markers to set up three stroke lengths that match short, medium, and long putts (e.g., 2m, 4m, 10m).
- Open the Metronome feature in the HackMotion app and select a beat setting (75 BPM is a good starting point).
- Without a ball, practice backstroke and follow-through timing to match the beats.
- Add a ball and practice hitting putts using those same stroke lengths.
- Experiment with tempos to find what feels natural.
- Use HackMotion feedback to ensure your tempo remains consistent.
4. T-Rex Sweet Spot Gate Drill
Indoor practice gives you the chance to build more stable wrist positions, and that stability leads to better center-face contact.
The T-Rex setup helps quiet your wrists and keeps the putter moving on a predictable path.
T-Rex Sweet Spot Gate – Step by Step
- Place two tees slightly wider than your putter head to create a gate.
- Hold the putter out in front and align the shaft with your forearms.
- Point your index fingers slightly downward to create the “T-Rex arms” position.
- Bend into your stroke setup while maintaining that arm/wrist alignment.
- Hit putts through the gate without touching the tees.
- Use HackMotion to measure wrist stability through the stroke.
5. Grip Pressure Stability Drill
Grip pressure directly influences your wrist motion and stroke stability.
This drill helps you find the lightest pressure that still keeps your wrists from breaking down, a skill that translates beautifully to the course.
Grip Pressure Stability Drill – Step by Step
- Use HackMotion to measure radial/ulnar deviation and flexion/extension.
- Hit putts with an intentionally light grip.
- Evaluate the wrist motion shown in your data.
- Slightly increase grip pressure and repeat.
- Continue until you find your most stable grip pressure.
- Test with longer putts, where a bit more pressure may be useful.
6. Lag Putting Towel Drill
Indoor practice doesn’t allow long putts, but you can train feel and distance control.
The towel drill forces you to deliver the ball with the correct pace, not a perfect green speed.
- Video Timestamp: 5:38
Lag Putting Towel Drill – Step by Step
- Place a towel 6–15 feet away.
- Hit putts trying to stop the ball on the towel.
- Track how many out of 5 or 10 attempts succeed.
- Move the towel to different distances to vary the challenge.
- Add underhand tosses to improve feel and touch.
7. Rotation + Connection Drill
Many missed putts come from excess wrist rotation, not bad reads.
Holding a small ball between your forearms forces your arms, torso, and putter to move together, giving you a quieter, more consistent stroke pattern.
Rotation + Connection – Step by Step
- Place a small soft ball between your forearms.
- Maintain your normal grip while applying gentle pressure to the ball.
- Make strokes while keeping the ball secure wrist flicks will knock it out.
- Focus on moving arms and torso together.
- Use HackMotion to check that face rotation stays consistent.
- Continue until your stroke becomes smooth and connected.
8. Ladder Speed Drill
Distance control isn’t just about hitting one distance; it’s about adjusting between distances.
This drill teaches you to increase (and reverse) distance gradually, building feel and precision indoors.
Ladder Speed Drill – Step by Step
- Choose a start point and a far boundary (stick, line, towel).
- Hit your first putt just past the start of the zone.
- Mark where it stops.
- Hit your next putt a bit farther.
- Continue increasing distance until you miss short or go too long.
- Your score is how many “rungs” you climb.
- Reverse the drill to build even more touch.
9. Cup Gate Drill
You don’t need a putting green to fix start-line issues.
Two paper cups create a surprisingly effective gate that trains face angle and stroke stability.
Cup Gate Drill – Step by Step
- Place two cups on the ground wide enough for the putter to pass through.
- Begin with a wider gate and narrow it as you improve.
- Hit putts while keeping the putter moving cleanly through the gate.
- Make the gate smaller to increase difficulty.
- Track streaks to add pressure.
25-Minute At-Home Putting Practice Plan
Most golfers roll a few balls across the carpet and hope it does something. But putting improvement comes from repeating the right patterns, not guessing.
This plan rotates through all 9 drills across five days so you build:
- Wrist control
- Face stability
- Center contact
- Tempo
- Distance control
And because HackMotion gives instant feedback on your stroke mechanics, you’ll know your putting stroke is headed in the right direction.
Weekly At-Home Putting Practice Schedule (5 Days, 3 Drills per Day)
| Day | Drill 1 | Drill 2 | Drill 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Loft Control Drill | Chopsticks Drill | Towel Drill |
| Tuesday | Rotation + Connection Drill | T-Rex Gate Drill | Ladder Drill |
| Wednesday | Grip Pressure Drill | Cup Gate Drill | Metronome Drill |
| Thursday | Loft Control Drill | T-Rex Gate Drill | Ladder Drill |
| Friday | Rotation + Connection Drill | Chopsticks Drill | Towel Drill |
For more structured off-season improvement, you can follow the full program here: Off-Season Golf Training Program.
Final Thoughts
In addition to practicing drills at home with your putter, ensure you are also adding some pressure.
Use these drills to make your putts count and ensure that you focus on each one. It’s one of the only ways to carry your practice to the course. Using HackMotion feedback will also make practice more entertaining.
Simply rolling golf balls around your bedroom carpet isn’t going to help you become a better player.
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