How to Fix Common Swing Flaws at Home

By How to Practise Putting Indoors During Winter
Comments 35
17 Aug 2026

Why home practice works for Kent golfers

Kent club life is wonderful, but it can be relentless. Between midweek medals, weekend roll-ups and the social pull of the 19th hole, finding a spare hour for the range is not always easy. The good news is that the two most common swing flaws among amateur players — early extension and poor posture — can be improved without hitting a single ball. All you need is a mirror, a little patience and a willingness to move in slow motion. Your living room, garage or patio doors can become a useful practice space.

The key is to treat home practice as quality over quantity. Ten focused minutes with a mirror will teach your body more than fifty rushed swings with a driver. You are not trying to groove a new swing path here. You are re-educating your posture and your pivot, which is exactly what early extension disrupts.

Diagnosing early extension in the mirror

Early extension is the loss of your original spine angle as you rotate through impact. Your hips move towards the ball, your chest lifts, and your backside comes off its imaginary wall. It often feels powerful, but it costs you consistency and compresses your strike. To see it, stand in front of a full-length mirror in your address posture. Cross your arms.

Down-the-line view: Turn so the mirror is behind you. Make a slow backswing and downswing. Watch your backside. If it moves towards the mirror — towards the ball — you are extending early.
Face-on view: Check your head height. If your head and chest rise significantly before impact, your posture is changing.
Knee flex: Your right knee (for a right-handed golfer) should retain some flex and move towards the target, not straighten and thrust forward.

Do not judge yourself harshly. The point is simply to gather feedback. Most golfers are shocked by how much they stand up when they see it in slow motion. That awareness alone starts the correction.

Three slow-motion drills to restore posture

Perform each drill at roughly a third of normal speed. Count three seconds back, three seconds down. The slowness is what allows your brain to feel the correct positions.

The wall drill. Stand with your backside lightly touching a wall or closed door. Take your address posture, then make a half-speed backswing and downswing while keeping your trail cheek in contact with the wall. You will feel your hips want to thrust forward. Resist that urge. Do five repetitions.
The chair drill. Place a dining chair behind you so the seat edge is just behind your backside. As you swing to the top and through, keep your backside brushing the chair. If you lose contact, you have extended early. This gives immediate, physical feedback without a mirror.
The pump drill. From address, swing to the top, then pump your arms down to hip height and back up. Repeat three times. On the final downswing, feel your chest stay over the ball and your belt buckle move towards the target, not towards the ball. Check your head does not rise.

Simple feedback tools you already own

You do not need expensive training aids. A few household items will do the job. An alignment stick or a broom handle placed in the ground at an angle behind you can show if your backside moves towards the ball. A towel rolled under your trail armpit encourages connection. An empty plastic bottle placed just behind your trail heel — knock it over and you have swayed or thrust, keep it upright and you have rotated correctly.

Your phone is the most valuable tool. Prop it on a shelf and film your swing at 60 frames per second or slow-motion. Watch it back without judgement. Look for three things: head movement, hip position and spine angle. Compare a practice swing with a real swing. Often the flaw only appears when you are trying to hit a ball. That is useful information, not a failure.

Building a ten-minute evening routine

Kent evenings are perfect for this. After dinner, before the club quiz night or the following morning's roll-up, run through a simple routine. Start with two minutes of gentle hip rotations and shoulder turns. Then do three sets of five slow-motion wall drills. Follow with three sets of five chair drills. Finish by filming two full swings — one with a mid-iron, one with a driver if you have space. Watch them once, note one thing to change, then stop. Do not try to fix everything at once.

Consistency matters more than duration. Four short sessions across a week will beat one long marathon on a Sunday. Treat it like a mini practice session at your club, just without the journey or the weather.

Taking the feeling to the course

When you next play at your Kent club, you will be tempted to think about a dozen things. Resist. Pick one feeling from your home practice — for example, keeping your backside against the imaginary wall — and use only that. On the first tee, make a slow rehearsal swing before you address the ball. On the course, notice when you early extend. Do not criticise, just observe. Over time, the correct posture will feel normal, and your ball striking will become more consistent, especially in the wind and on the firm fairways that Kent courses are famous for.

Home practice will not replace playing, but it will make your club life more enjoyable. You will arrive at the first tee with a body that knows how to stay in posture. And that is a quiet, powerful advantage.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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