Best Golf Drills for Every Swing Fault (Organized by Pattern)

Most golf drill guides give you 50 drills and leave you to figure out which ones apply to your swing. This guide is different. It is organized by fault pattern, and each drill is linked to the specific biomechanical gate it trains. If you know your fault, jump directly to that section. If you do not know your fault, upload a swing to GOATY's analyzer first.

Drills for Excessive Head Sway (G3 Gate)

The Wall Drill

Stand with a wall or door frame touching the outside of your lead hip. Make backswings. If your head touches the wall during the backswing, you are swaying laterally. The wall provides instant tactile feedback. Do 20 reps per session until the head stays clear of the wall consistently.

The Flashlight Drill

Hold your phone with the flashlight on against your sternum. Make slow backswings and watch where the light beam moves on the floor. If it slides laterally more than a few inches, your sternum (and head) are swaying. The beam should stay within a small circle on the floor.

GOATY Live Lesson (Recommended)

The most effective approach: GOATY tracks your head position in real time and tells you after every rep how much lateral movement occurred. 70.3% of students improved head stability with this feedback approach. See the full Head Movement Guide.

Drills for Lead Arm Collapse (G2 Gate)

The Backhand Prep Drill

Before each swing, extend your lead arm and make a backhand preparation motion (as if hitting a tennis backhand with just your lead hand). Feel the arm firm up naturally. Then immediately take your grip and make a swing, maintaining that firmness. This is GOATY's highest-rated cue for G2. See the full Lead Arm Control Guide.

The Towel Drill

Place a towel under your lead armpit. Make swings without dropping the towel. This forces the arms to stay connected to the body, which naturally promotes better arm extension because the body drives the movement rather than the arms acting independently.

Drills for Loading Issues (G1 Gate)

The Hip Depth Drill

Place an alignment stick or club shaft behind your trail hip, angled toward the ground behind you. During the backswing, push the stick backward with your trail hip. If the stick falls toward the ball, you are sliding laterally instead of creating depth. See the full Loading Guide.

The Chair Drill

Place a chair or stool just outside your trail hip at address. During the backswing, your trail glute should press back into the chair. If you press sideways into it, you are sliding. If you miss it entirely, you are not creating enough depth.

Drills for Sequencing (G4-G5 Gates)

The Step Drill

Make a backswing, then step your lead foot toward the target before swinging down. This forces the lower body to initiate the downswing. After 20 reps with the step, make normal swings maintaining the lower-body-first feeling.

The Pump Drill

Start the downswing, pause at waist height, return to the top, and repeat 3 times before completing the swing. Builds awareness of the transition moment. See the full Sequencing Guide.

Drills for Contact Quality

The Tee Drill (Fat/Thin Shots)

Place a tee in the ground and try to clip just the top of it with your iron, without hitting the ground behind it. This trains the bottom of your swing arc to be at the ball position rather than behind it. Start with half swings and progress to full swings.

The Line Drill

Draw a line on the ground (or place a thin towel). Set up with the ball on the target side of the line. Your divot should start at the line and extend toward the target. If the divot starts behind the line, you are hitting fat.

Drills for Clubhead Speed

The Speed Training Protocol

Swing a light object (alignment stick or speed training stick) as fast as you can. Make 10 swings at maximum speed, then immediately make 5 swings with your normal club. The contrast training effect increases neural drive and recruits faster-twitch muscle fibers.

Important: speed training only works after your mechanics are sound. Adding speed to a broken pattern just makes the pattern fail faster. Fix mechanics first (head stability, arm structure, sequencing), then add speed.