Instruction
The best 8 ways to practice indoors with Trackman
In most places in the world it’s getting colder, so most golfers are headed indoors to practice. But don’t fret, there are still ways to get better and practice effectively! As we all know, practice without feedback can be difficult even for the most experienced players. However, I am here to show you a way you can kill two birds with one stone.
By now, most golfers know a teacher or fitter in their area who has a Trackman for teaching and/or fitting purposes. I would highly suggest you contact them to see if they will “rent” you an hour or two per week so you can practice with the unit. In this article, I want to show you how to practice with Trackman so you can work on things just like you would on the range in the middle of your golf season.
Trackman has more than 26 data parameters, but I want you to focus on a few simple ones during your practice sessions:
- Low Point: The club’s lowest point in the swing arc.
- Club Path: The direction of your swing (AoA + swing direction).
- Face Angle: The direction of the face at impact.
- Club Speed: The speed of the club at impact.
- Smash Factor: The correlation of club speed to the resulting ball speed.
- Dynamic Loft: The loft you deliver at impact.
- Carry: How far the ball carries in the air.
- Height: The apex of your ball’s flight.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the parameters.
Low Point
Your low point is mainly influenced by the pivot of your body, so if your pivot is faulty then your low point will be inconsistent, causing you to hit fat and thin shots. This is never more apparent than when you’re hitting short pitch shots. Therefore, my favorite way to work on my short game indoors is to hit 20-50 yard shots while auditing my low point. At this stage, I’m not looking for any specific number — I just want to make sure I have a very consistent range of where my club “bottoms out” after the golf ball. I never want to see my low point changing significantly from swing to swing; if so, I have some work to do.
Club Path
The path of the club is created by two factors: Angle of Attack (AoA) and swing direction. For our purposes, it is only necessary to monitor the path of your club through impact. I want you to hit 7-irons and look for two things:
- Is the path of your club moving in the direction you “feel” it is moving?
- If so, to what degree is it moving in that direction?
I first want you to make sure your path is going in the direction you want it to, because “feel is (often) not real.” If your path is moving in the wrong direction, that’s the first thing we need to fix.
Now let’s assume we ARE swinging in the direction desired. What is the range? It is impossible to swing “X” degrees in-to-out or vice versa every single time, so let’s instead find a 3-degree numerical range we can consistently swing the club. Based on your desired curvature amount, this range can be 1-3, 4-7, 7-10 etc., but 3 degrees would be my suggestion for the masses.
Remember that a path that moves in-to-out on Trackman will be a positive (+) number, while a path that moves out-to-in will be a negative (-) number.
Face Angle
One of the most misunderstood factors in golf is that the face angle at impact (mostly) controls the ball’s initial starting direction. Thus, the ability to get the club face in the correct position at impact is crucial for you to start the ball where you would like it to start.
What I like to do is put a range bucket directly between the ball and the target, and hit a few shots to the right and left of the bucket noting the face angle on Trackman. Then I do the same thing while moving the bucket a little right and a little left of my target. With this drill, I am educating my hands to produce specific starting directions without actively thinking about it. And this is the key to being able to start the ball where you want each time under pressure.
Club head speed
The first way to develop swing speed is simple; learn how to swing the club faster without compromising impact quality. But what is the second way to develop club head speed?
You need to “find” the speed that gives you maximum distance, control, and impact quality. Sometimes this is faster than what you’re used to, other times it can be just the opposite. Everyone has their own speed; think Nick Price versus Payne Stewart. They had different swing speeds, but they were both great players and ball strikers in their own right.
Smash Factor
The quality of your impact is shown with smash factor on Trackman, as it pertains to input versus output. In a perfect world, you would like to transfer maximum energy from the speed of the club head into the ball, which becomes “ball speed.” The better the quality of impact, the more ball speed you will gain with all things being equal. Once again, it’s not about a specific number, but gaining a consistent range of smash factors based on your level. Yes, you can obtain a higher smash factor and hit awful shots, so take smash with a grain of salt. You are striving to hit solid, quality shots with a higher smash factor than you are used to having — that’s the key for this data parameter.
Dynamic Loft
Everyone knows that you can deliver too much loft at impact, but few recognize that you can deliver too little loft at impact as well. Your loft at delivery is one of the biggest keys to controlling your launch angle. With too little loft, you won’t carry the ball as far or be able to hold greens. With too much loft, shots won’t carry far enough and won’t react properly when they land. As you watch your shots fly on the simulator, you can see where they land and how much they chase out per the club used. We want the ball to carry as far as possible and land softly with irons, but with the driver we’d like to carry the ball a fair distance and have it run out when landing. So use your dynamic loft number to control carry and landing angle and you’ll learn to hit more effective shots.
Carry
Try to carry your shots as far as possible with your irons so they will land softly, but remember your driver carry should be optimized for course conditions. If you play soft and wet courses, I would suggest you try carry the ball as far as possible. If the conditions are firmer, you can work on a lower trajectory so the ball lands a touch flatter and runs out more. Experiment with your carry on Trackman and you will see what I mean as it pertains to total distance.
Height
The average height of a golf shot on the LPGA Tour is 75 feet in the air, while on the PGA Tour it’s 95 feet. People have NO idea just how high this is! Most players hit the ball too flat and this compromises distance in the end. Take your time to play around with your height on Trackman and you will see that you probably need to hit it higher than you think in order to get greater distance with softer landings.
Secondly, hit super low and super high golf shots to see how distance changes when you are playing in windy or windless conditions so you can access tight pins. If you cannot alter your trajectory, the game becomes very difficult.
I hope by now you have seen that Trackman can be a very effective learning tool — it can be a full-service practice tool for you all winter if you use it properly. Good luck, practice hard and stay warm!
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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Marty
Dec 16, 2015 at 2:50 pm
A few comments from reading replies. One, track man is well over $20,000. Two, The distances it records will seem inflated, as it is showing you roll out based on PGA tour courses. These fairways are extremely fast and hard in comparison to a normal course. Three, foresight CG2 with HMT is definitely better for clubhead position and knowing what the Clubhead is doing. But I do find their numbers are a little off on the low side. This is in comparison to Doppler radar systems (trackman, flightscope) which record actual ball speed in flight, not cameras calculating speed based on a few images in a foot window.
Poppa
Dec 14, 2015 at 4:22 pm
I fit people all day and I believe the author is mistaken. 99% of golfers need to focus on learning how to swing rather than focus on numbers. Also, nearly everyone I see hits the ball way too high. They scoop and flip with a 6 iron peak height well above 30 yards. Stop buying clubs and buy lessons!
Marty
Dec 16, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Pappa, while I wholeheartedly agree with you, on the point of lessons are more valuable than new clubs. The reality is most people barely have time to play a round of golf, let alone spend hours of time and hundreds of dollars on lessons. I do believe people can fix their own swing in a relatively short amount of time, to make it functional. Unfortunately most coaches want to change their swing completely to a style that the coach understands or prefers. Most people don’t have that much time, as a swing change can take a very long time. And you will get worse before you get better with this methodology. This can be disheartening to most players. It just seems easier to walk into a store pick up a brand-new club and walk out. Even if it is the wrong way.
golfraven
Dec 14, 2015 at 9:21 am
If you are a serious golfer don’t bother putting a deposit on a house, buy a Tracman and rent a house. You wife will love you for sure. Or tell your kids to start working and earn money if they want to go to university. Come on man, life is nit worth living without a Tracman.
Jmoney
Dec 13, 2015 at 11:31 am
I’ve got Foresight with the HMT…love it and used it up against a Trackman and it was more accurate to me. Didn’t give me inflated numbers like trackman can do at times. Cheaper and a better setup for limited space for in home sim. That being said, I’m not hating on Trackman. It’s great but I like Foresight’s science and technology better.
jakeanderson
Dec 13, 2015 at 10:39 am
where can i get a simulator like that and what does it cost?
Christian
Dec 14, 2015 at 1:18 am
Jake,
Check out http://trackmangolf.com/products/simulator for more information 🙂
Christian
TrackMan
Chuck
Dec 12, 2015 at 5:21 pm
That room in the picture looks too good to be true. It’s gorgeous. Where is it? What do you hit into? Is there a net that has been taken down?
The column is all excellent advice. Now I just need a trackman. What does a Trackman go for these days?
DJ
Dec 12, 2015 at 7:32 pm
That’s just the generic picture that trackman uses on their site. Dream room!
Um.....Hemispheres
Dec 12, 2015 at 3:44 pm
“In most places in the world it’s getting colder…..”
?
other paul
Dec 13, 2015 at 2:38 am
I thought about half was getting warmer and about half was getting colder… People always speak from their own perspective, what he said was “most places in the world are getting colder”. What he was trying to say was that where a lot of the world’s golfers are is getting colder. And he was thinking that its getting cold outside for himself, so it must be that way for everyone. It’s just the way our brains work. Its why our wives dont understand our love for golf 🙁
Tom
Dec 12, 2015 at 2:54 pm
“If you cannot alter your trajectory, the game becomes very difficult.”
This is so true! I do not really recall hearing it until recently. When I was just a high ball hitter in my youth I had a lot of problems. Had it even dawned on me the importance of being able to alter trajectory I am sure I would have minimized those problems and been a better player.