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18 September 2026 · 10 min read

Practising golf at home: what a net, a mat and a swing trainer give you, and what only a launch monitor measures

A net in the garden gives you repetitions, contact and tempo. It shows you neither carry nor club face nor spin. What a net, a mat and a swing trainer cost and can do, how much room a full swing needs, and the weekly plan that joins the two: six days at the net, one measured hour.

Practising golf at home: what a net, a mat and a swing trainer give you, and what only a launch monitor measures — post image

Practising golf at home sounds like the answer for the winter and for the weeks when the range is too far away. A net in the garden, a mat in the garage, a swing trainer behind the door, and twenty minutes of balls every evening. It works, but only for part of the game. A net gives you repetitions, contact and tempo. It does not show you how far the ball flies, which way it curves or where the club face was pointing at impact. One measured hour a week closes that gap.

Practising golf at home: what really works

Three things you train well at home. First, repetition: a hundred swings in an evening, with no drive there and no waiting. Second, contact: whether you hit the ball before the ground, you hear and feel on every shot. Third, tempo, the rhythm between backswing and downswing that gets hurried on the course. Three things you do not train at home. Carry, because the ball hangs in the net after a few metres. The curve, because a slice still looks straight after a few metres. And the club face at impact, because you cannot see it and a net does not measure it. Those three decide the score on the course. That is why every home routine needs a measurement.

A golf net in the garden or the garage: room, price, safety

A practice net for full shots is not a big outlay. Decathlon Switzerland sells a practice net for CHF 94.90 (as of 18 September 2026). Set up, it is 3 metres deep, 2.5 metres wide and 2 metres high, weighs 3.6 kg and, according to the maker, is meant for full shots with irons and fairway woods using real balls. A stripe in the middle makes a louder sound when hit than the net beside it. That is the whole feedback: centre hit or not, after a few metres of flight.

For room, the ceiling is the limit, not the floor. In its guide to room requirements, TrackMan gives 3.0 metres of ceiling height as the practical minimum for a comfortable full swing and 4.6 metres of width as a benchmark. That is written for a simulator room, but the swing is the same. In the garden, height is no issue; in a garage it often is. TrackMan's advice: take the longest club you play and swing it in the room, slowly at first, then at speed. If the driver reaches the ceiling, only the irons get practised in the garage. All the measurements for a full simulator are in Ceiling height, width, depth.

On safety: a net 2 metres high and 2.5 metres wide catches the balls that fly into it. A topped ball flies low and fast, a shank goes sharply right. Stand close enough to the net that both still land in it, and leave nothing behind the net that a ball must not hit: windows, cars, the neighbours. In the garden, the pegs supplied anchor the net in the lawn.

The hitting mat: what it teaches about contact

The mat belongs with the net. Without it you hit off the lawn and leave divots, or off concrete and ruin the club. The matching hitting mat from Decathlon Switzerland costs CHF 49.90, measures 58 × 38 cm at 2 cm thick and has four fixing points for soft ground. The rubber tee for the driver is not included. Net and mat together stay under CHF 150.

What the mat teaches about contact is a matter of honesty. A thin shot sounds the same on the mat as on the course: hard, high, short. A fat shot does not. On grass the club digs into the ground and the ball comes up short. On the mat the club skids across the surface and the ball flies almost normally. So the mat forgives exactly the mistake you most need to fix. Two things help. Lay a towel a hand's width behind the ball: if you touch it, the shot was fat. And spray the club face with foot spray, so after every shot you can see where the ball met the face. That is the one value on the launch monitor's list you can read for yourself at home.

Swing trainers: worth it or not

A swing trainer is a club without a face, usually heavier or more flexible than your own. What it trains is tempo and sequence: you feel when the shaft loads and when it releases. What it does not train is anything that happens at the ball. There is no contact, no sound, no direction. It is worth it as a warm-up before the net and on the days you do not make it to the garage. Ten minutes are enough. It is not worth it as a substitute for balls: anyone who swings only the trainer for three months has a lovely tempo in spring and no idea where the ball goes. If you want speed from a heavy or a light trainer, measure it before and after. The post on club head speed shows how.

What no net tells you: carry, club face, spin

In a post for amateurs, TrackMan names six numbers every amateur should know: face angle, club path, impact location, attack angle, low point and carry. Keep the list next to your net. Impact location you can see with the spray. The rest you cannot see.

  • Face angle: the direction the club face points at impact. According to TrackMan it dictates the ball's start direction in most cases. After a few metres you cannot see that.
  • Club path: the direction of the swing, in to out or the other way round. Together with the face angle it produces the curve. A slice needs flight to become visible. In the net every shot looks straight.
  • Attack angle and low point: whether you hit down or up on the ball, and where the lowest point of the swing lies, before or after the ball. The mat forgives the mistake, the radar shows it.
  • Carry: the distance the ball flies before it lands. TrackMan advises working with the average per club, not the longest shot. A net knows neither.
  • Spin: not on this list, but it decides height, curve and landing. Neither net nor mat says anything about it.

What the individual values mean and which numbers are normal is in the post understanding launch monitor numbers. If you want to tackle your slice with numbers, read fixing a slice with numbers. Both assume you regularly stand in front of a device that measures, and that is where home practice needs a complement.

The weekly plan: six days at the net, one hour of measurement

The plan that turns a net and a mat into training has two parts. Six days you practise at home, with one club and one theme: twenty minutes, thirty to fifty balls, every shot aimed at the stripe, towel behind the ball, spray on the face. No more, because tired swings groove the wrong thing.

On the seventh day you go to a bay with a launch monitor and hit the same club with the same theme. Now you see the numbers the net owed you: face angle, club path, attack angle, carry. Write them down. Next week you compare. If the direction is right, you carry on. If it is not, you change the theme, not the repetitions. The venue list counts 110 indoor venues in Switzerland; 80 of them publish an hourly price between CHF 25 and CHF 99, a median of CHF 50 per bay. Across the whole directory, 95 venues offer coaching. If the same number has not improved three weeks in a row, that is the moment to bring in a pro for an hour.

The hourly prices of every venue that states one are on the prices page. What separates a training hour in the simulator from playing is in the guide indoor golf training. If after a few months you decide the measuring hour should live at home, read buying or renting a golf simulator first. The sum there starts with the hours you really play.

More on this: Golf swing for beginners, Buying a golf mat.

Putting and chipping at home: the part that works completely

For putting, nothing is missing at home. The ball rolls, you see whether it starts where the face points and whether it has the pace. A carpet or a putting mat is enough. What you need and which drills work is in the post practising putting at home.

Chipping works by half. Contact and the length of the swing you practise with foam balls on the carpet, into a laundry basket or into the bottom edge of the net. What is missing is the landing: how the ball lands on the green and rolls out, neither the basket nor the mat shows. Practise contact at home and leave the landing zones for the venue or the course. Whether a chip or a pitch is the right choice is in the post chipping or pitching.

The next step is a sum, not an order. Count the evenings on which you really hit balls at home. If it is three or more a week, a net and a mat for under CHF 150 are worth it. Then find the bay on the map where you will measure once a week, and book the first hour before the net arrives. That way you know where you start, and after four weeks you see what the net has done.

Frequently asked questions

How much room does a golf net at home need?

The practice net from Decathlon Switzerland stands 3 metres deep, 2.5 metres wide and 2 metres high when set up. For the swing itself, TrackMan gives 3.0 metres of ceiling height as the practical minimum and 4.6 metres of width as a benchmark. Before you buy, take your longest club and swing it in the room, slowly at first, then at speed.

What do a golf net and a hitting mat cost?

At Decathlon Switzerland the practice net for full shots costs CHF 94.90 and the hitting mat CHF 49.90 (as of 18 September 2026). Together you stay under CHF 150, which is less than three hours in a bay at the median price of CHF 50.

Can I fix my slice with a golf net?

No, a slice needs flight to become visible, and in the net the ball stops after a few metres. The curve comes from face angle and club path, two values only a launch monitor shows. One measured hour a week in a bay, a median of CHF 50, is enough to know the two numbers and work on them at home.

How close should I stand to a golf net?

Close enough that a topped ball and a shank still finish in it: one flies low and fast, the other sharply right. Nothing may stand behind the net that a ball must not hit, and in a garden the pegs belong in the lawn. Above you, a full swing needs about three metres.

Why does a hitting mat forgive fat shots?

Because the club slides across the surface instead of digging in. On grass a fat shot costs distance at once; on a mat the ball flies almost normally. A towel a hand's width behind the ball shows it anyway: touch it and the club was down too early.

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