Yes, you can practice your distance control while putting indoors. Here’s how.

An indoor putting setup is the easiest way to practice your game at home. It doesn’t require the ceiling height clearance necessary for a net, and doesn’t involve the financial commitment of a simulator. With something as low-tech as a strip of turf on your floor or even utilizing your living room rug, you have all you need to upgrade your putting. While putting indoors is a great time to dial in your setup and the shape of your stroke, the work you can do on your putting while you’re relegated to putting inside goes beyond the technical. You can also work on feel by practicing your speed.

That might sound a little surprising, because anyone who’s putt on artificial turf knows how different it feels compared to putting on real grass. But Golf Digest Best Young Teacher Megan Johnston of Big Cedar Lodge says that you can work on distance control while putting inside by "playing bocce."

“Roll your first ball to a random spot in the room. Your goal is to putt the next two golf balls within a grip distance of the first ball," Johnston says. "You can do this with your eyes on the target or eyes on the ball. Tempo and length of stroke is different for everyone, but repeating the energy you deliver to the ball is something you can improve before we get out on the course this spring.”

By playing this game, Johnston says that you’re training yourself to control the energy of your putter. There are certain things you cannot practice while putting inside, like green reading, but understanding how the ball reacts to your tempo and length of stroke is something that can happen on your living room rug.

“Spend a few minutes a day rolling putts indoors this winter,” Johnston says. “And when the outdoor season finally arrives, you won’t be trying to find your stroke—you’ll already trust it.”