With two club sessions a week, you do not get many touches on the ball. Feel for the ball is built through repetition, and you can collect those repetitions on the lawn, the patio or in the garage, a quarter of an hour a day. Below are six drills that need only a stick, a ball, two bottles and a bit of free space. They run from the easiest to the hardest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stand with your feet slightly apart, knees bent, the ball half a metre in front of your feet. Move the ball from right to left and back again, each time turning the stick over the ball so that the flat side of the head touches it. The left hand, holding the top of the handle, turns the stick. The right hand holds loosely and only guides, and the stick rotates inside it. Start with three sets of 30 seconds. Once the rhythm is even, take your eyes off the ball and look ahead, then do the same while walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Place two bottles a metre and a half apart. Dribble the ball along a figure-of-eight path, keeping it close to the head of the stick all the time. On each loop the side on which you pass the bottle changes, so the forehand and the reverse take turns. Do five full figures of eight, rest, and repeat in the opposite direction. To make it harder, reduce the gap between the bottles to one metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In clubs this move is often called the V. Push the ball slightly forwards to the right, stop it, pull it back towards you with the flat side of the stick and immediately push it forwards to the left. The path of the ball draws a letter V on the ground, and your feet shift your body weight in the new direction. Do ten repetitions each way. Make sure the ball does not bounce away from the stick as you pull it back; if it does, slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lay a crate or a board on its side about five metres away. Stand side-on to the target, left shoulder pointing towards it. The head of the stick rests next to the ball, with no backswing. Transfer your weight from the back foot to the front foot and push the ball along the ground, finishing with the stick pointing at the target. Count how many of twenty pushes hit it. When your score goes above fifteen, make the target smaller or move back a metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You need a flat wall, a low wall or a board set at a right angle to the ground. Stand three to four metres away, pass with a push and receive the ball as it comes back along the ground. When receiving, the stick is tilted slightly over the ball and your hands give with it to take the pace off. Receive on the forehand for a minute, on the reverse for the next, then alternate. This drill is noisy, so choose a time of day when it will not disturb the neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To finish, a game that teaches soft hands. First balance the ball motionless on the flat side of the head and count to ten. Then bounce it low, to knee height, and count the bounces. Three attempts: write down your best score and try to beat it the next day. Practise well away from other people, and do not bounce the ball above hip height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n