The Towel Behind the Ball
Why this drill
A net hides ball flight, so home net sessions must grade the only thing left: strike. A folded towel a few inches behind the ball makes fat contact impossible to commit silently — hit the towel and you know, miss it and the strike was ball-first.
Setup
Hitting net, mat, short or mid iron. Fold a hand towel flat and place it about four inches behind the ball — a hand-width, no more.
The drill
Fifteen three-quarter swings into the net, missing the towel on every one. Clean strike, ball then mat, towel untouched: one point. Any thump of towel: zero, and pause to reset rather than raking the next ball over quickly. Because the net swallows the flight, keep the score entirely about contact — twelve of fifteen means the low point lives in front of the ball, which is the whole engine of iron play. Two sets, logged.
One thought to take with you
Cover the ball with your chest through impact — arrive, then hit.