The Gate Drill
The Gate Drill is a ball control drill from The Adaptive Golfer. Hit irons through a narrow gate of alignment sticks just ahead of the ball to measure and diagnose face control. It trains face control, and your result is measured as Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Here's the Gate Drill. It's the fastest way to see whether your clubface is square at impact, and which way your misses bend. Set two alignment sticks twelve to fourteen inches apart, two to three feet ahead of the ball. Stand them straight up in the turf. Optional. If you would rather not clank golf balls into bare fiberglass, slide a foam pool noodle over each stick. Now a clipped shot just thumps the foam. Address the ball normally. Aim at a target around a hundred and fifty yards out, not at the gate. A square face sends the ball cleanly through the gate. That is the shot you are counting. Clip the near stick and your face was closed. That is your pull, the left miss. Clip the far stick and your face was open. That is your push, the right miss. Count how many of ten shots pass cleanly through. For a mid handicap, aim for six or seven. Log every rep in The Adaptive Golfer.
How to do The Gate Drill
Place two alignment sticks 12–14 inches apart, 2–3 feet ahead of the ball. Address the ball normally with a target around 150 yards out.
Hit ten shots with your normal swing, aiming at the distant target — not the gate. For each shot note: through cleanly, clipped the near stick (closed face, left miss), or clipped the far stick (open face, right miss). Count the clean passes and identify your dominant miss direction.
Once you consistently hit the top of your benchmark across three sessions, narrow the gate by two inches while holding the same benchmark, or add a target flag and score both the gate pass and landing within 20 feet.
Trying to steer the ball through the gate, which defeats the diagnostic purpose. Aim at the distant target — the gate reports what happened, it does not direct the shot.
How The Gate Drill is scored
Count your successful attempts out of 10 clean passes.
Here is what each handicap band should be hitting (clean passes, higher is better):
| HANDICAP BAND | TARGET |
|---|---|
| Scratch (0–2) | — |
| 3–7 | 7–8 |
| 8–13 | 6–7 |
| 14–19 | 4–6 |
| 20+ | 3–4 |
Your result is converted to Practice Strokes Gained against your band, so you always know if you are above, at, or below where you should be.
Log each rep and see whether you are above, at, or below your band — not just the target.
The 5-pillar diagnosis tells you whether this drill is even the thing costing you strokes.
A four-week plan picks your drills and recalculates as your numbers move.
As seen in Chapter 25 — Drill 1 of The Adaptive Golfer. Every drill, benchmark, and plan in the app traces back to the published methodology.
The Gate Drill FAQ
Hit irons through a narrow gate of alignment sticks just ahead of the ball to measure and diagnose face control.
A mid-handicap golfer (8 to 13) should aim for 6 to 7 clean passes.
It builds your ball control, specifically face control.
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Log The Gate Drill in The Adaptive Golfer and see your Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
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