The Mirror Setup Drill
The Mirror Setup Drill is a practice system drill in The Adaptive Golfer app. Build ten putting setups from memory in front of a mirror and count how many pass all three checkpoints. It trains setup consistency, and your result is measured as Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
How to do The Mirror Setup Drill
- Stand a full-length mirror against a wall and take your putting stance facing it, with a ball where you would normally play it.
- You need enough room to step away and come back in.
- Step away, then build your setup from memory without looking.
- Once you are set, check three things in the mirror: your eyes are over the ball or just inside it, your shoulders are level, and the putter face is square.
- A setup scores only if all three pass.
- Step away and repeat ten times, counting the setups that pass all three.
Adjusting while you check, then scoring the corrected position. Score the setup you walked into, not the one you fixed. The gap between the two is the whole point of the drill.
▲ LEVEL UP
Once you hold the top of your benchmark across three sessions, build the setup with your eyes closed and open them only to check. After that, add a fourth checkpoint: your hands slightly ahead of the ball.
How The Mirror Setup Drill is scored
Count your successful attempts out of 10 setups passing.
Here is what each handicap band should be hitting (setups passing, higher is better):
| HANDICAP BAND | TARGET |
|---|---|
| Scratch (0–2) | — |
| 3–7 | 8–10 |
| 8–13 | 7–8 |
| 14–19 | 6–7 |
| 20+ | 4–6 |
This drill is not from the book. The bands above are ours, derived from the standard the book sets for comparable drills, so every level has a target to clear.
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.
The Mirror Setup Drill FAQ
Build ten putting setups from memory in front of a mirror and count how many pass all three checkpoints.
A mid-handicap golfer (8 to 13) should aim for 7 to 8 setups passing.
It builds your practice system, specifically setup consistency.
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Log The Mirror Setup Drill in The Adaptive Golfer and see your Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
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