Aim & Allignment

By Allen Kelly, Golf Professional, Parklands Driving Range, East Coast,

One of the biggest differences I see between better players and social golfers is how they align their bodies and clubfaces to their targets.
The better player gets it perfect nine times out of 10 while only a small percentage of social golfers can consistently aim their body and clubface correctly.

Golfers whose aim is off make one of two mistakes. The first mistake stems from misconception, or bad advice.
Many golfers align their feet, knees, hips and shoulders at the target first, then ground the clubhead. What this does is point your clubhead way right of the target. If my feet are pointing at the target, my club cannot be!

The second type of mistake stems from a poor ball flight. For example, many slicers will aim to the left to accommodate their left-to-right shot patterns. This is a band-aid remedy at best.
It's no surprise that golfers who misalign their body and clubface to the right miss the target to the right, unless they make an adjustment in their swings to get the ball back online. That usually means adjusting the swing path more to the left in order to pull the ball back to the target. This over-the-top move creates a swipe across the ball and contact out near the toe of the club. The resulting shots are either pulls, pull-slices and slices.

If a slicer aims left to make room for the left-to-right ballflight, he or she will only make the slice problem worse.
This is only one of many compensating adjustments I've seen golfers make. Correct alignment begins with aligning the bottom edge of the clubface (face score lines) perpendicular to the target line and pointing the body parallel-left of the target line. Stand behind the ball and identify a divot or twig.
Anything that is with in 12" to 24" of the ball that is in a direct line between the ball and your target.

Step around to the ball (do not set your feet), set the club behind the ball, aiming your clubface at the 12" to 24" intermediate target in front of the ball (it is your target now). Making sure the shaft is straight up and down, face lines perpendicular to the new target. Place your feet together so you can see that a ninety degree angle is created by the shaft and your toes on both sides of the shaft. Your feet should now be parallel with your target line.

Widen your stance to the appropriate width keeping the shaft perpendicular, hips and shoulders square with your feet.
You are now in perfect alignment....