Proper Alignment is Essential

Today's tip involves proper body alignment for the full swing. After a long winter of little or no golf, it is important to start the year fundamentally sound. Poor alignment is a problem I see all year long and it is easy to get misaligned with your first times out in the spring. If you have ever attended a PGA Tour event and had the opportunity to go to the range to watch the best players in the world practice, you would see a recurring theme. I am certain that most, if not all, would be hitting balls with some sort of alignment aid. Lining up is not an automatic thing; remember that many mistakes occur before the club is even swung.

Proper body alignment is essential to having a consistent shot pattern. Most of us have a tendency to either align too far to the right or left of the target. The truth is that the body should be aligned parallel to the ball to target line. This, depending on the length of the club involved, will align the body “parallel left” of the target.

Think of it in the following regard. Imagine a pair of railroad tracks. The far rail is a straight line from your golf ball to the target. The inner rail is the line on which you set up to swing. Your feet, knees, hips and shoulders should be parallel, and on line with the inner rail. The question is how can you consistently achieve this objective.

The number one answer is to start practicing with a shaft on the ground parallel to your target. In other words, get used to how it is supposed to look and feel. But if you are playing, the rules won’t allow you to do this. Therefore, answer number two is to develop a pre shot routine that will enable you to set up correctly. One way to do this is to follow the method established by none other than Jack Nicklaus. From behind the golf ball, look at the line from your golf ball to the target, picking out an intermediate target a foot or two in front of the ball. It is much easier to line up to an object that is close to you than one that could be two hundred yards away. When I say an intermediate target, this could be an old divot or irregularity in the turf. Then align yourself on that inner rail of those tracks I mentioned above.

With a little practice, this is a great way to get yourself aligned correctly. Check your alignment on the course from time to time by laying a shaft along your foot line after you have hit a shot. You may be surprised at where you were aimed!