Alignment is key to consistent shot making. You can hit a good shot with a poor swing if you set-up correctly, but you cannot hit a good shot with a poor swing if your set-up incorrectly. The point is, your alignment in the set-up is critical to shot making performance.
Good alignment breeds good habits.
If you lined up perfectly for every shot, you would properly condition your swing to swing down the intended the line. Your swing and clubface angle would improve dramatically. The problem is, most golfers attach themselves to a certain ball flight. Since the majority of shots are slicing, they think the best way to fix the problem is to aim more to the left to compensate for the left to right ball flight. Wrong, this does not breed consistency. Using alignment to repair a swing flaw is a band-aide fix. That’s not the goal.
Practice like the pros and work on your alignment.
Have you ever been to a professional golf tournament? Even better, have you ever visited the driving range on site? If you ever get a chance to watch some of the players hit balls on the range you will notice a couple things. Their swings are very consistent and efficient. And, 4 out of 5 players will practice using some form of training device that works on alignment. Training rods are the most common tools used by top players. It’s a simple rod you lay on the ground to get your feet square to the intended line. Simple tool right? Guess what, it works wonders. Give it a try, practice like the pros and work on your alignment.
Swing down the line parallel to your feet.
If you’re thinking, how can I remember to swing down the line without a training rod or another device that helps with my alignment. Your answer is to swing down a line parallel to your feet. That means you need to set-up square with your feet every time. If you can accomplish this, you don’t even have to look at the target. Just swing down the line you created with your feet. You should practice this on the range for a couple weeks before you use this technique on the course. You want to make sure your alignment is perfect. This also works great for people who have bad vision. They can’t see the target as well, so they can relate better to something they can see, which is the line made by your feet. Simply swing down that line.
Long and Straight,
Adam
