Alignment with irons and driver

I align literally 30 yards right of my target. And then I hit it there unless I come over the top. It feels like I'm hitting the ball well, then I see the result and I'm 30 yards right. Today, my playing partners told me the alignment thing and I laid down a club and it was true. Literally, 30 yards off target almost every time. Any help?

I'm struggling with alignment issues also. I always setup right of my target. If I lay a club down to keep myself squared up to the target, I feel incredibly open and struggle with my swing. I cannot offer any suggestions but I am interested in what others will have for tips/drills to help work on it.

I am constantly working on my alignment but the other direction. I always end up open then I hit the ball straight (thinking I'm pulling it).

What I do when I work at the range is use 2 parallel clubs. One against my heels to help align my body and one for my swing path. Once I feel I'm aligned better after a few swings I go through my normal on course routine where I line up my shot first with the clubface and then my body.

Alignment is a constant struggle for me

alignment problems are very common. The best thing to do is to put clubs down while on the range to train your eyes what is correct. If you are playing casual rounds, go ahead and do it while playing. If you start to hit it left of where is correct, that is your natural swing coming out. You have to make sure you are swinging down the club line.

I do the same thing when I practice putting.... not with a club, but with a chalk line. I want to train my eyes what it is to aim correctly.

I found that my alignment problem was caused by placing my left foot down before my right when addressing the ball. It cause me to have a closed stance in relation to the target. However, I was still swinging on a path parallel to the alignment of my feet, so the ball was traveling on a straight path to the right of the target.

Now I plant my right foot down first and then my left foot. This has helped to alleviate the problem.

alignment pre-shot routine

1) stand behind the ball and the target
2) draw a line between your ball and the target with your club
3) I place the club down behind the ball
4) while leaving the club down, I walk around and set my feet parallal with the line from the ball to the target line with the club as a guide so that I am perpendicular to the club face that I layed down on the ground
5) my feet are together and my feet are now parallal with the target line
6) I now widen my feet for my stance always keeping the line parallal with the target line
7) I can check this line by placing a club down at my feet
8) I do this with all my shots, iron, woods, driver and even putter

instead of placing the club on the ground you can use a leaf or some type of object as a marker in front of the ball as a guide

you should really try and find that target about 5 feet in front of the ball to line up to. stand behind the ball take a couple practice swings focusing on one thing in your swing like a proper stance or follow through or whatever, then line up your target and pick out that target just in front of the ball that you can concentrate on and then setup on that. should work alot easier than trying to line up on that target 150 or more yards away.

I had the same problem, though not 30 yards. I jotted down a few things that helped me find the right aim here: A tip when it comes to aiming

Great tips guys. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for all the help guys (and gals?).

I found out that I do plant my left foot before my right foot. I'll try reversing the order next time.

Thanks for the tips.

Is alignment something that I should take lessons for or just work on it by myself? I take lessons for swinging (and soon to be for short game/putting), but never for alignment.

Working on alignment is easier on your own than working on the swing. It involves no moving parts, it's all about having the right position before you swing. You can always ask the instructor for his opinion on a lesson, but it's not hard to work on this on your own. Use clubs on the ground aiming where you want when practicing and use items to aim through.

I like to aim, set up at adress and don't swing. From my adress I lay the club down by my feet to check where they are aiming. If you flare open any of the feet, putting the club down by the toes could give the impression that your aiming is off since the feet are not aligned. If you are aware of this it is possible to work with, but you could also put the club down at your heels. At the start it will probably feel weird for you aiming 30 yards further left, but stick with it and I'm sure you will see good results. Bad alignment can cause many different shot shapes and leave the player confused.

Alignment is easy to work on and is something you will benefit from. Once you've gotten it right for some time it will be natural to aim where you should. It's all about making sure you aim right and playing with it. Most importantly on the course. On the range it's easier since you know where the ball lands and can aim on the same spot all the time. Taking it to the course will demand more focus on it, but it's all about getting used to it. From there on you will only benefit from it.

Bad alignment is the perfect way to ingrain swing flaws. I've been aiming right all my life. If I hit along that line I would end up far right. So my body will try to cut across, coming over the top to get the ball where my mind wants it to go. Do this long enough and it will become permanent. I had a pretty severe slice, still do when I lose focus. The reason is easy to find if you know how the swing plane and clubhead work the ball. When I aim to the right with my feet I will also aim there with my clubhead. But from all the times I've hit a ball straight right I've ingrained a habit where I come over the top to get the ball on the right plane. Only problem then is that my clubface is aiming to the right. Swinging to the left does not help if the clubface is open. That is what determines where the ball land, it's the factor that give spin.

Golf have lots of similarities with shooting. And it is a great way to picture how bad alignment and aim will affect your game. Let's put your flaw into a rifle. You're at the shooting range, aiming 30 yards to the right. Unless you bounce of a rock or something you will never hit the bullseye. Take this thought back to golf. Missing to the left or right is not as catastrophic as in shooting, but if you aim to the right of the green, how can you ever expect to hit the flag? If you at the same time work on the swing, how on earth are you going to progress and get better? It's very easy to judge a golf shot by how the ball fly and where it lands. If you are working on a having a good swing plane and square clubface at adress, bad aim will either make you hit balls to the left or right all the time. But everybody try to hit their target, so you will manipulate the swing and club to hit the target. What you end up with is bad alignment and a bad swing. Like myself, the bad aiming, though maybe not the only reason, it is definately a major one for my swing over the top. I sometimes try to counteract it by aiming more to the left, just to get the feeling of a different swing plane. If I aim left and come over the top, the ball will go even further left.

Knowing your flaws, what you work on and why, is essential. If you know this, you can use alignment and the ball flight as feedback. I play a lot on simulators, and there I see very clearly how this works. On the course I hit the balls to the right, but on the simulator I hit them to the left. Aim and alignment is the key here. On the course I aim to the right, but on the simulator I got parallell lines on the mats and all over the place, helping me aim square. But my body has learned to swing over the top, it won't care if I suddenly start aiming square. The result is a ball going to the left. Knowing this can make practicing in a simulator very helpful. They are not dead on accurate with distances and spin, but they certainly tell you if you hit the ball left or right. On the simulator I know my aim is right, so when the ball goes to the left I know for sure that I am coming over the top.

This leads me to another point on how important alignment is. If your alignment is perfect, using the ball as feedback is much more benefital. The ball won't lie, it flies where you hit it. If you know your alignment is right, you can trust the ball flight more accurately. With the alignment correct, if the ball starts out straight you must have been swinging on the right plane.

But my shots have changed. I've gone from slicing to pulling, not hooking. The ball now goes straight out left, but normally within play. This tells me my aim is good, but I come over the top and pull it out to the left. With my old alignment I would start it left and spin out to the right.

Alignment and setup is something the pros practice all the time, it's a fundamental part of the swing. If it's not 100%, they will end up in the bunker instead of finding the flag. Even the smallest deviation will make a big difference. The longer you hit, the more a wrong aim will move the ball off your target. Working on alignment every now and then is definately recommended. If you don't pay attention it is easy to fall into bad habits or be slightly off.

This is great advice. By taking your setup position and then checking it with a club down by the toes (or heels) and doing this repeatedly, you will eventually, get over that feeling of being aimed left or right. The trick is to erase one feeling and replace it with another. Good luck