How Do You Aim?

[iacas]

New study shows golfers have been aiming wrong this whole time

---

Most golfers see where they want their ball to end and aim straight for it. Pretty straightforward. Others incorporate an intermediary target — a spot a few inches in front of their ball in-line with their distant target — and focus...

I'm considering trying the intermediate target only. I often use that on short putts to great effect.

[Vinsk]

Intermediate only. I have a poor sense of perspective with distant targets. I’m always aimed too far left when I think I’m dead on the target.

[dennyjones]

I've always used both.   Interesting topic. 

[Rkrider99]

I look off in the distance and find something that I aim for, then I find something about 6-12" in front of the ball that I can align with the distant target. That's pretty much my standard routine.

[Casualgolfer]

10 minutes ago, Rkrider99 said:

I look off in the distance and find something that I aim for, then I find something about 6-12" in front of the ball that I can align with the distant target. That's pretty much my standard routine.

Same here.

[snapfade]

18 minutes ago, Rkrider99 said:

I look off in the distance and find something that I aim for, then I find something about 6-12" in front of the ball that I can align with the distant target. That's pretty much my standard routine.

This.

In Korea there was this old guy who would get behind the ball and scrape his foot in the grass and make a line for him to line up on. 

[Carl3]

6 minutes ago, snapfade said:

This.

In Korea there was this old guy who would get behind the ball and scrape his foot in the grass and make a line for him to line up on. 

North or South, LOL. Maybe that is one of the factors in how Kim Jong Il shot his famous round of golf?

I use the far target to locate my intermediate target and then only focus on the intermediate target. 

[boogielicious]

I do both for full shots, but may reconsider now. I line up my intermediate target with my shot zone target. For putting, I only use intermediate after the read.

Tiger talked about picking a spot in front of the ball and aiming to hit the ball over that. I started doing this late last fall. I do notice that if I really focus on only the intermediate and ball, I make much better contact. But that was only anecdotal. 

It also reminds me of the technique called "Quiet Eye". With Quiet Eye you first look where you want the ball to go. Then only looking at your ball, you hit it. The idea is your brain already knows where the target is and now only ball is important.

I saw this on Scientific American Frontiers years ago and they used putting. I applied it to my soccer team players for PKs and direct kicks. It works great there because the keeper can't tell where you're aiming.

I think I will definitely give this a go. 

 

[CarlSpackler]

I would say both for me. My intermediate target is the line, but my distant target is for speed.

[TN94z]

1 hour ago, Rkrider99 said:

I look off in the distance and find something that I aim for, then I find something about 6-12" in front of the ball that I can align with the distant target. That's pretty much my standard routine.

This is what I have always done as well. I find that if I try to use a distant target only, I end up not aiming anywhere near where I think I am aligned.

[David in FL]

Since “poorly” wasn’t an option, I chose distant only.

Turns out, they’re one and the same.  😑

[Patch]

I use both, in conjunction with each other, while relying more on the intermediate target for club face alignment.

Club face, intermediate target and landing area all line up with each other.  

My club face alignment gives me my body alignment. This for all shots, and putts..

Once in my stance, a quick look over my left shoulder tells me if I am happy with my target aim. If something looks off, I reset my aim sequence. . 

[BC-to-MI]

6 hours ago, Rkrider99 said:

I look off in the distance and find something that I aim for, then I find something about 6-12" in front of the ball that I can align with the distant target. That's pretty much my standard routine.

This is what I generally do. Then, once I line up the club face with the intermediate target and align my body to it, I focus back in on the distance target. May have to try just focusing on the intermediate target. I am definitely one of those people in the article who sees all the bunkers, trees, water, etc.

[billchao]

I use a distant target only. I used to use intermediate only. I remember reading a Golf Magazine article back when I started playing golf that featured Jim Furyk IIRC and he said he picked a spot about a foot or two in front of his ball as his target and set up to that. I did that for a few years until, during a lesson, the pro commented that I'm too ball oriented. It didn't make any sense to me at the time since I'm trying to hit the ball in front of me why I should focus on a target over a hundred yards away, but it kind of stuck.

Turns out I aim poorly with either method.

[Groucho Valentine]

I was taught the “Nicklaus way”, I remember it being called. Draw a line in your mind from the far target, mid, then something a yard or two in front of the ball. I’ve used this method since I’ve been playing the game. 

[snapfade]

14 hours ago, Carl3 said:

North or South, LOL. Maybe that is one of the factors in how Kim Jong Il shot his famous round of golf?

I use the far target to locate my intermediate target and then only focus on the intermediate target. 

haha South

[onthehunt526]

22 hours ago, iacas said:

New study shows golfers have been aiming wrong this whole time

---

Most golfers see where they want their ball to end and aim straight for it. Pretty straightforward. Others...

I'm considering trying the intermediate target only. I often use that on short putts to great effect.

Well @iacas, I think it’s a good way to aim especially on short putts. Or hell, even on long ones, so why not do it on all shots? Not a bad idea. 

I hope you don’t mind me using an analogy. Bowling is a great example of using an intermediate target. You want your ball to reach the arrows 15 feet down the lane at a certain point. (For some that’s between the second and third arrow, others it’s the 3rd arrow others it’s the 2nd arrow depending how much they’re hooking the ball). The head pin is 60 feet from the foul line. If your ball misses the intermediate target, there is less chance your ball will hit the 1-3 pocket (or 1-2 pocket for you lefties). And your chances of striking are up to more luck.

Golf is hard. As you and Dave say in LSW. Trying to aim at a target say even 100 yards away is difficult. If you’re trying be semi-precise for a target 100 yards away you may be 2-3° off.  (I’m making this number up) picking an intermediate target on the target line of your main target 100 yards away, leaves less margin for error.

FWIW, I do both Erik.

The other thing that makes it difficult is the fact when addressing the ball (not like Ed Norton in the Honeymooners), we stand to side of the ball, which makes alignment after setup even more difficult.

Edited March 19, 2020 by onthehunt526
Forgot “The Honeymooners” reference

[Bonvivant]

I am 95% a distant target player. I think my alignment is fairly good, but shot variance is the killer. On putts, I usually pick out a spot that is "pin high" with the hole from where I am viewing, and aim there. The only time I use something intermediate is when I have a tricky double breaker or a mostly straight putt with a hard break at only one spot. When I have these situations, I still set up my aim relative to that break point. Once I align and take my stance, I rarely have my target in my FOV.

1 minute ago, onthehunt526 said:

I hope you don’t mind me using an analogy. Bowling is a great example of using an intermediate target. You want your ball to reach the arrows 15 feet down the lane at a certain point. (For some that’s between the second and third arrow, others it’s the 3rd arrow others it’s the 2nd arrow depending how much they’re hooking the ball). The head pin is 60 feet from the foul line. If your ball misses the intermediate target, there is less chance your ball will hit the 1-3 pocket (or 1-2 pocket for you lefties). And your chances of striking are up to more luck..

I used to be a fairly proficient bowler (298 high game 783 high series 202 average), and I always used the dots that are only 6 feet away from the foul line as opposed to the arrows. I didn't necessarily pick a dot, usually it was a board number (bowling lanes have 42 boards and I picked a board between number 12-20 right to left depending on conditions). I find it funny that in bowling I always had a mark as opposed to a target (with the exception of some spare shots), whereas golf I seem to do the exact opposite.