Alignment

[saevel25]

What thoughts do you go to make sure that your aligned right and have your ball position right. I am not asking where you have the ball positioned, but rather what your check is to make sure its right.

Also how do you know if your aligned right. My issue is that my body will start to point more right and right as the round goes on, then my swing tempo increases to keep it going straight were i think it should go. When is slow it down, i usually crush a drive were i aimed, usually 20-30 yards right of my target. Any thoughts you go through to make sure you are staying aligned right?

[killerduck]

this is, without doubt, the problem hurting my game the most right now.

I've tried lining up a spot just infront the ball with my target, I've tried lining up a spot just behind my ball. I've tried lining up with target itself.... Whilst most of the time I'm ok with my alignment, I'm out far too often. But it's not only irons/woods that I can't line up confidently, it's PUTTS!!! The most important line, and I'll miss it by miles sometimes.

I think I might need my eyes tested, as I'm starting to lose sight of the ball upon apex, maybe that's got something to do with it... lol

[tterrag]

Go buy some rods from Home Depot or Lowes, the ones used for fences. Go out and use them on the range, ALWAYS. This will help you setup right, and allow you to remember the feeling of correct setup. So when you're on the course, pick an intermediate target, line your club up with that spot(2-3 inches in front of your ball), then square your feet to your club face.
Hopefully this helps,
Garrett

Also, I think alignment is something everyone struggles with, even tour pros, thats why they have their caddies align them. Its just something you develop or have due to experience. Make sure you always check your alignment when you start to hit it bad, do this by analyzing your habits. I.e. too far right. So then you can just align, then aim a little farther left. This is what Jim Furyk does.

[saevel25]

Well nothing feels good right now for me. I go out and shoot probably the most consistant 9 holes of my life in league, and now my swing feels like its been through a meat grinder. Today i was backing off shots because just standing over them felt wrong. Its not a good time right now

[The Recreational Golfer]

To get yourself aligned to your shot, stand behind the ball and sight across it to a target in the distance. Find a spot on the ground just in front of the ball and line up parallel to this line. Check yourself by placing the shaft of the club on the ground BEHIND you, against your heels (NOT your toes). Now step behind the ball and see where the club is pointing. Aligning your stance is like aiming a gun by holding it out at arm's length. Hard to do. You just have to memorize what the view up ahead is when you're aligned, as opposed to when you're aligned right. It's a constant struggle. I suggest refreshing yourself every time you go to the range, and when you warm up before a round, because it is so easy to get misaligned.

As for ball position, take a few swings without a ball in front of you and watch the club flash past you. That's how far away the ball you should stand, because that's where your swing goes. That's how to check that it's right. As for the forward-back position, if you're not making good contact, move the ball back a bit. Playing the ball too far forward is a common error. Playing it too far back isn't.

[saevel25]

Well i think my issue is the waggle, i think i shift my alignment to the right a bit when i do that. It might be tough to change..

[soloredd]

This is my culprit as well. I have a very bad habit of finding a spot in front of the ball, lining up the club head to the target but then I adjust my feet at the last second so my left foot (righty) is pointed more right than need be. Depending on the club and hole layout I can get away with it but not so much. This is my number one cause for hitting a hook. I have a natural draw swing and I make it worse. I'm now at the point where I get my left foot in a spot where it feels like it's very much an open stance, but in reality it isn't.

I need to do as tterrag suggested and get some alignment poles for the range.

[seanturner88]

Simple fix you can do. I have taught it to all my buddies and they all do it now when we play. Go through your preshot routine and when you address the ball with your club behind it, stand straight up and hold your club with both hands with your arms on your sides. I.E. if youre right handed your left hand will by your grip while the right hand is by the head and the shaft will be against your thighs pointing in the direction you are aimed. keep your arms there and adjust your feet until the club points to your target, readdress from there and pull the trigger. This lil simple tip will help you aim properly without checking over time. I swear by it.

[LeftyTrevor]

The best tip I got and have used ever since is this. Stand behind the ball picking out your target then take a step to the side to where your feet will go, pick a target to line your shoulders and feet up to. If you line your body up to where your target is from behind the ball you will either have a closed face or hit right of your initial target. Try it a few times and you will see a great improvement. I know I did

[Zeph]

Find an intermediate target to aim through. Helps me stay on the line.

1: Pick your body alignment target on the fairway, green or whatever.
2: Stand directly behind the ball and the target you picked
3: Draw an imaginary (or use the club shaft) to find an intermediate alignment target a foot or something like that in front of the ball
4: Keep looking at your intermediate target while going around to take your address position
5: Draw an imaginary line from the intermediate target and through your ball. You can also put the club down behind the ball to make the visualisation easier
6: Position your feet and body parallell to the imaginary line you just made
7: Swing away

[Dr. Strangeclub]

The right foot should be perpendicular the swing line. I think this is one of the most important aspects of the setup and is almost never emphasized. I have yet to see any of the deep breathers on TGChannel say anything about it when talking us through all those slomos of the pros, possibly because almost none of the pros do it wrong. Sometimes they talk about somebody like Greg Norman dragging his right foot through the shot or Woods spinning out on his left foot, but nothing about how they set up to the ball with their feet. Yeah, there's "aiming left" and "open" and all that, but they never actually say where the feet themselves, individually, are pointing. Hogan laid down the law on this, and until human anatomy changes dramatically, it is what it is. Other than the eccentric Dr. Mann, who advocates the "railroad tracks" approach (shudder), with BOTH feet square to the line, I don't think the point is much in debate. So...what is it?

The right foot DEFINES the line along which the club will be traveling at the bottom of the swing, at impact. Simple, huh? So, do it. Pretty much anybody can set their right foot down perpendicular to a target. The rest pretty much takes care of itself, as long as your ball position is decent.

Above, tterrag said to buy rods from Lowes or HDepot to use on the range. Why wouldn't you just use your golf clubs? I agree that marking the line with something when you practice is important, but using a couple of irons has worked just swell for me for over 50 years.

[saevel25]

Well the issue with clubs for me is that there more of a cone shape than a cylinder. So, really they can throw you of. I know its nit picking, but i can tell when i set up.

I am pretty much square with both feet to the target line. I am thinking of flairing out the left foot a bit (right handed)

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Well the issue with clubs for me is that there more of a cone shape than a cylinder. So, really they can throw you of. I know its nit picking, but i can tell when i set up.

Well, okay then. But I still don't think I'd pick those ugly, heavy fence post things. Seems like a cheap wooden molding strip would be a little easier to deal with. And you could write the swing thought of the day on it! Or keep stats on your practice!

The left foot should splay out for biomechanical reasons. (Exactly what Dr. Mann claims for the railroad tracks approach, but I'll stick with Hogan, even though sports and biomechanics is Mann's claim to fame -- there are not two correct opinions about this, if you ask me.) As the hips open to the hole (your power source, if you're doing it right), the club naturally comes inside the line after impact. The weight shift isn't down line, but to the left in the follow through. With your left foot square, you tend to move laterally into the shot with your hips and lose big power. Your shoulders should stay on line longer (viz. the old tip, "Don't let your right shoulder move toward the ball", aka as, "Keep your right shoulder under", aka, "Point your right elbow at your right hip", aka, "Drop your right elbow into your side", aka, "Don't let your right elbow fly", aka...), but your hips should not, and it's your hips and feet that have to transfer and bear the weight. Basically, you set your left foot square to where your balance point will wind up in your finish: looking directly at the target, belt buckle pointing at the hole, back straight, weight on the side of the left foot, right spikes showing, etc. It's almost a matter of balance and grace. If your left foot isn't splayed out, there seems to me to be a lot more tension and effort to the whole operation.

[saevel25]

My foot is usually square, i think it gives me issues with getting to my left side more. I tend to get my weight on the left toe area rather than the left heal at finish.

[iacas]

The right foot should be perpendicular the swing line. I think this is one of the most important aspects of the setup and is almost never emphasized. I have yet to see any of the deep breathers on TGChannel say anything about it when talking us through all those slomos of the pros, possibly because almost none of the pros do it wrong.

Bah, because that's poppycock. The right foot doesn't need to be square (perpendicular), and for the average golfer it's far more important that it be flared out somewhat. Just 15 degrees or so is enough, but dead square? Nah.

Hogan laid down the law on this, and until human anatomy changes dramatically, it is what it is.

Hogan described the way he swung. While that's incredibly important, it's not the way everyone swings, and Hogan wasn't studied in the field of biomechanics.

The right foot DEFINES the line along which the club will be traveling at the bottom of the swing, at impact.

No it doesn't. If that were the case all anyone would have to do to fix their slice is to square up their foot. Or to draw or fade the ball everyone would adjust their right foot.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Bah, because that's poppycock. The right foot doesn't need to be square (perpendicular), and for the average golfer it's far more important that it be flared out somewhat. Just 15 degrees or so is enough, but dead square? Nah.

Emphasis with capitalized words is in the original, not something I've added to make MY point. From _Five Lessons_, pg. 41-42, Ben Hogan:

"THERE IS ONE BASIC STANCE: THE RIGHT FOOT IS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LINE OF FLIGHT..." I was 14 years old when the first installment of The Modern Fundamentals of Golf arrived at our house in Sports Illustrated. I had never broken a hundred. I read that lesson and the next four like I was discovering the secrets of the universe or something. Oddly, as it happened, I WAS, in the golfing universe! By the end of the summer I was consistently playing in the '80s. The next summer, I shot a 73 in the Savanna City Junior Amateur, taking second place. I hope you understand why I might think Hogan had the right idea. The lead up to these capitalized words is: "Some tournament-caliber golfers, as you may have noticed, choose to stand with the toes of both feet pointed out. It has always struck me that these players succeed in spite of the placement of their feet, for I have been convinced since my early days in golf that THERE IS ONE BASIC STANCE: THE RIGHT FOOT IS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LINE OF FLIGHT AND THE LEFT FOOT IS TURNED OUT A QUARTER OF A TURN TO THE LEFT. I think the left foot can go to 45 degrees, personally, but it's a minor quibble with the thrust of what he is saying. As he writes a little further down page 42: "As a matter of fact, you can tell just from looking at a good golfer's stance exactly where he is aiming to hit his shot...On the other hand, a golfer who stands with both feet turned out makes you wonder to yourself, 'Is this fellow going to hit the ball right-handed or left-handed?'" You said, in classic straw man format, "If that were the case all anyone would have to do to fix their slice is to square up their foot," While there's obviously more to the problem (as explained in the Five Lessons), I would say squaring up the right foot is a very good start.

[The Recreational Golfer]

The original question was about knowing whether you are aligned to the right or not, and having your ball position right.

As far as alignment goes, you can put your club down behind the ball, lean over it, and sight down toward the target and square up the face. Then step away, leaving the club in place behind the ball, and take your stance perpendicular to the grooves on the clubface. This works a lot better than the railroad track method, which is an excellent image, but very difficult to apply.

As for ball position, play it in the center for shots off the ground and one ball forward of that for a driver. That's a good staring point, which you can adjust if necessary to where, all things being equal, you make the cleanest contact and the ball curves the least. Most golfers play the ball too far forward, few play it too far back.

[iacas]

Emphasis with capitalized words is in the original

I can read. Hogan's book is good, but it's not the be-all, end-all for the golf swing, nor does he get everything right. The book merely described how Ben Hogan swung the golf club. That's it. Don't over-state the importance of something just because Ben Hogan did it.

So I'm done discussing it for that reason, but also (and primarily) because of this...

The original question was about knowing whether you are aligned to the right or not, and having your ball position right.

... we're done discussing the feet. The OP decides the topic, and the feet aren't it.