Shoulder Alignment and effects

[dakatkinson]

A couple weeks ago, I was playing to my personal best ball-striking ability. These were the first few rounds of my season, and  my short game was way out of whack and I still ended up shooting 88,89, etc. Since then, my short game has magically appeared and saved me multiple times, but my iron play has became very inconsistent and my tee game with driver/wood/hybrid has been absolutely horrible. I went from hitting 10/14 fairways 2 weeks ago, to hitting just 2/14 fairways yesterday at the same course. And one of those came with a 4 iron. I have been hitting huge slices instead of my normal slight fade. I shot 47-49-96 at the same course that I went 45-44-89 with 5 3-putts at just 2 weeks ago. 

I feel like I am hitting the ball in the center of the clubface with the face relatively square, so I must be coming over the top. I was looking in the mirror at my set up, and noticed when I have driver/3w/3h off the tee, my shoulders are considerably open to the target. I'm a righty, and my left shoulder has to be pointing between 15-25 degrees left of target. I haven't been able to work on it yet, but I'm assuming this is the most likely cause of my slicing issues. I was wondering more about the effects of shoulder alignment... Should my shoulders be square to the target at address? What about at impact? And what are the effects of improper alignment?

Thanks in advance to all responses.

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, dakatkinson said:

Should my shoulders be square to the target at address? What about at impact? And what are the effects of improper alignment?

Thanks in advance to all responses.

1. Should the shoulders be square to the target. It depends on the golfer and how their swing is. If it is causing you to swing more leftward than you might want to square them up a bit. 

2. At impact the hips should be open. I believe PGA Tour players are in the 30 degree open range. The shoulders should be slightly open at impact. 

3. Depends on the golfer.