Colorado Springs Golf School

Alignment

Alignment or aiming is one of golf’s most important fundamentals. Strangely enough, it takes the least amount of natural talent but it requires the greatest amount of attention. You may have a consistent swing but without a good alignment you will never hit the ball where you hope. In other words if you have a poor alignment you will have to make a poor swing to hit the ball on the intended target line. The men and women who make their living playing golf consistently check their alignment for any flaws. They are very aware that without a good alignment they can’t even begin to work on their swings.

            

The reason that aiming is so difficult is that unlike shooting a gun or a bow and arrow where your eyes are over the barrel of the fun or shaft of the arrow, in golf your eyes are anywhere from several inches to a couple of feet inside the target. This in itself makes aiming very difficult.

When you setup to hit a shot you want your feet, hips, and shoulders all in the same line. If you imagine yourself standing on a railroad track, you are on one track the ball is on the other, the track runs at your target. This is the image that you want to have in your mind when you are setting up to the golf ball.

Now since you can’t go stand on a railroad track to practice your alignment you need to get some visual aids. The best and simplest ones we have found are golf clubs. Lay two clubs on the ground between the ball and your feet. Put them about a foot apart and point them at your target. This will give you the visual aids you need to work on your alignment.

When you setup to the ball you want your feet, hips, and shoulders to be parallel to the clubs on the ground. While the clubs remain on the ground you can now hit balls and work on your alignment. As you work on your alignment using the clubs, you will start to realize that your body and mind will setup to the clubs on the ground almost unconsciously. Making this drill one of the best alignment drills we have found.

     

Since it is very easy to fall into a bad alignment we would suggest that you use this drill every time you go out to practice. When you do you will accomplish two things.
You will improve your alignment dramatically.
You will eliminate alignment as a possible problem in your game.

One last closing tip. Although alignment is very important to all areas of the game and on all lengths of shots. As the length of the shots increase alignment becomes more critical. For example, if your feet are a few degrees left on a 100 yard shot the ball may wind up 10 yards or so left of the pin. But on a 250 yard drive those few degrees could add up to 20 or 30 yards.

So take your time and work on your alignment. Study the pictures and review this CD until you have a good understanding of alignment.

Then go out and have some fun!

Tags: Colorado Golf Academy, Colorado Golf School, Colorado Springs Golf Instruction, Colorado Springs Golf Lessons, Golf Lessons, Golf Lessons Colorado Springs, Golf Tips by paul
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“Where do I play the ball in my stance?”

This is the most asked question that the PGA pro’s get when they give lessons on the stance. The answer is. There is no universal ball location for everyone.

There are many factors involved in properly locating the ball. Some of the factors are, your flexibility, and the amount of weight shift you have in your swing, balance, and your physique. But there are guidelines you can follow.

Let’s assume that you have a flat lie and you want to hit the ball at the standard trajectory for the iron chosen. The ball will be played somewhere on the left side of your stance, anywhere from the left toe to the center of the stance. What you will find with most good players is a fairly constant ball position.

The only thing that will change is the position of the right foot as shown in the illustration below. If the player wanted to hit it higher or lower he or she will alter the position forward or back accordingly.

How do you find your correct ball position? Take some practice swings and watch where your club makes contact with the ground. After a few swings you will start to see a spot where the club seems to hit over and over again. This is the bottom of the swing.

You want to play the ball in a position just before the club bottoms out so you will be hitting the ball with a slight descending blow. You will want to do this with most of your irons.

As you get to the long irons and woods you will want to move the ball to the bottom of the swing so that you will be making contact with the ball in a more sweeping motion rather than hitting it with a descending blow. This adds in a better ball flight for those clubs.

The moving of the ball position described here is only an inch or two. Any more than this and you will see a noticeable difference in ball flight. Take as an example the Iron Byron perfect hitting machine. When the ball was moved 3 inches forward from its normal position the machine produced grounders. When the position was moved away from the machine 2 inches it produces squibs to the right.

How far you stand from the ball is also very important. But this is also very easy to explain. After you achieve the correct body posture describes earlier in this CD. You simply let the length of the club dictate how far you stand from it.