Lining up correctly parallel left is difficult to do, even when you pay attention to details and work hard at it on every shot by walking into the ball with a good, technically excellent setup routine. There are many obstacles to getting properly aligned parallel left, from the optical illusion of the aiming line in the address position, being elliptically curved right to left, to the shape of greens, trees lining the fairway, water hazards and bunkers, causing us to aim away from them. All if these visual issues can cause bad alignment. This leads to good swings hitting good shots to the wrong place and, of course, bad swing compensating and correcting for the bad alignment hitting bad shots.
I have a few tips and check points that will help you more consistently line up parallel left.
Aim the Name: I have used this check point religiously every time I tee up a ball. I figured it out playing a match in College where I hit the ball into the right rough on the real long and difficult par 4 – 18th hole every time because I was aimed there. There were two problems that had me aiming right, way right into the thick stuff. I had to just chop it out back to the fairway rough.
The first was that the long narrow tee aimed right to the right rough. (Note: many tees do not aim down the middle or straight to the green on par 3 holes. We tend to line up with the tee. Also, many times the maintenance worker placing the tee markers does not put them at a right angle to the fairway or green. It is amazing how many golfers line using the markers. If the markers are aimed wrong, then they are aimed wrong.)
The second problem actually had two issues. The left side of the fairway had a row of huge oak trees towering out toward the fairway. This line of tress causes two problems. One was in walking into ball and seeing them, they easily could make me drift to the right in my setup. The second issue is, once in I was setup over the ball at address and turned my head to look down the hole, seeing the trees and my body lined up into them, made me uncomfortable. This tended to make me re-adjust my feet more right, as well as making my focus wander more to the right, away from the trees. The result was I was aimed to the right rough and even a really good drive ended up in the really rough right rough. I sure couldn't reach the green from there.
I walked in and out of my setup 2 or 3 times because every time I looked up and saw the trees, I was uncomfortable and wanted to adjust my alignment away from them, more to the right. Finally, I decided that the only option was not to look up so I did not see the trees and get the impulse to adjust my aim more right. So I walked into the ball again and did not look. But I started to feel doubt. Was I aiming down the middle? So the question became: Is there a way for me to walk into the ball, not look up, yet be confident that I am aimed down the middle? And then the answer was staring me in the face looking at my golf ball. Aim the Name down the middle as my reference to check that my toe, knees, hips, shoulder and eye lines are all parallel left. With the name as a reference, I was sure my walk into setup was square and I also did not need to look down the fairway.
To this day, when I hit tee shots, I walk into the setup and never look up. I use the visual I set in my mind from behind the ball and swing without looking up. This is good because not lifting the head to look down the fairway reduces the chance of changing my upper body setup. It also reduces waggle time and more potential to change setup positions. Note: today many golf balls have an arrow on the side of the ball so you can Aim the Arrow. That works as well or better than the aiming the name. Also, you can buy a plastic cover that goes on the ball and has a slot in it that draws a perfect straight line on the side for your ball so you can Aim the Line. And, don't forget that if the name, arrow and the line help your aim for long shots, it works great for aiming your putts on the green.
Note: When playing the ball down on the fairways, you cannot turn the ball to aim the name. So, the option left is to use the intermediate spot to assist you alignment is your setup routine. Or try the following two check points that work on all shots. Best of all, they work from your setup position.
Lift and Point Your Left Arm: Once you have gone through your setup routine 'making the H' and are over the ball, you can use your left arm to confirm that your alignment is correct. Since you are in your address position and gripping the club, without moving your head and shoulders, lift your left hand off the grip and up to your shoulder (palm and arm perpendicular to the ground and pointing your index finger), straight out from your shoulder socket. Now, just turn your head (without moving your shoulders) and look, with both eyes open, to where your index finger points. If you are aimed parallel left, your arm will point left of the target and look quite parallel to it. If the arm looks diagonal left of the target, you are aimed a little right. If you left arm points at or right of the target, you are aimed way right. All you need to do is just reposition your feet a little left until your left arm looks parallel left of the target. (Note: I know I say moving your feet after address is asking for problems, as this will likely change your alignment. But in this case it is OK as you are changing it, looking at the target, using your left arm as the reference point.
Lift and Point Your Right Arm: Following the setup points listed above, instead, lift your right hand and arm straight up (without moving your shoulders and hips) and then just turn your head, with both eyes open, and see where your index finger points. For the right hand, correct alignment will have it pointing at the target. If it points right or left of the target, make the adjustments to your toe line until your index points at the target. Note: For many golfers, lifting the right arm is difficult and creates a lot of tension in the neck and shoulders while keeping the shoulders in place, and tends to pull them out of position and thus, can give you a bad reading. If you feel a lot of tension, then I recommend only using the left arm check point.
Pointing your right or left hand — both work well to check that you are aimed parallel left. There is a good chance one works better than the other for you, and that is the one you should use. I really like the left arm best for two reasons. First is that lifting the left arm straight up has little to no stretching and tension on the muscles of the neck and shoulders, and the arm is in quite a natural and comfortable position. The second is that the left arm points left of the target on the parallel left line, which is the line we are actually checking, and thus really gives more comforting assurance that your alignment is parallel left.
Both arm check points are simple, fast and accurate, and done in place in your setup position. It doesn't get any easier to check and see and be assured that your Big A for alignment gets a Grade A for accurate.
The Surge!