Alignment: Check Your Toes for Feedback

John,

I'm teaching my grand daughter also and started with the "non mechanical" things to get started, ie GRIP, STANCE, POSTURE, ALIGNMENT, BALL POSITION.
These are all things that must be ingrained from the start and don't require any instruction of the swing movement and obviously the big A, is number one on the list.

After working on the above, you could then start work on the swing and Don has a pocket size instruction book which he hands out at schools and this would be easier to follow than the manual, don't know if you can order these online, good luck.

John,
What Neil has suggested and offered is perfect. The basics must be learned.
I would like to briefly share how I have taught my wife and kids. Mainly I will share how Cindy my wife has learned the PPGS and is continuing to make steady progress. First, I wanted her to have fun and start to love the game. In the beginning she would just ride along with me in the cart and and hit occasional shot or few. Sometimes she would also putt a few while accompanying me. I remember my daughter Alicia always loved to ride along this way and especially if I let her drive!
When actually teaching Cindy to play, first thing I made her feel good about was TEEING IT UP ANYWHERE and any time from the tee box, fairway, rough, wherever and whenever. Why? The biggest challenge for most new players is getting the ball up and into the air. Cindy did this for most of the first year she played and it helped her have fun and get more distance and a feel of solid contact. Gradually she would do it less and less until her skills and confidence was there (after nearly one year of playing almost every week). So that's the first thing I would advise, let her tee it up frequently, wherever.
Then too, especially the first year, whenever Cindy wasn't having fun she would skip a hole or two or more. no pressure, have fun. She has always loved feeding the birds, chip monks, squirrels, and rabbits and sometimes she would just do that.
Another thing I did was ignore the actual tee boxes on really long holes. Sometimes I would tee off and then we would drive (or walk) to my ball and then have her tee hers up and play from there. Hitting the ball 8,9 times to reach a long par 5 was no fun for her after she began to understand the game.
There were other things we did a long the way to make it fun for her like going out for pizza afterwards or the like:) When playing, we always bring snacks and beverages (normally purified bottle water).To make a long story short Cindy has now been playing for 3 years and has the golf bug as much as I do. We play at least two days a week and she now shoots about 88 or better nearly every time out. She broke 40 for 9 holes the first time a month ago shooting a 39 that included an a double bogie on #9. She shot 40 on the back 9 at Painted desert (a tough layout) just yesterday. Oh, and by the way, she only uses a tee from the tee box now!
Make it fun and slowly enforce the fundamentals as Neil so correctly suggested and once they get the golf bug watch out:)

My feet naturally flare out about 30 degrees when standing balanced to play any sport. I step into the ball with a right foot that is already naturally and comfortably flared about 30 degrees. Because it feels very natural I think it is easy to repeat. I do however get through the ball and hit much straighter shots when the left foot is unnaturally flared more than the right.

I know that Surge doesn't like checking the heel line but I personally feel that it is a more precise way to check alignment, than looking at those " lieing toes". A very good way to practice alignment is to practice setting up on a hardwood or tile floor. I can see from the lines on the floor, that if my heels are lined up perfectly parallel left, with a driver width stance with my size 12's, and the left foot is flared about 10 degrees more, those " lieing toes", are not parallel left. The left toe is about 1 inch inside the parallel line.

If I trust the toe line when setting up, I will end up slightly closed with the heels , instead of parallel left every time and not hit the ball straight.

Since lining up the heels is impractical on the golf course, I do use the toes for alignment, but try to always have the left toe a little back from the parallel left line, when flaring the foot 10 degrees more. This small change made a big difference for me. I think that it is much better for me, to err on the side of being very slightly open with the feet, than being to some degree closed.