Jeff had a great question and good observation about his swing. He asked, 'how do I keep from creeping right. In other words, what should I look at with my eyes after I take my stance to check parallel left down my toe line/hip line. Should I feel like my body is lined up with the left side of the green if the flag is in the middle for example. I feel like I have a tendency to shift my alignment right/shoulders closed especially with the driver because my target is so far away.
Jeff,
Alignment is a big issue in playing good golf. First and foremost the best swing in the world will not hit the ball to the right place if the alignment is off. Conversely, if the alignment is off, and the brain senses it. the swing is immediately changed to create the compensations to try and re-direct the ball to the target. If the alignment is right, the swing will either pull the ball or try to hook the ball to the target. Aimed left, and the swing has to push or slice the ball to get it to go toward the target.
Alignment is so important that my Surgism for alignment is “90 to 95 percent of all swing problems, adjustments and compensations arise out of bad alignment. So, your question about how do you keep from creeping right, and what should you look at with your eyes after you take your stance, are really important.
Let's start by asking a question: Is alignment more important for low handicap to scratch players and pros, than for higher handicap golfers?
The answer is, it is important for all golfers. But the low handicap players and pros have alignment hurt them in a way differently than the higher handicappers. The accomplished player has a much more consistent swing, shot after shot. Bad alignment bites them in that many times they will align right and just make a perfect swing (that is with no compensations to correct) and fire the ball straight into the right rough, fairway bunker or greenside bunker. The problem is doubled or magnified when this player concludes that the shot that just sailed dead right was a push or a block, because it was hit so solid and straight. He or she just made a perfect swing and dismissed it as a bad one. This really will mess up the mind because what felt good and should have been good was dismissed as a bad swing because of direction. So, now there is a conflict in the mind and senses of what a good swing is.
But now let's get back to your basic question of how do you keep from “creeping” right. The word creeping implies that your feet are moving. I see players walk into the ball, and when they look up back at the target, they start creeping. I also call that dancing. The best way to stop that is once you walk into your setup and “PLANT” your feet, they stay put. Notice I used the word “PLANT.' I have another alignment Surgism that states, “most players are in the best or closest to good alignment when they first set their feet walking into their setup.” What that means is that when they look up to see the target, and or start waggling their club, they start fidgeting their feet and dancing themselves right out of and into another alignment.
So the answer is if you go through a good setup routine that includes alignment. Once your feet hit the ground, they MUST stay planted. This means that if you look back to the target, and you waggle, which is OK, (but I like to see slow, small and quiet waggles,) the feet must stay grounded. Many waggles, especially fast and snappy ones seem to invite the player lifting the feet up a little, which can cause the foot to be placed back down in a slightly different spot. Do this a few times with both feet lifted up and placed down in a different place and you can easily have changed your aim as much as 20 or 30 and even 40 yards.
Now, regarding what do you look at. The first key is, when you have setup and turn to look back at the target, turn your head and only your head, rolling the down the aiming line. Unfortunately, most golfers tend to lift the right shoulder and turn the chest and head (so the eyes are lifted to horizontal to the ground and you see a sweeping panoramic view of right to left) to look, which can cause dancing. What I think is a good thing in your first alignment check is to look down at your toes and draw line from them to see where they point relative to your target, which should be parallel left. If they are good, then you must stay in the “planted foot mode” during your waggle. If they are incorrect, I would actually recommend walking out of the setup and then redo your entire routine back in to get it correct. Why walk out and not just re-adjust your feet? Because that would be dancing and we don't dance once the feet are planted.
Once the feet are correctly planted parallel left, the last thing you have to do is make sure your shoulders and hips are directly over your toe line so that your entire body, from toes to knees to hips, shoulders and eyes, are all in the same parallel left alignment. From there it is all systems go for a good swing.
Alignment is so important, I will dedicate two or three more articles to covering other important aspects, issues and key thoughts, that will help get you into good alignment shot after shot.
The Surge!