Golf is a sport where direction is of utmost importance for achieving success. It is a sport where the ball is hit far distances and has a very small target. It is also the sport that the ball can be hit with a tremendous amount of curve, affecting the accuracy and success of the shot. For example, baseball is played in a baseball park that is shaped like a diamond. Any hit within the baselines is in play and OK. Heck, even if the coach tells the batter to hit behind the runner, say to right field, and he pulls it to left field and gets a hit, he will still get his high five and pat on the back despite the fact he hit the ball to the opposite field. If a golfer does this, he will likely find his ball (if he even finds it) in big trouble in the woods or some other place he would rather not be.
I like to think and say that golf is played in a bowling alley, not a baseball park. The really only acceptable ball flight and direction is straight down the alley. Big curves on the ball flight will likely have the ball leaving the alley and ending up in trouble. So, let's look at how you can start playing golf in a bowling alley and not in a baseball park.
Let's begin by looking at and defining alignment. Every shot hit, from a putt to a drive, has a target. I have been teaching for over 30 years, and in that time every student I have ever asked what ball flight they wanted, has always said that basically they wanted to learn to hit a straight shot or a little draw. Not once, and I mean NEVER has a student told me that he or she wanted to learn to hit a 30 yard draw or slice as their bread and butter shot. Every single one wants to hit relatively straight shots. After all, the shortest distance between two points, your ball and the target is a straight line. And for the most part, being in the fairway, the short grass, will be straight line shots.
The starting point for alignment is the target or aiming line, which is a straight line from the ball to the target. If curve is needed in the ball flightm, the target line becomes an aiming line (to a straight point) when you have to aim and start your ball flight right or left of the target for the curve to end up at the target.
Since a golf swing is executed standing beside of the ball (to the left of it for right handed players), proper alignment is described as the body aimed parallel left of the target line (parallel right for lefties). What this means is the player's body is parallel left when a line across the toes (toe Line) is parallel left of the target line. The setup is parallel left when the toes and the rest of the body lines — knees, hips, shoulders and eye lines — are all parallel left of the target line. This setup position is called 'square,' since all body lines, being parallel left, are in a parallel and square relationship to the target line.
I have been teaching and stressing alignment for my entire career. I believe alignment is critically important for hitting straight and accurate golf shots. It's so important that every shot in every lesson I give has a definite target. I will say unequivocally that if you take a lesson and the teacher doesn't give you a target, put your club in the bag and leave. Target is the live line of playing golf because all shots are hit at a target. Target is the life line of golf, just like going to the doctor, checking all your vital signs like, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and weight are vital pieces of information that must be known.
The only way an instructor can check if your clubface is square to your target, your stance is square or open or closed, your path is straight back or inside or outside, and what path your downswing is on and then your forward upswing to your finish position, is all based on your target. If you don't have a target, all these important issues for helping you fix or build a better swing cannot be evaluated.
I believe alignment is so important and the vital lifeline for hitting good and straight golf shots that my mantra for alignment is '90 to 95 percent of all swing faults arise out of alignment.' That makes alignment critically important, because even a perfect swing, and perfect contact and ball flight will not end up at the target if the alignment is pointing to the wrong place. That perfectly hit ball will go to that wrong place. Physical alignment has to match up to mental (intended) alignment for the ball to go to the target.
Alignment is so important that when I am teaching, whether on the range or on the course, I spend the majority of my time behind the student looking down the target line. Why? Because in standing behind the student, I am first and foremost checking his alignment. Most students, from high handicappers to Tour pro, do not change their grip, ball placement or other vital setup positions from shot to shot, but they do change or get into poor, bad or incorrect alignment. When on the course, I always want the student to tell me their target for every shot, so I can check their alignment.
One time during a lesson with a lady, when I was doing my swing evaluation diagnosis and I began to speak about her alignment, she stopped me cold and told me that she knew she had 'Terrible Towards.' She said it so fast, I had her repeat the term 3 or 4 times before I finally figured out what she was saying and thus the meaning of the term. I really like it and it certainly defines the importance of alignment as a primary contributor to poor shots.
In my next lesson on alignment, I'll begin discussing some of the causes and reasons why getting into good alignment is difficult, even when we are diligent and work hard on a good routine, like my concept of 'making the H.' We pay attention to detail and still get aimed off line. We'll look at why this happens and how to correct them so we can change TERRIBLE TOWARDS'¦TO'¦TERRIFIC TOWARDS!
The Surge!