I returned to yesterday's article to re-read it in preparation for writing this one. After finishing the article, I scrolled down and saw a comment by Don Correia saying I had just made him rich because he hit a pull, straight and long and, with 100% certainty, 'I was not aimed in that direction.' He added, 'I always check my feet alignment prior to each shot and after if it's bad.' Don, excellent pre-shot preparation and super excellent post analysis after hitting a poor shot. This is one of the best ways to keep your setup fine tuned and correct and, more importantly, the Post Alignment Check gives you a better if not concrete answer as to why a poor shot off line was hit in terms of both a setup and or swing problem.
Since your feet were aimed properly and the ball was pulled straight and long, we know you had a direct on line solid impact, as that is the only impact that hits solid and straight shots. Dr. Alastair Cochran, in his book, 'The Search for The Perfect Swing,' published in December, 1967, concluded that to hit a good shot, which he defined as a relatively straight shot, four things had to happen. 1: The club had to approach the ball on the aiming line. 2: the club had to contact the ball while still on the aiming line and the face had to be square to the line. 3: the club had to leave while still on the aiming line. 4: you must hit it solid or in the sweet spot. I call this the ON ' ON ' ON principle and it is a primary part of ball flight laws. The NASA physicist, turned golf pro, David Pelz, studied putting and wrote a book, 'Putting Like the Pros,' published in 1991. He came to the same conclusion about making putts in reference to the club being on-on-and on and square and solid at impact.
So, if you hit a long, straight pull and you checked and your feet were square, we need to figure out what else was the cause of that off line shot. Let's start with the last two lines in the first paragraph of Wednesday's article, 'Setup'¦Back Foot Perpendicular to Toe Line'¦Problems,' as having a clue to the cause. I wrote that relative to setup alignment, 'When both toes touch the aiming line, the feet are termed square in reference to alignment.' This next sentence is the big clue. 'When the knees, hips and shoulders, and I like to include the eyes, are ALSO parallel to the toe line, the entire setup is square.'
The key is that to hit relatively straight shots, the 'ENTIRE' setup has to be square, from the tips of your toes to the eyes. If the knees, and especially the hips and shoulders, are open or closed, even with the feet square, blocks and pushes can be hit. This happens because the open or closed upper body is swinging the arms and clubs straight outside to in, across the aiming line (pull) or straight from inside out across the aiming line (block), with the 'clubface square' at impact to the line, the shot flies straight down.
The problem here is the 'ALIGNMENT CHECK TEST' only checks the foot alignment. It is only truly correct if the player is dead certain the rest of his body is also square to the aiming line. This is basically impossible as we cannot see ourselves and can only go by the feel of our body positions in our setup. Unfortunately, we can get slightly out of alignment, which can even grow to way out of alignment of our square setup and not feel anything is wrong as we get comfortable in the new and wrong alignment. Once it starts, the blocks and pulls are minimal. As the alignment gets more out of square, the right and left shots start going more right and left, and can stay straight if the clubface is square at impact to the line the ball now flies on.
The solution and correction is if your pulls and blocks start getting too often and too far left and right, you need to either film yourself or, and it is probably better, get a look see from your PGA Professional or a friend or playing partner that you trust, truly knows, understands and can recognize proper alignment and what is not in alignment.
The 'Alignment Check Test' works, but it is only accurate when the entire body is aligned parallel left. I guess maybe I need to change the name to the 'FOOT Alignment Check Test.' Then I need to create a new test, the 'Total Body Alignment Check UP,' that needs the help of your PGA Pro or playing partner, to check you out periodically to see that the entire body is aligned, with the feet parallel left of the aiming line. I can assure you that when I play, I am always asking my playing partners to check my alignment when good swings hit off line shots and the foot check comes out OK, or when the shots are not solid and start becoming too off line in both directions.
All of this checking our aim comes down to stressing the importance of my Alignment Surgism for playing good golf hitting the ball where we intend it to go.
Alignment'¦Alignment'¦Alignment'¦Don't play golf without it!
The Surge!