Great golf alignment tips: simple steps to aim like the pros

Proper golf alignment is the most underrated part of hitting a straight golf swing. It’s one of the biggest things that professionals think about that beginners do not. Good alignment is the difference between hitting a straight shot and hitting a slice or hook shot. In fact, being off on your alignment just 1 degree can make your ball miss by 15 yards or more! Read on to learn great golf alignment tips that will help your hit with dead on accuracy.

Great golf alignment tips: how to align your body to the ball

There are three main steps to align your body correctly to the ball. These steps are:

1. Approach the ball and aim your club face down the target line
2. Align your feet correctly to the target line
3. Square your shoulders to the intended target line

These basic elements should be part of your routine every single time you approach the golf ball. It will help ensure good habits and proper golf alignment whenever you take a swing.

Poor alignment generally comes from bad habits and lack of awareness prior to the golf shot. If you check in with your body, and go down your mental checklist on these three things, you can start avoiding common beginner pitfalls.

Aligning your club face at address

The first thing that you need to do to set up your golf shot is aim your club face down the intended target line. Think of the target line as an imaginary line goes between your golf ball and your target.

Aiming your club face is not only the most important thing you do to ensure proper alignment, its also the thing that most beginners get wrong.

There are several reasons to focus on aligning your face of your club first:

• It’s easiest to do first, before your feet are already set
• It creates a target line that you can then use to set your feet and square your shoulders
• It makes it easier to see that the leading edge of the club face is squared at 90 degrees to the intended target line

For these reasons, it’s best that you align your club face first. You want to have your target line already set to guide the positioning of the rest of your body.

If you don’t do this first, you may have to open or close your club face to compensate for the improper body alignment. This may lead to accidental slices or hooks.

Aligning your club face can be done in a couple of easy steps:

1. Get behind the ball and look over the golf course to your intended target
2. Now visualize your target line. This is simply an imaginary line running between your golf ball and your target
3. Set your golf club to the ball with the face pointed down the target line
4. Pay special attention to the leading edge on the face of your club. If your club is pointing exactly towards your target, then the leading edge should be at exactly 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the target line

If your target is particularly far away, then it may be difficult to visualize your ball path. In these cases, you should chunk down your approach.

Instead of aiming all the way towards the target, pick something visually distinctive that’s a bit closer. This will allow you to keep the same alignment, but is much easier to visualize than a target that’s over 500 yards away.

Aligning your feet at address

When aligning to the golf ball, you want to make sure that your feet are set properly. The stance that you take will depend on the type of shot that you hit.

There are three main ways to align your feet:

1. The straight shot: On a straight golf shots, keep your feet parallel to the target line.
2. The fade or slice shot: On a fade or slice shot, keep your front foot open a little more. On an open stance, your forward foot will be slightly further back from the ball than the back foot.
3. The draw or hook shot: On a draw or hook shot, you will want to keep your feet closed to the target line. On a closed stance, your forward foot will be slightly closer to the ball than the back foot.

Most of the time you will want to hit the straight shot.

During this process, remember to keep your club face set down the target line as you position your body. Changes to your foot stance should not move your golf club from its original position.

Aligning your feet can be done in a couple of easy steps:

1. Keeping the face of your club aimed towards the target, place your back foot so that it’s pointing parallel with the leading edge of the club head.
2. Next, determine if you want a standard, open, or closed stance.
3. Then, set your front foot so that it’s aligned with your back foot. For closed stance, the front foot should be a bit further forward. For an open stance, it should be a little more back. For a neutral stance the feet should be lined up with the target line.

If you’re trying to perfect your golf stance alignment, an alignment stick is a great way to check your feet. Simply lay the stick down parallel with the target line, and make sure both of your toes are touching the stick for a neutral stance.

From there, if you want to hit a draw, move your front foot a little more over the stick. To hit a slice, move your front foot a little further back from the stick.

Aligning your shoulders at address

Now that you’ve aligned your club and feet to the target, then final piece is to align your shoulders as well.

Much like aligning your feet, an open or closed shoulder stance will promote either a fade (slice) or draw (hook). Keeping the shoulders neutral will allow for a straight on hit.

The following exercise can help your to align your shoulders with the rest of your stance. You will need two alignment sticks for this exercise:

1. When you’re practicing your golf swing, take an alignment stick and line it towards your target
2. Align the face of your club and your feet to the target like you normally would
3. Take the other alignment stick and put it under your arms and across your chest
4. If you have proper alignment in your knees, hips and shoulders, then both sticks should line up together
5. If needed, you can substitute a golf club shaft for either of the alignments sticks

Line up a perfect golf swing: step by step

Step 1: Prepare your golf swing

The first thing you should do is to survey the golf course and picture the exact type of shot that you need to hit. Consider the course terrain, wind, and yardage to get the whole picture.

Step 2: Tee up your golf ball

Next, tee up your golf ball so that it’s ready to hit. If the ball is already on the fairway, have a look at the terrain that the ball is sitting on.

Step 3: Pick your intended target

When your pick your target, also pick an area directly behind and and area directly in front of the target. This can help you to visualize the path that the golf ball needs to take to get to your target area.

Step 4: Imagine your target line

Next imagine a line that goes through all three targets all the way back to your golf ball. You will use this imaginary line to help align your club, feet, and shoulders.

Step 5: Step into the ball and position your golf club

When you approach the golf ball, first focus on aligning the face of the club. It should be aligned to the target line such that the leading edge of your golf club is at a 90 degree angle to the line.

Step 6: Set your feet

Line up both of your feet with your target line. This will help prevent slice or draw shots.

Step in to the shot, planting your back foot first and then your front foot.

An alignment stick can help you to position your feet as needed.

Step 7: Position your shoulders

Similar to your feet, your want to keep your shoulders lined up with the target line. Like your feet, closed or open shoulders can cause you to hit a draw or fade on your shot.

To practice lining up your shoulders, you can hold another alignment stick to your chest and make sure that it’s lined up with the alignment stick on the ground.

Step 8: Take your swing

Finally, relax your body and swing through the ball.

Why proper alignment is so important for your golf game

Proper golf alignment is the thing that beginners overlook the most when learning to play. Good alignment of the knees hips and shoulders is one of the most important aspects to hitting a consistent golf swing.

Proper golf alignment simplifies your stroke and golf swing mechanics. When you align every part of your body perfectly to your target, aiming your golf swing is easy.

Poor alignment, on the other hand, means that there is a mismatch between your stance and your intended target. It’s possible that your eyes might be on the target, but your club face is open while your feet an shoulders are closed.

For players with poor alignment, they will notice that their shots on the golf course almost feel random. Sometimes their golf swing will fade or draw and they have no idea why. A good pre shot routine focused around you alignment will create habits for hitting your golf shots.

Good alignment is important whether you want to hit longer drives or improve your putting.

Conclusion

Proper alignment is easily achievable with a pre game routine that focuses on the basics. A basic pre golf swing routine will prevent a lot of mishits due to slice and draw. Once you know the fundamentals of club, foot, and shoulder alignment there is no reason to mishit due to poor body position.

Solid alignment, combined with a good golf swing, will allow you to start hitting your shots with pinpoint accuracy.

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