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Improving Your Golf Game
By Stephen Brown
If you’re looking to improve your game, the first step is to improve your alignment. By following these basic fundamentals your accuracy will improve dramatically and so will your score.
The game of golf is a target game. How important is aim? Consider this - if you make a good swing in the wrong direction it will produce a shot offline. What a waste of a good swing.
Think of other sports and how important aim is. Consider a foul shot in basketball. If your shoulders are aligned to the right edge of the backboard and your eyes are on the basket, how many foul shots do you think you will make out of ten? The answer to that is not many. Eighty-five percent of my students set up and align to the right of the target without realizing it. In golf, aligning to the right of the target will cause you to make compensation in your swing. Anytime you make a swing compensation it will be impossible to become consistent and improve your game.
Aiming the Clubface
Before you aim the clubface at the target make sure your hands are placed on the club in the proper position. To aim the club correctly you must use an intermediate target. This could be a divot, a clump of grass, a twig or any identifiable spot from 1 to 4 feet in front of your ball. It is much easier to aim at a spot closer to you than a target 100, 150 or 200 yards away. First stand behind the ball, visualize your shot, then pick out your intermediate target, advance to the ball from an angle lining the clubhead on your target.
Aligning Your Body
Most golfers I see are aimed to the right of the target because they align their left shoulder on the target which makes the clubface aim to the right of their intended target. Always aim your clubface first. Once you feel your clubface is on target, the correct alignment for your body is parallel left to the target line. At first you will feel that your body is way left of the target, but your body must be parallel left of the target to allow you to swing the club down the target line.
To check to see if you are aligned correctly, after you are completely set up, rotate your head and eyes on a line parallel to your target. It should be easy to see your target. If you have to lift up your shoulders and chin to see the target then your aim is right of your target.
Alignment Drill
Get a two by four board, put it in the ground along your target line, put a ball on the board, and align the leading edge of your clubface perpendicular to the edge of the board. This will show you the proper position of the clubhead to your target. Remember the clubface hits the ball, not your body - so always aim your club on target.
Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown is the golf pro at the Allendale Country Club.
If you want everyday access to one of the best golf courses in Southeastern Massachusetts, consider joining Allendale Country Club. You won’t be disappointed!
For more information feel free to contact Stephen at 508-992-8682.
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