Aiming the club face properly and aligning the body relative to your desired ball flight is an important skill. And an earned one.
Your practice and preparation will have a huge effect on how well you aim, align and are able to get your golf ball to your target. As you work on technique and swing mechanics on the range, make sure you have a general area as a target.
Prepare to aim perfectly when you play
Often, I see golfers on the range aiming haphazardly — and then being surprised when the ball does not go where they want it to go.
As an instructor, my goal is to make sure you hit it where you aim. Understanding proper technique as well as the difference between aiming and aligning, will help get you there. But you have to practice properly.
1. Aim the face — leading edge
The club face has by far the greatest influence on the direction of all shots. Setting the club properly behind the ball, though, sounds simpler than it is. When you aim your club face, you want to set it on the ground behind the ball so that the leading edge or the bottom groove on the face is perpendicular to the direction you want the ball to go. The more lofted the club, the more the top line of the club may look crooked, or the more ‘open’ the face appears. When you practice, set your club behind a straight edge (the edge of a mat on the range, for instance) and check that the leading edge matches it. This will give you a good picture of what the club looks like when it is set square at its effective loft.
2. Align the body
Ideally, your club face points to your target, but this isn’t necessarily true with your body, unless you are setting up to hook the ball. In most cases, your body lines (feet, hips, shoulders, forearms) will be parallel to where your club face aims but not lined up directly toward your target.
3. Your shoulder line is key
When a setup is square and even, the shoulder line will also be parallel to the other lines. The shoulder line is extremely important, as it has the most direct influence on swing path. Your arms will swing down your shoulder line, so having it reflect your desired swing path at address is key.
4. Create a station for yourself
Most good golfers use aim and alignment aids when they practice. Alignment rods or boards are very commonly used to check club face and body lines, as well as swing path. One of my favorite aids is the alignment ball as it can be used for full swing as well as for putting face alignment and path.
5. Narrow your station as you improve
Alignment aids can be forgiving or particular. As you improve or look to hold yourself to higher standards, start to narrow your station for swing path by moving alignment sticks closer together or adding tees to give feedback when swing path may be slightly off.
6. Body lines shouldn’t point to the target
Have you ever played and seen the knee aimer? The golfer who places the club across their knees to aim can look like they know what they are doing, but in many cases, they don’t. This technique is most often used incorrectly, as the golfer thinks this line should go to the target. To employ this technique correctly, a right-handed golfer would point this line to the left of the target so that when they put their club down on the ground, the club face would point to the target.
7. Your lead shoulder should be relative to the target
A very effective and efficient method to aiming and aligning is to learn how your lead shoulder should look relative to the target. Personally, I know that my lead shoulder look like it’s at about 10 o’clock on the clock if the target is at 12. Use a setup station so that you know are perfect and glance to the target. Where is your shoulder relative to the target? Once you know this, you can use this on the golf course as an aiming technique.
8. Create an intermediate target
One of the most common (and effective) aiming techniques is to stand behind the ball and pick an intermediate target. Once you choose this target, aim your club face directly toward it and set your body lines parallel to the line between this spot and your club face to set your body alignments correctly.
9. The trick
On tee shots, use the line on the ball to help you aim, as many do when putting. Point the line where you want the ball to go and then use this to help set your club face perpendicular and your body parallel. The optical illusion that occurs from being on the side the ball can make aiming difficult, but using the line when hitting a tee shot can help train you to set up better and hit more fairways.
10. Build your setup around the clubface
Great players have great habits. You can learn from watching them. No matter what shot, almost all aim their club face first and then build the rest of the setup around the club face. Watch how particular good players are when they first set their club behind the ball. Since the club face is the greatest influence and the first step in a setup routine, it is certainly one of the most important.
