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Contact good, having trouble with AIM ... missing left or right consistently

inthehole

inthehole

Holly Sonders Caddie
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
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Location
Pocono's PA
Handicap
GHIN 11.5
With regard to approach shots with irons & wedges - I'm making pretty good contact now for the most part, but very often miss greens left or right. My biggest problem is poor AIM. It's not a consistent pull or push & not a hook or slice - hit it pretty straight ... just never quite know which side it'll miss on.

I know it's tough to say without seeing my swing, but I'm curious if anyone has had an "ah - ha" moment & discovered something that really helped them with aiming their approach shots. I'm hoping it'll just come with practice and time, but would like to be more proactive and figure it out ... thx !
 
Yup.
Pick a leaf, blade of grass or anything else, 12 inches in front of the ball that matches up with the middle of the green. Aim at that.
 
When I'm on the range I use my alignment sticks and put them down pointing in the direction of my aiming point. Then I put the ball between them and take swings. If you take a divot it can help show why your ball is missing left or right. This helps me get my body and swing aligned so I can make the transition to the course.


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JB said:
Yup.
Pick a leaf, blade of grass or anything else, 12 inches in front of the ball that matches up with the middle of the green. Aim at that.
Click to expand...

I use the club shaft to find the blade of grass, discolored patch, divot or whatever to aim at. I hold the club vertically in front of my self to line up. Do this on the range consistently and use alignment rods or other clubs to help your body alignment. Do this routinely during practice sessions and you should see vast improvement.
 
You can even use another club to set your alignment up on the course, as long as you remove it before taking your stroke, but I like JB's method of picking a spot ahead of the ball to align to.

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Hi, did this problem newly present it's self or is it an old problem? Did it start happening after a new set of clubs? Or new wedges?
 
Alignment is not easy. I struggled with this earlier this year (wish it was my only problem lol). And i still struggle some but much better. Being sidways as we try to aim is deceiving and if we add in a turning tee box or turning and sloping fairways it just gets worse.

Alignment sticks/clubs whatever at the range can help. For casual rounds also using moist grass you can easily draw a line with your club head and cheat/practice that way too. But there is another side of this too as i found during a lesson. Your feet/legs can be aligned seperate from your upper body too. One way down bottom and another up top. I was twisted like a pretzel at the time lol. As I started to pull out of it, it actually felt wierd and didnt feel like I was straight so trusting it (if you been off for a while and often enough) will also take some time to overcome untill being straight actually starts to feel like it actually is. Take some work but it will get better.
 
I like watching the Shawn Clement videos and he recently had one called "Alignment Fine Tuning" that I would strongly encourage you to watch. My last few rounds have been an exercise in alignment training because previously I had gotten a little wayward. Like many, my instinct is to line up to the target which causes me to fight against the natural swing needed to deliver the ball to the target. Getting comfortable with setting up parallel to the target is essential and allows you to swing freely. Check out that video--> http://youtu.be/e22I1N1B1ak
 
It's possible to get out of line even when picking a spot on your line, say 6 to 12 inches in front of your ball. This happened to me and THP'er Agent Jay pointed it out that as I stepped up to the ball I was aligning well right of the target. Try picking your line and then step in from behind the ball with a full view over the spot to the green, if that makes sense.
 
JB said:
Yup.
Pick a leaf, blade of grass or anything else, 12 inches in front of the ball that matches up with the middle of the green. Aim at that.
Click to expand...

This^^^^^

I also started picking a second point when I start struggling. I picked the line and picked one spot in front and one behind the ball with the ball in the middle, visualize a line from the two points and line up parallel to it.
 
inthehole said:
With regard to approach shots with irons & wedges - I'm making pretty good contact now for the most part, but very often miss greens left or right. My biggest problem is poor AIM. It's not a consistent pull or push & not a hook or slice - hit it pretty straight ... just never quite know which side it'll miss on.

I know it's tough to say without seeing my swing, but I'm curious if anyone has had an "ah - ha" moment & discovered something that really helped them with aiming their approach shots. I'm hoping it'll just come with practice and time, but would like to be more proactive and figure it out ... thx !
Click to expand...
I asked earlier if this is a new problem for you. My feeling is, most people, do not have an aim problem is the misses, left or right, are random. If you walk up and address the ball and miss left, then step back and address the ball to hit at the same target, you may miss to either side at random?
It is hard to imagine this is an aim problem.
 
kmanc said:
I asked earlier if this is a new problem for you. My feeling is, most people, do not have an aim problem is the misses, left or right, are random. If you walk up and address the ball and miss left, then step back and address the ball to hit at the same target, you may miss to either side at random?
It is hard to imagine this is an aim problem.
Click to expand...

The missing left or right isn't new - just more noticeable now that the rest of my game has improved this year. Not sure what you mean by random right or left misses are not aiming issues ... please explain your thoughts, thx.
 
Lot's of good comments here. Going to add that it's also important that you make sure that your shoulders, hips, knees and feet are also aligned where you want the ball to go. The clubface alignment is definitely important but the body is going to help determine the path. It's difficult to know that the body is aligned sometimes without help but it shouldn't be forgotten.
 
Hi. I think of things differently than most. So please bear with me. And I read into words, meanings that may not be there.
In your post you stated you did not know which side you were going to miss. I think your brain knows when you are miss-aimed and you recognize it. But because you said you don't know which side you are going to miss on, there is a since of randomness.
When you miss, is your first thought, I was aimed that way, or is it, I did not know I was aimed that way?
The distinction is important.
If your thought is " oh I didn't know I was aimed that way, or why did the ball go that direction"
then as a fitter, your swing weight is way to low, and needs to be heavier.
The brain has the ability to "spatially orient" an object that it can feel but not see. So at the top of your back swing, you cannot see the club head, but, do you know where it is "oriented"? It the swing weight is not heavy enough, the ability to orient the club becomes more difficult. If this is the case, the swinging the club along a predicable and reproducible swing plane and swing path, becomes difficult. Thus, the shots missed left or right at random. A lot of times, these will be straight shots, just off line.
Hopefully I made this clear as mud. Sorry
 
^ interesting, that could very well be the case as the misses are often completely random.
 
TheHeez said:
I like watching the Shawn Clement videos and he recently had one called "Alignment Fine Tuning" that I would strongly encourage you to watch. My last few rounds have been an exercise in alignment training because previously I had gotten a little wayward. Like many, my instinct is to line up to the target which causes me to fight against the natural swing needed to deliver the ball to the target. Getting comfortable with setting up parallel to the target is essential and allows you to swing freely. Check out that video--> http://youtu.be/e22I1N1B1ak
Click to expand...

The bolded part is what I see quite frequently. Without knowing it, many golfers end up aligning their body to the target when it should be parallel. For example, if the club is aimed at the middle of the green, the feet and body need to be aimed near the left side of the green to stay parallel. If you have some tile floor or hardwood strips in your home, just line up a club down a line to a target then place you feet on another line to get the feel for it. Most end up thinking the stance feels open, when in fact, it is correct. It is an adjustment since it will feel wrong at first, but it really allows you to make a proper swing. Once you get the feel for it and take it to the course, it is much easier to swing and keep the ball on target.
 
inthehole said:
^ interesting, that could very well be the case as the misses are often completely random.
Click to expand...
Ok. Grab some lead tape and start adding weight to the club head. You probably need 8-10 grams before you start to see some consistency.
 
You really have to develop a "go to shot" ..be it a fade/ draw/ high or low of them 2. If your aim is slightly off, at least you have a good idea where the ball might end up. Golf is a game of misses..know where you will miss it..and play to your strengths. The lowest of the lowest handicappers all have a perfected "miss"...and they build their games around it,,imo
 
StLCardsFan said:
The bolded part is what I see quite frequently. Without knowing it, many golfers end up aligning their body to the target when it should be parallel. For example, if the club is aimed at the middle of the green, the feet and body need to be aimed near the left side of the green to stay parallel. If you have some tile floor or hardwood strips in your home, just line up a club down a line to a target then place you feet on another line to get the feel for it. Most end up thinking the stance feels open, when in fact, it is correct. It is an adjustment since it will feel wrong at first, but it really allows you to make a proper swing. Once you get the feel for it and take it to the course, it is much easier to swing and keep the ball on target.
Click to expand...

This is a great point imo. I have learned by default this recently and often enough to an exggerated point when hitting out of the woods between two fairly tight trees. Many people will stand with thier body (although sideways) aligned with the openeing and then also the club face and also swing the club at the opening which creates the two paths not parallel but sort of a short triangle and often a close one. This creates an out to in swing and bam! You Knock the tree to the left before the ball even has a chance to head off slicing to the right from the out to in swing. When in reality if you line your feet/body with the tree inside edge but with the club head and swing at the open space you then get through with the two parallel lines. I have unfortunately but fortunately (lol) use this very advise a number of times and am fairly confident (simply by default) with such shots now. :)
 
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