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Foolproof Alignment / Setup Help

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HarryPotter

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So I feel like I’m making really good swings, it feels repeatable, but I feel like my setup is getting me into trouble; it’s just inconsistent and I’m looking for some tips. Out at the Hideaway, the callaway guys and our caddie all said that my alignment was causing some errant shots.

How do you achieve proper setup to make sure your ball is going to start on the proper line?
 
I have no idea myself so I’m gonna follow your thread and hope to learn.
 
HarryPotter said:
So I feel like I’m making really good swings, it feels repeatable, but I feel like my setup is getting me into trouble; it’s just inconsistent and I’m looking for some tips. Out at the Hideaway, the callaway guys and our caddie all said that my alignment was causing some errant shots.

How do you achieve proper setup to make sure your ball is going to start on the proper line?
Click to expand...

You are probably looking for tips from good golfers but I will chime in anyway:p My pre shot routine begins with me standing about 10 feet behind the ball. I find an imperfection on the tee box or fairway within a couple feet of the ball and use that as my starting line. It looks very different at address but I know that its correct and I can trust it.
 
What my instructor showed me was to draw your imaginary line from your target back to the ball. Find a spot about 3 feet ahead of the ball that is on that line and set the clubhead on that line first, then take your stance. It should keep you aligned properly. It took a bit for me but it works well and has helped my dispersion a great deal.
 
Mirror work! Take your setup in front of a full length mirror and see what is actually going on. After a few sessions, you will see trends.
For example, my feet need to “feel” open to be straight but my shoulders need to feel closed to be straight.
 
I will be following this thread as well for some good suggestions. Like the ones I have seen so far. I am good with the wedges but struggle with alignment as the clubs get longer.
 
HarryPotter said:
So I feel like I’m making really good swings, it feels repeatable, but I feel like my setup is getting me into trouble; it’s just inconsistent and I’m looking for some tips. Out at the Hideaway, the callaway guys and our caddie all said that my alignment was causing some errant shots.

How do you achieve proper setup to make sure your ball is going to start on the proper line?
Click to expand...

Faulty alignment may cause major golf swing (and golf shot) problems.
Fundamentally sound address position alignment is like railroad tracks. The outside track is the ball's target line, the inside track is the player's body line.
A good starting point to achieving correct alignment is understanding the "railroad tracks", these two parallel lines.
If a person stands tall on the inside track and looks to his/her left, down towards a distant target, he/she can usually tell if his/her body is square (parallel left) to that target line.
However, put a golf club in that person's hands and he/she is now looking down at the club head/ground, trying to aim, and his/her perspective gets skewed.
So, a major help to finding good square alignment is to align the body while looking towards the target.
 
All of the above are good and what I've attemped.

Another idea is take your stance (after attempting alignment) and bend down and place the club behind your feet so it is set against both heels. Then take a step back and see if your feet were aligned correctly.
 
use triple track on the tee box to line up the ball to your start line.

not on the tee box, use an interim spot between ball and target, about 3-6’ away.
 
McLovin said:
use triple track on the tee box to line up the ball to your start line.

not on the tee box, use an interim spot between ball and target, about 3-6’ away.
Click to expand...

I like this idea, but I definitely prefer using truvis for my ball. I’m going to play with some different ideas suggested here, especially trying to find a point closer to the ball and using that for starting line.

I have a sneaking suspicion my club face has been wide open to target at address and I’ve been setting up just totally wrong.
 
Great question and something I should probably work on. I used to pick a target a few feet ahead of the ball but it seemed like I stated setting up closed. Over the last year I started picking targets in the air. It could be a tree behind the green, a cloud, a powerline pole, etc. That seemed to help me more than anything. For some reason it's an easier target to line up to for me.
 
I use alignment sticks (or imaginary ones when on course), and this helps with knowing how square your feet are. Practicing with them will give you a feel for if you are hitting the ball straight, pushing, or pulling, and if you have a tendency to setup square, open, or closed. For me, I tend to creep too closed at times, and need to check that I remain neutral or things get wild. The tricky part with body alignment, is that you also need your shoulders and hips square, not just your feet. Take video of your swing from behind using alignment sticks, and this will help show what what your hips and shoulders are doing that you can't see or feel at address.
 
HarryPotter said:
I like this idea, but I definitely prefer using truvis for my ball. I’m going to play with some different ideas suggested here, especially trying to find a point closer to the ball and using that for starting line.

I have a sneaking suspicion my club face has been wide open to target at address and I’ve been setting up just totally wrong.
Click to expand...

i watched a few of the callaway guys use triple track for alignment. it occurred to me that over the weekend i was leaving a lot of shots out to the right. i asked nick the caddie and he said i was lined up like i was going to hit a big draw. that’s not what i meant to do. so i had a couple range trips where i used the alignment on the ball to hit every shot, then in my first round after the grandaddy i used triple track to align every time. and i proceeded to have a very good round, only one or two shots missed out to the right. so i will start using tt to align every tee shot and see what happens.
 
GraniteRoost said:
. The tricky part with body alignment, is that you also need your shoulders and hips square, not just your feet.
Click to expand...

The reality is that one stands up straight, his/her feet-knees-hips-shoulders are all in line , square.
However when a person grips a golf club he/she is often using an unorthodox grip technique, which in turn causes the player's shoulders to become out-of-square with the rest of his/her body.
Address alignment is one of the reasons Nicklaus advocates that (when gripping the club) a player maintains his/her natural hand-wrist position (the same position as found when the person is stranding straight with his/her arms hanging naturally from the sides of the body).
 
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McLovin said:
i watched a few of the callaway guys use triple track for alignment. it occurred to me that over the weekend i was leaving a lot of shots out to the right. i asked nick the caddie and he said i was lined up like i was going to hit a big draw. that’s not what i meant to do. so i had a couple range trips where i used the alignment on the ball to hit every shot, then in my first round after the grandaddy i used triple track to align every time. and i proceeded to have a very good round, only one or two shots missed out to the right. so i will start using tt to align every tee shot and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Maybe I will start with the alignment line on the ball. Do you set your club face square to that line ?
 
For what it's worth the dominant eye can cause alignment issues. Right eye dominant folks tend to line-up to the right of the actual target, especially during putting. To test that, you can use the ball's alignment mark on all shots during a practice round to see if line-up is the primary issue. I've done this and found when I looked at the ball's alignment mark, it looked "too far" left, but it wasn't, it was my right eye causing some distortion. It was even more skewed-looking on side hill lies. I think this can cause a subliminal brain/body "battle" to get the ball going as intended, and in some cases can create an OTT move to compensate without knowing.

Also, a reasonably decent alignment at address can get lost in the down swing pending how one rotates into the shot, whether too much sway, lack of weight shift, early release, excessively weak or strong grip, loss of spine angle/hip thrust forward, etc. I see guys who line-up near perfect in terms of parallel lines, then hit lousy shots, and vice versa. It goes without saying that it's best to eliminate variables by at least starting-off reasonably aligned in terms of the body parts and to the target. I wish my only problem was alignment!
 
GolfLivesMatter said:
For what it's worth the dominant eye can cause alignment issues. Right eye dominant folks tend to line-up to the right of the actual target, especially during putting. To test that, you can use the ball's alignment mark on all shots during a practice round to see if line-up is the primary issue. I've done this and found when I looked at the ball's alignment mark, it looked "too far" left, but it wasn't, it was my right eye causing some distortion. It was even more skewed-looking on side hill lies. I think this can cause a subliminal brain/body "battle" to get the ball going as intended, and in some cases can create an OTT move to compensate without knowing.

Also, a reasonably decent alignment at address can get lost in the down swing pending how one rotates into the shot, whether too much sway, lack of weight shift, early release, excessively weak or strong grip, loss of spine angle/hip thrust forward, etc. I see guys who line-up near perfect in terms of parallel lines, then hit lousy shots, and vice versa. It goes without saying that it's best to eliminate variables by at least starting-off reasonably aligned in terms of the body parts and to the target. I wish my only problem was alignment!
Click to expand...
I forget which famous golfer it was but I remember reading that he was left eye dominant and right handed golfer. He would cock his head slightly to right to bring his left eye closer to the ball and it improved his alignment and ball striking. I started doing this and found it helped me with alignment especially putting.
 
You need to practice alignment on the range every time you go. I use 3 alignment sticks to set up an alignment station. I put the first one in front of the ball aimed at the target. The second one I put along my toe line parellel to the one in front of the ball. The third stick I use perpendicular to The one along my toe line for ball position. I hit the majority of my shots set up like this then at the end hit 20 or so shots without the aids going through my full routine.

My routine starts from behind the ball picking a target 3-10 feet in front of the ball. When I step in I only focus on that intermediate point I never look at the target again. I grip the club first then step in and aim the clubface at the target. Next I imagine a line from the clubface to the target and and align my feet parallel to that.

Practice alignment every time you are at the range. You can use clubs if you don’t have alignment sticks. If you go to a PGA event almost all the pros use alignment aids. If the pros do it we should to.
 
I stand behind the ball and pick out a target. Then pick a spot on the ground on that line to use as my intermediate target. Once that is selected I set up to the ball with that intermediate target. From there I never look back up. I just do my waggle and hit the ball.
 
Laying a club or two on the ground, alignment sticks, having a friend stand on the line behind you etc... are all fine for practice , but not permitted during play.
My observation is that looking at the club head and, or, down at the ground tends to skew one's alignment perspective.
While adopting the address posture/stance, I think for many players looking at the target makes it easier to square the body to the target line.
 
I read about this on another forum, so it's not my idea. It sounded reasonable, gave it a ry, and found that it worked.

When practicing your alignment using alignment aids you get your correct alignment. You know it's correct, because the ball flies towards your targeted area.

Here's the important practice part. At address, before starting your backswing, you look at your target area. You need to notice the relationship between your target area, and your front shoulder. Get this relationship (picture) ingrained in your mind.

Then when on the course ithout alignment aids, when you address the ball, if you are comfortable with the relationship you see between your shoulder, and target area, you are good to go. If the ingrained mental picture is wrong, and/or looks out of place, you know your alignmen is off. Back out, and reset.

I found this so easy to do, and that it worked quite well.
 
For argument sake, if good golf was all about perfect alignment, the game would be far easier. Of course basic alignment makes total sense....no argument. But beyond that, your brain and body will actually carry-out very basic rudimentary instructions without manipulation. For example, I can line-up to a shot in a neutral position, then "think" "hit a fade". More often than not, a fade occurs. I have no idea why because I don't try to line-up to hit a fade. I truly believe that's why the best players simply visualize their shot....it's a subliminal "road map" of execution instructions.

It's kinda like if I toss a set of keys to you, then say "toss them in the basket to my right, you'll probably hold the keys, not really think, and redirect your arm to toss the keys in, or very near the basket. You don't think "Ok, I've got these keys, they're in my right hand, the basket is 2.5 feet wide, and about 7 yards away". Nope. You hold the keys for a second and toss them, without really thinking. My point is I think we can over-instruct ourselves more often than not.
 
HarryPotter said:
So I feel like I’m making really good swings, it feels repeatable, but I feel like my setup is getting me into trouble; it’s just inconsistent and I’m looking for some tips. Out at the Hideaway, the callaway guys and our caddie all said that my alignment was causing some errant shots.

How do you achieve proper setup to make sure your ball is going to start on the proper line?
Click to expand...

A few years ago I struggled with something similar. I felt like I was lined up right and I really wasn’t. My feet and hips were lined up where I wanted to be, but my shoulders or upper body wasn’t and it was cause I g the issues. Essentially for me my shoulders were open to my target and my lower body was square.

what helped me was picking out a spot a few feet in front of me in line with my target. I used that as my guide and consciously made sure my shoulders were square or slightly closed.

It’s something you’ll have to tinker with to see where your alignment issues are coming from, but using a target a few feet in front of you can go a long way to helping
 
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