Aiming your body, not the clubface, at the target

Many amateurs work hard to get their feet, hips and shoulders aiming dead at the target at set-up. The problem with that is that you don’t hit the ball with your body, you hit it with the club – and because we stand to the side of the ball, they can’t both aim at the target at the same time. Follow this guide to easily solve this problem.

Go parallel

Good alignment, and a better swing path, needs feet, hips and shoulders parallel to your ball-target line. For the right-hander, that means aiming them a little left of the target.

Crossed lines

The ball-target line is different to the body-target line. Aim your body at the pin and you effectively aim clubface and ball to the right. You must come ‘over the top’ to hit the ball straight, a move that breeds a slice.

Aim the butt

Place the club across your chest to find the parallel position with the ball-target line for your feet, hips and shoulders. When you get it right, the butt will point left of target.

Square alignment

Use the ball-target line as your starting point. Take some time to visualise it, then position the clubface square to it before taking your stance and setting up square around it.