Golf Playing Lessons

1. Pick up a club and go through the alignment process. At the very least, gripping the club will keep your hands familiar with the club during the off season. The more times you practice your alignment, the more "automatic" the process will become. I'd use a 5-iron (medium length club) as well as a putter.

2. You can even attach a laser putting device to the face of your iron. Because of the loft of the iron, the laser will point higher but it will indicate the direction the club face is pointing. You can monitor your progress by keeping track of how close to your target you're aiming. Can you aim the club face within a few inches of your target (that can be the middle of a painting on a wall or a corner in the room)?

3. Either before or after practicing your alignment, do some stretches and some sit-ups. Increasing your flexibility and mid-section strength will enable you to increase your club head speed. For an excellent total golf fitness program, I'd recommend this DVD collection.

    So, how does poor alignment lead to poor ball striking? Well, not aligning properly will force you to make compensations in your swing to get the ball flying towards the target. Most golfers align right of their targets, thus most golf balls miss right of their targets. You body will unconsciously adjust over time and you'll begin to swing the club outside-to-inside the target line. Such a club head path decreases maximum club head speed and solid contact.

    In order to make solid contact with the ball with maximum club head speed, the optimum club head path is inside-to-along the target line-to-inside, which is depicted in the diagram to the right below. Most amateurs swing outside-to-inside like the first diagram on the left below. A minority of players swing from inside-to-outside like the last diagram below (not ideal but much better than the outside-to-inside path).

During the test, a 6-iron was hit eight times on each of 13 different points on the clubface. The points included five vertical rows centered on the center line of the scored area of the clubface and three horizontal rows separated by one-quarter inch with the first row beginning one-half inch above the sole. A total of 104 shots were hit with each iron, and the totals were combined to produce a composite result.

WHAT THEY FOUND: The concentric ellipses on the iron face (above) represent a composite image of two-, four- and six-yard losses in carry distance from the typical iron's hot spot (point of maximum carry as well as the center of ellipses). Of the 13 points, the average for point No. 1 produced the maximum carry distance, and the remaining points' distances fell off by varying degrees. For example, point No. 2 produced a shot that landed about five feet to the right of the target and nine feet short of the target, and point No. 11 landed about 13 feet right and 36 feet short. Mis-hits to the left or right of point No. 1 produced better results than those up or down from No. 1. On average, the best points are 1, 2, 4 and 9 (average miss: about seven feet), and the worst were spots 3, 7, 11 and 13 (average miss: approximately 36 feet).

    The more you practice proper alignment, the better you'll become. Take the time this winter to practice the alignment process so it will be automatic by next season. Proper alignment promotes the optimum swing path and the greatest chance of solid contact with maximum speed. Remember, "practice makes perfect." Or, even more to the point about the importance of accurate alignment, are the five P's:

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

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If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at golfexpert@probablegolfinstruction.com

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