The foundation to the golf swing happens before you even pull the trigger on your swing. It starts with your set up! There are several things that make up your setup and today we will be discussing alignment. If you ever watch a tour event and see the pros warming up on the range, you will see that each of them set up some type of alignment station to make sure their alignment is good. The reason for this is if your alignment is off, then your body will figure out a way to compensate in the swing in attempt to get your ball to the target. Usually, this compensation goes unnoticed and will affect your game negatively.
I like to set up my alignment station using 3 rods, one for the club face, one for my feet and one to help guide my club on takeaway. You don’t have to have the 3rd rod but I find it helps my students correct any take away issues. I also recommend that my students use the stick closest to them (foot alignment) to guide their hands on take away as well. A lot of golfers don’t realize we have a hand plane and club plane in the swing, it is critical to keep both in check.
Station Set Up
To begin, put the stick furthest from golfer down first and align it to target, this is for your club face alignment. Make sure this is set up directly at target because this stick determines how well your others are set up. Now put the foot alignment stick down 15 to 20 inches away from club face alignment rod. Make sure these sticks are set up parallel to each other which will set your foot alignment rod slightly left of target (neutral). Thirdly you can put the last rod down in the middle of the two rods on ground in the back 1/3 of your station. Now you are all set to practice on a neutral alignment station. Work on this until it feels natural to you and then you’re ready for outdoor play.