Alignment Problem

[Region3]

This is a weird one.

I had it pointed out to me last week, that when I'm putting I aim to the left. To me standing over the ball it looks like I'm aiming properly, but I'm not.
On a 15' putt, I'm probably aiming about 12" to the left with my putter. This doesn't bother me too much as somehow I manage to hit the putt straight(ish) most of the time.

With my longer clubs, I've been drawing the ball a lot lately and although the comments are generally along the lines of 'nice shape' it's driving me nuts, so I tried an experiment tonight to see if I'm doing the same thing with woods and irons as I am with the putter.

Result is I am. I set a target up about 10' away from me and aimed at it with an iron. I got someone to hold the club for me and had a look from the back and I've set up aiming about 6" to the left of it!!

The draw I could live with if I had to, but my bad shot is now a horrible weak low pull hook, and I'm pulling my short irons to the left most of the time.

I'm right-eye dominant, but closing either or moving my head in front of and behind the ball makes no difference. I still think I'm aiming properly and I'm not.

How on earth can you teach someone to align the club properly when they think they already are

Sorry for going on a bit too long, but the question is, has anybody else had this problem and overcome it?

 

[TheClaw]

Why not just aim 6" right of what you think you should? Get used to how this "new" aim looks when you're looking at the target.

It's difficult to aim for something when you're side on to it (I think anyway).

 

[G_Mulligan]

do you use aim clubs across your feet and and behind the ball parallel to each other during practice? If you get this lined up right it may show you why your aim is off.

Or you could try an optician

 

[bobmac]

Hi Gary.
As you remember at your putting lesson I said if you aim it left, swing left and consistently hit it straight, why change?
Can you imagine where your putts would go if you squared up your putter face during your stroke...straight left.
The aim to the left and the open putter face balance each other perfectly.

Well, that's what's happening with your swing.
Have a look at the Woodhall video of your swing. See how far left you were aiming?

Now when you look at you again just after impact, you will see that your club has swung left (like your putter does) but the ball went straight (like your putts do). So your club face (like your putter face ) is slightly open at impact.
Swing path and club face balanced out perfectly


Happy days.

That's a good example of how your 2 quirks in your swing balance each other to give a lovely drive.

Sadly, things change.
You're starting to hit them left.
All that means is the balance between your 2 quirks has been lost temporarily.
You're now squaring up the face at impact which naturally helps to hit it left.
In this instance, I would always check the grip and if I remember correctly, your left hand was a little strong.
(If you remember at Stoke Rochford when we played I asked you if you ever hit it left. You had a strong grip back then too)

So, I would check to see if your left hand has become even stronger and experiment turning your left hand a little to the left and see if that helps with those hooks.
IMO.

No doubt, somebody will be along in due course to tell me I am wrong.

"No, your fundamentals must be perfect. You must aim straight, perfect grip, perfect swing path" etc etc etc, but I see this as a way for you to hit the ball straight again with the minimum upheaval to the swing.

Keep me informed.

 

[DCB]

Great answer Bob, especially as you've seen him play and have photo evidence of his swing

 

[bobmac]

Great answer Bob, especially as you've seen him play and have photo evidence of his swing

Nah, just guessing

 

[Region3]

Why not just aim 6" right of what you think you should? Get used to how this "new" aim looks when you're looking at the target.

That's the plan if no-one has experience of this happening to them, with a eureka moment solution.

 

[Region3]

do you use aim clubs across your feet and and behind the ball parallel to each other during practice? If you get this lined up right it may show you why your aim is off.

Or you could try an optician

Contrary to the picture above (which I'll reply to in a minute), when I check the alignment of my feet they look ok. Having said that though, I think I've already established that my eyes are broke.

 

[Region3]

Unfortunately for me, that picture isn't a good example. I was aiming way left on purpose trying to hit a fade. Not that it worked
The ball started where I wanted it to, just went dead straight. I guess that means my swing on that shot was very in to out? Maybe subconsciously because I knew I was aiming in the clag?

Shame you didn't get the one on the first. That was a horrible low left one trying to hit it straight

 

[Region3]

I wasn't going to play tomorrow but in my heart I knew I wouldn't be able to resist.

I'll try with a weaker grip Bob, thanks for the suggestion.

When you say my left hand grip is a little strong does that mean the right is ok, or do I move them both round together?

I might also try lining my feet up first then squaring the club to that line and see what happens.

 

[RGDave]

At my putting lesson (some time ago), my pro noticed I set up in an odd fashion, basically I was "seeing" the putt well left of the real line. He made me promise to draw a line on my ball, set the line nicely at the hole and then set up my putting stance in relation to that line. The eureka moment was that it "looked" as if I was putting way right of target, so this made me realise where I'd been going wrong.
It took me months and months to get used to this new view/feeling standing over the ball, but I got there.
Maybe you should take a pole/stick/club shaft to the range, set it spot on target and see how you feel. My guess is that if it feels closed, you can see what effect it has on your direction and go from there?

 

[Region3]

At my putting lesson (some time ago), my pro noticed I set up in an odd fashion, basically I was "seeing" the putt well left of the real line. He made me promise to draw a line on my ball, set the line nicely at the hole and then set up my putting stance in relation to that line. The eureka moment was that it "looked" as if I was putting way right of target, so this made me realise where I'd been going wrong.
It took me months and months to get used to this new view/feeling standing over the ball, but I got there.
Maybe you should take a pole/stick/club shaft to the range, set it spot on target and see how you feel. My guess is that if it feels closed, you can see what effect it has on your direction and go from there?

Is there a smiley with one hand straight out pointing and the other touching it's nose.

That is me spot on. The only difference being I'm not worried about it for the putting because I mostly get it going where I want to.

Did you have the same thing lining your irons up?

My gut feeling is that if I set up square to a line I'd set down from behind the shot it would look open to me at address. I'll give it a go though. Trouble is I hardly ever get to the range nowadays.

If I can sort it out with my irons I might try to change the putting as well. At least I'd be able to use a V-Easy to straighten my stroke out then. If I used it now I think I'd hit everything left.

 

[RGDave]

Did you have the same thing lining your irons up?

My gut feeling is that if I set up square to a line I'd set down from behind the shot it would look open to me at address. I'll give it a go though. Trouble is I hardly ever get to the range nowadays.

Yes, I did, and still do.

and, um, surely it'd be worth going to a range just once to find our what's what. The way I see it, if I (or you) suspect something's a little "off" why not invest a couple of sessions checking it out - you've got nothing to lose.

"tomorrow, I shall be mostly standing closed" (or what I feel is closed)

 

[bobmac]

The problem is if you start aiming right of where you feel comfortable, your body will compensate and your hands will whip the club over to get it back on target and you will start hooking everything.

 

[viscount17]

I hate to boost the old ones ego but isn't that something the "cough, cough" v-easy could help with?

maybe a case of feet/body square then club face?

 

[barrybridges]

I had a putting lesson on Sunday and had the same problem pointed out to me by the instructor.

What I found was that when I looked back at myself on the video my set-up was bringing my right shoulder much higher and further forward than my left, twisting my torse to the left. When I looked at my alignment with a critical eye, you could actually see that I was aligning perhaps 10 - 15 degrees left of the hole.

The fix was quite simple - turn to the right a little and drop the right shoulder by placing more weight on my right side with a little lean. As a result when putting the muscles on the lower back on the left feel quite achy and it feels totally alien, but my putting accuracy since then has been much improved (albeit in the past 2 days only!). Such a big noticeable difference and one that supports having a dedicated putting lesson.

 

[bobmac]

I hate to boost the old ones ego but isn't that something the "cough, cough" v-easy could help with?

Welcome back "Junior". We've missed you

If someone is aiming left and hitting it straight, then I wouldn't suggest the V-Easy.
If however the aim was left and the golfer was hitting it straight left, then certainly it's a visit to the V-Easy shop

Gary's problem is that he aims everything left. No issues with the putting as he hits it straight.
It's when he aims left with his long game, coupled with a strong grip that he starts hooking it.

That's why I suggest a slight change to the grip which should produce a small fade.
That way Gary will hit the target more often without changing too much in his game.

 

[Region3]

I played yesterday, but spent most of my round trying to figure out where my swing had gone to worry about alignment!

Finally figured it out by around the 15th after 4 lost drives on 2 consecutive holes (first and provisional).

I'd been concentrating so much on "turn don't sway" that my arms had got very flat at the top, barely above shoulder level.
Hit some nice shots after that so maybe that was the cause of the draw/hook/pull that I'd got and I won't have to worry about changing the way I line up or my grip.

 

[jammydodger]

This is very similar to me on my drives. I aim slightly left and weaken the grip to create a gentle fade. I have had alignment probs with putting in the past too. I did the drill of marking a line on the ball and it didnt look anywhere near where I thought i was aiming. I tried to stand more 'over' the ball so as to see the correct line that the ball was pointing too. This made me hit my putts left though and I dont feel comfortable doing it as i'm happy with my head and eyes slightly inside the line of target and will stay with this technique.

I've been trying to work with an aligment stick and putting straight down this and it seems that my putts are improving