“It goes without saying that it is no good having a perfect setup, perfect grip and perfect golf swing if the whole thing is misaligned. It sounds obvious but many players simply do not spend enough time getting themselves on target.”

-Quote from Nick Faldo

Ok, so you know golf alignment is important. Now here is a simple thing you can do to quickly and easily check your feet alignment.

Setup to a golf shot as normal but just before you’re ready to hit the golf shot get your golf club and placed it behind your heels so the shaft is touching both heels. After this is in place move your feet away and walk behind your ball so you can look down the line of your shot to see how good your feet alignment was in your setup.

This will give you very quick feedback as to how good or poor your feet alignment was. Remember, you want your feet to be parallel to the starting line of your shot, so your golf club should not be pointing at the target but to the left of your target. In other words, you should be aligned to the left of and parallel to the target.

If you find that your feet were positioned incorrectly, simply alter the shaft to correct how the alignment should be and walk into your setup position again and align your feet correctly according the to club shaft. Then pick up the golf club so you can hit the ball. To correct poor alignment try setting up by placing your club down first how you should be aligned and then walk into this new alignment position. With regular practice you will start to feel for yourself what the proper feet alignment is.

If when you do this you find your alignment is quite a bit off you’ll find it hard to hit shots well with your new alignment. But persevere because you know it’s correct, and within no time it will become a new habit allowing you to hit better and more consistent golf shots.

To do this golf alignment check exercise you need another person with you.

Now first you must understand that you want all the following parts of your body parallel left to the target line of your golf shot:

• Feet

• Knees

• Hips

• Shoulders

• Arms

So picture railway tracks running from your ball (your ball is on the right hand track) and your feet should be on the left hand track. This means that all of your body should be aligned to the left of where you want your ball to go.

You probably know that, but you may need to explain that to the person that is checking your alignment.

Setup to a golf shot as you normally would and get the person with you to check your feet, knees, hips, shoulders and arm alignment with a golf club (where the golf club points parallel left to the target). Make the necessary adjustments and then swing the golf club.

If it felt strange that’s good, because it means that your alignment had been incorrect, and by aligning correctly you’ll have more chance of hitting great golf shots more consistently. So keep doing this alignment checking process as you’re hitting balls. Then once a month or so you should recheck your alignment again. Keep doing this and long term your ball striking will improve because of your improved golf alignment.

One last important point: get the person to check where your clubface is pointing as well. Make sure it is pointing straight where you want to start your golf ball. If you do these things your golf alignment will be much better and golf will be easier for you.