Golf Practice – Use a “Work Station”
“Practice with a WORK STATION”
If you go to a professional golf tournament and spend a little time watching the players practice, you will notice 95% of them practice with alignment aids on the ground. They do this for a very good reason. The best players in the world understand how important it is to line up correctly every time. To improve or maintain your golf swing, you must align towards the target correctly every single time you hit a practice ball.
If you practice a lot and you don’t use an aid or “work station” as I call it, to constantly reinforce proper alignment, it is very easy to gradually work into incorrect alignment. If your alignment is even slightly off and you make your best swing, the ball will not go at the target. You will then begin making compensations during your swing to get the ball flying towards the target. These compensations are not very reliable and you will then start getting inconsistent results. All of this could have been avoided if you had simply practiced with clubs on the ground showing you correct alignment. Correct alignment will promote a swing working naturally towards the target. Poor alignment will promote the need for compensations.
Here is another important note about your alignment. If you practice with a “work station” on the range and you are always correctly aligned, your eyes will learn to recognize what correct aim looks like. If you do make a careless mistake on the course, your eyes will recognize your alignment mistake and you can re-align before you swinging. Training your eyes to see straight can save you a lot of shots. There is nothing worse than making a really good swing and watching the ball fly into the trees because you lined-up incorrectly!
Check the “Easy Stuff” First
This idea of constantly checking your alignment goes hand in hand with one of my strongest teaching beliefs. If you begin hitting golf shots which are not up to your normal level, check the easy stuff first. What I mean is, don’t start ripping apart your swing to find the problem, check your pre-shot fundamentals first. Specifically, check your grip, posture, ball position, alignment, balance, etc. first. Too many people assume it is their golf swing that is to blame for poor shots and cause themselves a lot of grief which would have been avoided had they “checked the easy stuff first”.
Let us know if this tip is helpful. Good Luck!
