Do you ever miss a shot to the left or right when you think you made a good swing?  Or do you have trouble hitting putts on the intended line?  If you do, you’re not alone.

Today, I’d like to talk about a simple way to check your aim. After all golf is a game of correct distance and accuracy, isn’t it?

Can you imagine a marksman trying to hit a target bullseye and not aiming carefully?  He’s got no chance.

It’s the same with us golfers.  But what I find is that we tend to get a little sloppy when it comes to aiming.  We casually see the target, step into our stance perhaps somewhat carelessly thinking we’re aimed in the general direction, and then swing.

This is not a good plan for hitting great shots and shooting lower scores.

Good golfing alignment can get away from us so gradually that we don’t even realize it’s become a problem until it’s a major problem. 

First, we’re off a just a little bit.  Then, next week it’s a little bit more.  Finally, we’re not aiming anywhere close to where we think we are.

This ever happen to you?

Let me tell you about a recent session I had with a golfer who was having major putting problems.  And how you can learn from it.

This golfer wasn’t making anything and couldn’t figure out why.

At first he just wanted me to look at his stroke in his home. Fortunately, I suggested we go to a putting green.

And here’s why it was a good idea.  This is what I saw.

His putter was aimed way right of his target and his feet were aimed even more to the right!

On a straight eight foot putt, his putter was aimed a full cup to the right of the hole.  But his feet, which he said were intended to be parallel to his intended line, were aimed 3 cups to the right.

And he is a 10 handicapper…not a bad golfer by any means.

So, to make a putt he had to pull the ball back on line with a compensating stroke…and he had to guess how much to pull it each time.  Now bear in mind he didn’t even realize he had to do this in order to make a putt.

And get this…if he hit a putt straight at where he was aiming…his best stroke…he always missed right and didn’t know why.  The stroke felt fine to him.

The solution?

I had him take his address for that straight, eight foot putt. Then, I did two things.

First, I put a golf club along his toe line (he had said his stance was supposed to be square).  Then, I held his putter in its exact position and asked him to step back and look at how he was aimed from behind the ball.

He couldn’t believe what he saw!

He could look at the putter himself now and see it was aimed about a cup to the right.  And he could see that the golf club on the ground indicating his foot position was actually aimed about 3 cups to the right.  Normally, it should have been pointed left of the hole, so as to be “parallel left.”

Now he could see what I saw.  His aim was so far off he had little chance of making many putts.

Now there is a reason why I am telling you all of this.  There is something YOU CAN LEARN from it.

GET ANOTHER PAIR OF EYES TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR ALIGNMENT, whether it be putts or full shots.

Did I do anything special or teach him some new technique.  No, not at all.

All I did was show him how much his aim was off.  He couldn’t see it with his own eyes.

Next, we worked on carefully aiming the putter before taking his stance.  Then he could take his stance with his feet parallel left of the target.

And finally, we had him stroke the putter straight back and straight through.

At first, this looked quite different to him.  But it didn’t take long and then…

Boom…Putts started dropping like crazy.

THAT WAS ALL WE DID!

Next time we’ll look at checking your alignment on full swing shots.

Hit ‘em straight,
Cush

My name is Dave Cushion and I have created this golfing website to help you with your golf game.

If you want to play better golf, or you just want to enjoy golf more, then I hope this will be the website for you.  More on that in a few minutes.

I have two main goals for BetterGolfRightNow.com

1. Provide you with tips, techniques and strategies that will enable you to quickly start playing better golf and shooting lower scores.
2. Simply to give you interesting content that will make the game more fun and enjoyable for you.

First… we’ll provide you with great information that will enable you to play better golf right away.  Things that you can take to the course in your next round or two.

Or tips to try on the practice range to see how they work for you.  You do practice, don’t you?

We’ll talk about the swing sometimes… but, mostly, we’ll talk about tips and strategies that will help you shoot lower scores, without even changing your swing.

How great is that?

I’ve found that there are so many easy and simple changes that golfers can make that will enable them to play better - but they just don’t know about them… or have forgotten all about them.

We’re going to remedy that fast!

In fact, it is also the foundation of our new multi-media program called (can you guess?)… “Better Golf… Right Now!”

There are a lot of easy-to-do things that most golfers, even very good ones, can learn that will enable them to shoot lower scores. And we’ll talk about them here.  I suspect you are like me…always looking for ways to play better golf.

Secondly, my aim is to show you tons of ways to simply enjoy golf more.  We might talk about the mental game, golf products, golf vacations or anything else that you might be interested in.

Finally, while I certainly have a lot of ideas for the website and helping you play better golf, I am totally committed to providing content that you, my avid golfing friend, will want and find helpful.

Your comments and suggestions will help me do just that.  So, don’t be afraid to post your comments below any article that particularly interests you.

I intend for this website to be state-of-the-art and one which you will look forward to returning to time and again to help you play better golf.

I will also try to keep the articles fairly brief as I know you’re  busy.  Much as I would like to ramble on and just talk golf… and I’m sure I will at times… I’ve found short, information-packed articles to be the best.

With that, welcome… be sure to check everything out… and come back often as we continue to add new content.

Best of success with your golfing,

Dave Cushion