Tom Atkinson

BACK TO BASICS - ALIGNMENT BY TOM ATKINSON, PGA GOLF PROFESSIONAL

Alignment in your golf swing is absolutely crucial, put in to perspective a one degree discrepancy could lead to a 10-15 yard miss! Your brain is essentially a computer and will make adjustments for you if it feels that something isn’t quite right, should you be unknowingly misaligned these subconscious remedies can have disastrous results as your club face, club path and ultimately strike can all be compromised.

Good alignment is essentially down to practice, this can be accelerated on the range or on the course by using an alignment stick. Place one on the ground pointing at your intended target before hitting balls or taking your shot. If having done this you feel like you’re aiming in the wrong direction then you’ve clearly been compensating this whole time. What is good alignment? I like to think of this like a train track, your feet, knees, hips and shoulders are stood parallel to the left hand rail and your ball is sat on the right hand rail. Then finally the clubface is perpendicular to the pair of them, of course this is reversed for a left handed player.

For me the stance should be built around the club face and not the other way around. If you feel that your target is too far in the distance then pick something on the ground between that and your ball, an intermediate target that you can aim at.

You can contact Tom at Heswall Golf Club on 0151 342 7431, www.heswallgolfshop.co.uk or @heswallgolfshop.

60 wirrallife.com Now go and practice this - watch how your brain will cope with the changes pretty quickly, and as quick as that watch your ball striking improve! Good luck.

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