Hitting the driver straighter isn’t always about changing your golf swing.
Before worrying about swing mechanics, it is worth checking something much simpler: where are you actually aiming?
In this lesson, PGA Professional Richard Lawless explains how choosing a clear target and aligning yourself correctly can give you a much better chance of starting the ball in the direction you intended.
Start With a Target
It sounds obvious, but before playing a drive you need to decide exactly where you want the ball to go.
Rather than simply looking down the fairway and aiming somewhere towards the middle, choose a specific target.
Having a clear target gives you something definite to align yourself with when you set up to the golf ball.
Check Your Alignment
Once you have chosen the target, the next question is whether you are actually aligned towards it.
This is an easy area to overlook because what feels square when standing over the ball may not necessarily be pointing where you think it is.
Richard’s lesson demonstrates the importance of establishing your target first and then building your alignment around it.
If your alignment is wrong before you start the swing, even a well-struck drive can finish somewhere you weren’t intending.
Your Setup Happens Before the Swing
Golfers naturally tend to look at the swing when their driving becomes inaccurate.
Sometimes that is where the problem lies. But it doesn’t make much sense to start changing your swing before checking the things that happen before you swing the club.
A useful sequence is:
- Choose your target.
- Choose an Intermediate Target
- Align yourself to that target.
- Set up consistently.
- Then make your swing.
That gives you a much clearer starting point for working out what is actually happening with your drives.
Try It on the Practice Ground
Alignment is particularly useful to work on during practice because you can make your target much more obvious than you normally would on the golf course.
Choose a specific target and pay attention to how you set yourself up in relation to it.
You can also use an alignment stick or a golf club on the ground during practice to give yourself a visual reference.
The objective isn’t to create a complicated pre-shot routine. It is simply to become better at recognising what correct alignment looks and feels like.
Straighter Driving Doesn’t Have to Start With a Swing Change
If you’re struggling to hit your driver straight, it can be tempting to immediately start changing your grip, backswing or downswing.
Those things may sometimes need attention, but first make sure you’ve dealt with the simpler variables.
Target. Alignment. Setup.
If those aren’t right, you’re making the job unnecessarily difficult before the club has even started moving.
