You're Correct!

Correct alignment is one of the most important fundamentals but is also often overlooked by golfers.

Many people go to teaching professionals begging for a cure to ailments ranging from pulls to pushes believing they have a horrific swing fault only to find out their swing is functional but their aim is offline.

Remember, golf is a target sport and the aim to your target is critical for success. Use this routine before hitting shots to ensure better alignment:

• Start from behind the ball and pick out your target. This could be the flag or something in the fairway where you want the ball to land on a par 4.
• Using your minds eye, trace a line back from the target to the ball. This line is known as the ball-to-target line (target line). It is the target line which the club face needs to be pointing down (for a straight shot).
• After picking out the target line, find something on the ground just in front of the ball which sits on the ball-to-target line. This could be a mark on the grass or an old divot, for example.
• Move into a set up position and aim the club face at the intermediate target sitting on the ball-to-target line.
• After the club face has been correctly aimed, you need to set the toes, knees, hips and shoulders at right angles to the ball-to-target line.

When viewed from down the line, the club face will aim at the target line with the feet, hips and shoulders parallel and to the left.
The most popular image players use is to imagine a straight train track. The ball sits on the outer rail running down to the target whilst the body sits on the inner rail.

Remember with alignment for a straight shot, golfers need to aim their body parallel to the target line. If the body is aimed at the target then the lines will not be parallel but cross and cause problems with swing path.

Most golf grips will have markings to help players line up their hands and grip, however, these are not always 100% accurate and should not be completely trusted.

Some teeing grounds are notorious for trying to lead players astray and aim them in the wrong direction. Trust your alignment routine and not the direction of the teeing grounds. Get a consistent alignment routine to hit the most consistent straight shots.