You're Correct!

Golf course architects and designers love to set challenges for unsuspecting golfers. When you are next out on the golf course, just have a look at the position of the tee box on the hole, but also look at the where hitting directly straight off that tee box would position your golf ball. Tee boxes are deliberately aimed at trouble to catch an unsuspecting golfer out.

If you do not work on aligning your club face and body correctly to the fairway and you just set up parallel to the tee box, you can easily end up in fairway bunkers, rough, water hazards or trees. To ensure that you are not caught out, make sure that you incorporate aiming at the fairway and aligning correctly into your routine before you play your tee shot.

Initially, when you peg the golf ball up, you can use the arrow on the golf ball or the logo on it to aim at the fairway. Position the ball on the tee peg so that the arrow/logo on the ball is pointing where you want to strike the golf ball. Do this by positioning yourself on the target line so that you can look directly down it and aim the arrow/logo correctly. As you stand up, remain in that position behind the golf ball and imagine the target line, the line from the ball to where you want to be positioned on the fairway. Pick something out on the ground that is on that line, a daisy, a twig, etc.

Find something only a few feet forward of the golf ball and now use this marker to aim the club face at. You need to set the club face up next to the golf ball so that it makes a right angle to the logo/arrow and the marker that you have selected on the target line. Once you have the club face in this position so that it is aiming down the target line, you now need to align your feet, knees, hips and shoulders so that they are parallel to the target line.

To achieve this, place your feet opposite the golf ball and together, pointing towards the ball so that they are at a right angle to the target line, or use the leading edge or top edge of your golf club to point your feet along. Step into your stance by splitting your feet parallel to the target line and this will have you set up to now hit your target.

If you do not aim the club face and align your body correctly to where you want to hit your golf ball to, then you will tend to set up with the direction of the tee box. Introduce a good routine into your golf where you aim and align correctly and then you will stop hitting your tee shots where the tee box aligns you.

If you do not have a good routine before you play your golf shot then your alignment will never improve. Ensure that you stand behind the golf ball so that you can look directly down the target line. Aim the club face down this target line and then align your feet from this club face position. Doing this will improve your golf shot alignment.

Playing your golf shots into the most advantageous position on the golf hole will really set you up to score well. Just walking up and hitting the ball from the tee will see you play the shot in the direction that the tee box is aiming. So never do this. Always aim and align before playing every golf shot and your scores will really reduce.