You're Correct!

Every golfer wants to hit the ball arrow straight but are somewhat hindered by their swing paths or impact positions. On the golf course, you will see some golfers aiming left of the fairway and some golfers aiming right of it.

They are doing this because it is the best set up for their driver to hit the fairway. Due to severe slices or hooks, you will see some players who are a little extreme with this but at the back of their minds they know they are aiming so far off line and then actually make sure to slice or hook the ball to get it back into play.

Poor ball positions or weight distributions also contribute to poor timing of shots which adjust the balls flight and cause unwanted spin and loss of direction.

The best remedy is to attack the issue head on. Get down to the range and give yourself the best possible driver set up position which is:

• Set the club pointing at the target
• Take a neutral grip
• Widen the stance to outside shoulder width and position the ball inside the left heel
• Place approximately 55% of the body weight on to the right side (very minimal to discourage lateral sway away from the ball)
• Stand up tall with a straight back and a small hip flex into the ball with minimal knee flex

Your golf swing will not have changed but your preparations to hit a good shot have changed. Your focus has also changed regarding where to hit the ball.

The next phase is to neutralize the golf swing and reduce any poor curvature you have which will lead to more consistent strikes, straighter shots and longer ball flights.

Any alteration in the weight distribution at set up will have more of an implication on the ball flight rather than direction. Weight favoring the left side will encourage a downward angle of attack which will decrease the launch angle and hit the ball lower. Because there is less room for the swing to rotate, the direction could be influenced and the ball could be sliced the ball to the right.

If the ball position was outside of the left foot with the weight back on to the back foot, this would encourage poor ball striking rather than a straight shot. The ball would more likely be topped as the body is moving away from the ball as the club approaches it.

A central ball position with the driver would encourage the ball to start right and travel further right because as the club reaches impact, the club face will not have had time to rotate fully through impact so it will still be pointing right of target.