Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

I am having a very very tough time with my alignment and vision. I line up for a put or a shot and often I am dead left of the aim line, by maybe 20-30 degrees.

When I am standing over the ball I am often uncomfortable and can't figure out how to get square. On the practice range I use clubs to align my feet to the target line and that helps a bit.

I have been reading and doing a few tests I seem left eye dominant (I am left handed).

Here is a test fyi:

Eye Dominance Test

I know this is vague but it costs me about 3-5 strokes a round and I am very frustrated.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Many alignment problems start from the presumption that our feet control alignment. It is the shoulders that determine alignment. I would guess that you are lining up with your feet square, but your shoulders open.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

One other thing I forgot to mention is I get happy feet. Once I line up my feet start moving all over the place.

I then check my thighs and shoulders, I think all three line up the same (wrong) way.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Try setting the clubface right at the target before you do anything else. Get that right - then step in and take your stance/address without moving the clubface at all.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

I had this problem also. I write left handed, golf right handed, and am left eye dominant. I found I could not aim my putts either. The shorter the putt the worse it was. I tried all kinds of things.

Here are some of the things that got it fixed for me.

1. The shorter the putt the shorter the putting stroke required. Always accelerate through the impact zone.

I would always take the same length putting stroke and adjust the speed of it. It is near impossible to stay online with a long slow putting stoke.

2. Line up long and short putts the same way. Pick a spot 2 or 3 inches in front of the ball that you want the ball to travel over. Line up the logo on the ball to point through this spot to the hole.

3. Always hit the putt firm enough to go 2 or 3 feet past the hole.

It is very hard to hit a putt with perfect weight. But it is easy to ram it in there. You don't need to play as much break and it is surprising how hard you can hit it and still sink it.

When you play pool or shoot a gun aiming seems easy. The mind makes slight adjustments naturally to line things up. The trick is not overriding your natural aiming ability. Look at John Daly he putts so fast he has no time to second guess himself. gl

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Here are some tips that worked for me, and may or may not have any worth for anyone else. I'm assuming you're left-handed but playing righty.

1. When lining up a shot, place your club behind the ball with you right hand gripping the club correctly, look at your target, and while doing so, set up everything else. Does it look and feel correct?

2. When you are set over the ball and have taken a waggle, close your right eye. Open your right eye and close your left. Rotate your head to the right until your nose (or what frames your vision) obscures the ball. Then do the same thing rotating your head to the left. Do any of these exercises cause your allignment to jump? If so, you may have a problem setting your head.

3. Judgesmails is correct about alligning your shoulders. For some reason, I could never "feel" the allignment of my shoulders and have always swung with my hips. I've found that having my feet in the right place but angling my toes a degree or two off, or flexing my knees the slightest bit, can mis-allign my hips, so I'm always consious of which direction my tootsies seem to be pointing.

4. The very best tip I can give you is to take a lesson. Find out who the good teaching pros are and ask to take a lesson on your allignment. He'll probably look at some very basic, perhap insultingly basic, things--but if you keep an open mind you'll be shocked at the amount he can teach you in 15 or 30 minutes. There are so many things that can screw with allignment, and a good teaching pro can spot them in an instant.

JMO

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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3. Judgesmails is correct

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He's no slouch.

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JMO

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Holy Crap! You're Jose Maria Olazabal??? You're no slouch, either!

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Thanks for all your suggestions so far! I am a left handed golfer . I took my first ever lesson last week and will take another. FWIW I am a pretty decent golfer, will shoot in mid to high eighties with a foray into the nineties or low eighties. My ball striking is excellent, my alignment is ridiculously, ludicrously bad, my short putting within 5-6 feet is fantastic, my long puts are disgusting and my chipping is putrid.

Phat Mack I will just reverse everything you said-correct me if that is wrong.

BTW I just got new clubs, Ping G2s, a Callaway 454 and the Craz-E putter.

One thing I am doing which is helping a little is after I align my clubface I don't look up at the target again. I don't know if that makes any sense but sometimes I start to get happy feet and f up after looking up again.

Edit to say when I line up dead left I compensate by flipping around and pulling everything. I don't know whether I should talk about this in my lesson or in my next psychotherapy session so I figured twoplustwo is the best outlet. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
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3. Judgesmails is correct

[/ QUOTE ]

He's no slouch.

[ QUOTE ]

JMO

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy Crap! You're Jose Maria Olazabal??? You're no slouch, either!

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't sell me short, I am a tremendous slouch.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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Many alignment problems start from the presumption that our feet control alignment. It is the shoulders that determine alignment.

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Feet and shoulders are both important in alignment. That said, no one gets them both perfectly correct consistently. Close is good enough, however 20-30 percent off is not even vaguely close.

I would suggest two things:

1) Get help from a professional. Here, or anywhere else, you will read multiple opinions, some will have baring on your situation and some will not. Based on your post you're probably not experienced enough determine which is which.

2) Read "Golf is not a Game of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella. It will explain why perfect visual alignment is much more important (and consistantly attainable) than perfect physical alignent (which is not consistantly attainable).

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Right handed. Left-eye dominant.

WHY GOD WHY

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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Right handed. Left-eye dominant.

WHY GOD WHY

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so is Nicklaus!

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

i have similar problems

putting -- using the name or marking a line on the ball -- and the aligning the putts with that

other shots -- picking a point in front of the ball and aiming at that



cheers

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

You've gotten alot of good advice.
My 2c:

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I line up for a put or a shot and often I am dead left of the aim line, by maybe 20-30 degrees

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Do some alignment practice indoors. It's often helpful with squared walls to assist. Make use of a mirror.

At the range, pick an intermediate target. Maybe 3-5 ft. in front of you (full shots), and imagine a colorful line(railroad track) connecting the intermediate tgt. and your golfball. Set the club on that line, and then put yourself on the parallel (railroad) track.

When you go to the range, always go to the far left side. This will make it more uncomfortable to line up way left.

Notice your head tilt at address. Are your eyes lined up way left? (this is very common) Check it indoors with a mirror, or outdoors putting the golfshaft acroos the bridge of your nose. Experiment a little with slightly different positions. (this is most crucial on putting alignment)

[ QUOTE ]
When I am standing over the ball I am often uncomfortable and can't figure out how to get square

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If you set up to the ball, then fidget with alignment or setup in any major way, you need to start over.
Though difficult, it is crucial that your first setup is good. The clubs on the ground are useful in this manner; however, at some point they become a crutch and need to be picked up.
When you work on alignment indoors, include the whole preshot routine of standing behind the ball, and walking into a great setup.


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my short putting within 5-6 feet is fantastic

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Can you help me with this?! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


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my long puts are disgusting and my chipping is putrid.


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Proper pace! Always pay attention to your pace.
When on the practice green, lag putt (or chip) to the fringe across the green. Close your eyes at the moment of impact and guess if you are short or long. This develops touch as well as anything I've found.

Best of luck!
JTrout

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Thanks to all, JTrout I will try these suggestions. I think you provided some excellent advice sir.

And I agree lessons are probably my best bet. I spoke with the pro today and he told me I was fixable.

I know you were joking with the 5-6 footers but my trick is/was practice a ton of 3 footers, just over and over until I got the rhythm. I just tell myself with those length puts hit it solid and you are good. I then just move out to four feet and so on.

My problem with long puts is my pace control is shockingly bad. I know some people put for length with feel and some can kind of gauge swing length to distance length but my (not very succesful) method is sometimes vary swing speed sometimes swing length and then hit and hope.

I really like your idea of starting at the left side of the dr.

BTW the eye closing thing is a fantastic idea!

I read the Rotella book a long time ago, I will pick it up again. I am currently reading Pelz's Short Game Bible, for anyone looking for a book on the short game it is really good.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Nicklaus is left handed.....but plays right.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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I am currently reading Pelz's Short Game Bible, for anyone looking for a book on the short game it is really good.


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Pelz is good when followed with a larger dose of Rotella. Golf is full of players that know and practice sound mechanics in all parts of their games but can't shoot the scores that they should. For the most part these people are overly focused on mechanics. Unfortunately Pelz (and almost all teaching pro's) focuses his students too much on mechanics. This typically has the effect of creating a stiff, cumbersome movement in all aspects of the game. While mechanics are important, a golfer that is able to trust his bad mechanics will score better than a golfer that doesn't trust his good mechanics. Rotella is all about learning to trust what you have. Sure go ahead and improve what you have, but when you're on the course quit working and start trusting.

Read Rotella twice (or more) every time you read Pelz. And actually, until your handicap gets down to about 5, you shouldn't read Pelz unless you have some one to interpret him and help you decide what parts of his advice will work with your game.

I've long believed that a lobotomy would save most golfers 5-10 shots per round. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Many alignment problems start from the presumption that our feet control alignment. It is the shoulders that determine alignment. I would guess that you are lining up with your feet square, but your shoulders open.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is the problem

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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Nicklaus is left handed.....but plays right.

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I'm almost certain Nicklaus is right handed.
Johnny Miller is left handed. So was Ben Hogan. Mickelson is right handed.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Play with your weaknesses. If you know you hit it 20 or 30 degrees off, aim 20-30 degrees to the right.

When I get drunk and play I get a wicked hook. So I aim appropriatley.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Same here. That's not the reason my golf game blows, although I think I'm getting that worked out.

Opposite eye freaks me out when I'm shooting a pistol sometimes.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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I'm almost certain Nicklaus is right handed.
Johnny Miller is left handed. So was Ben Hogan. Mickelson is right handed.

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There's been a big deal made about Mike Weir writing Nicklaus when he (Weir) was a kid and asking him whether he should play righty or lefty. The reason being, of course, the lack of equipment for lefties. Nicklaus responded that, unlike when he had to make a similar decision, the lack of equipment was not so severe as to warrant playing from his non-dominant side.

I wasn't aware about Hogan and Miller. Makes a pretty good case for kids playing from the "wrong" side though, doesn't it?

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

Yeah, I didn't realize this was the issue last time I went shooting, but it gives me a reason to think maybe I'm not just terrible. Time to learn how to shoot left eyed.

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

I knew of Mike writing Jack and asking about playing lefty.
I did not know that Jack said he faced a similar decision.
In 29 yrs. of following golf, this is the first I've ever heard that Jack Nicklaus is left handed.
(... or senility is setting in and I've forgotten!)

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

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putting -- using the name or marking a line on the ball -- and the aligning the putts with that

other shots -- picking a point in front of the ball and aiming at that

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Solid advice.

You wanna laugh? See if your local pro shop has one of those lasar thingies to put on your putter face that points where you are REALLY aiming. It's a wonder the ball ever goes in the hole.

Wanna try something else radical? When you putt don't look at the ball, look at the hole. When you shoot a gun, do you look at the bullet (bad analogy)? What does a pitcher look at when he throws? Basketball player shooting free-throws. Ball or rim? Why is golf the only target related activity in which we look at the projectile and not the target?

/Former PGA Pro

Re: Odd Golf Alignment and Vision Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
You wanna laugh? See if your local pro shop has one of those lasar thingies to put on your putter face that points where you are REALLY aiming. It's a wonder the ball ever goes in the hole.


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Great arguement for Rotella's theory that visualizing your target is more important than perfect mechanics.