To hit the ball straight is a difficult task to any golfer on the golf course. The reason why most golfers struggle with it is because they think the problem is with their swing when the problem is their alignment.
If you want to hit the ball straight, you must align yourself straight first. Your body should be parallel to your target line. Then make sure your clubface is aligned straight to your aiming point. From there, take a simple backswing and follow through. Make sure you’re not swinging too fast or too slow.
J.R. Smith Golf Tips
Hitting the ball straight sounds like an easy task, but many golfers struggle with it. The key to hitting a straight shot is to keep your body and club face aligned properly. It’s also important for you to keep your head down and maintain proper balance throughout your swing.
Step 1
Choose the correct club for the shot you are trying to hit. For example, use a driver when you are on the tee box, or a wedge when you are on the green close to the hole. Selecting the wrong club will make it more difficult to hit a straight shot.
Step 2
Align your feet with the target line, which is an imaginary line running from the ball to your target. Imagine that there is an arrow pointing directly at your target on the ground; this is your target line.
Step 3
Align your shoulders parallel with the target line. You should be facing directly toward your target at this point in your setup.
Step 4
Set up in a square position by aligning yourself so that your left shoulder and right hip are parallel with both of them pointed toward your target (right-handed players). You’ll be able to see both of these body parts if you look down quickly after
There are many tips and tricks out there to help you hit the ball straight. Here is my take on a few of them.
1. First and foremost, control your follow through. A couple of things that can go wrong here:
* Make sure you are following through with your hands rather than your wrists. This can cause a lot of swing issues and can be difficult to correct. If you are still having problems, I would suggest getting a lesson from a pro to get a better understanding of this concept.
* Make sure you are not completing your swing with the club pointing too far up or down (too closed or too open). This can affect the direction of your ball at impact as well as its height off the ground. A good rule of thumb is to complete your swing with the club pointing at an object 10 feet in front of you (the wall behind the hole for example). Also make sure that object is in line with the target and not off to one side. If it is off to one side, then that means you are swinging towards the right or left (depending on which side it is off) and not straight forward like you should be.
2. It is important to keep your head down during impact. To make sure this
The first thing to do is take a look at your grip. Don’t be afraid to let the club rest on your fingers and use a light, firm grip. Try not to squeeze the club too tightly, as this will cause unwanted tension, which could lead to all sorts of problems. The key is to have a relaxed grip.
Next you need to concentrate on the ball position for your tee shot. For most golfers, especially those with slower swing speeds, it’s best to position the ball further forward in your stance. This helps get the ball airborne off the tee enabling you to hit it a longer distance and straighter.
Finally you need to focus on your alignment and body position at address. It’s important that you align both your feet and shoulders parallel with each target line. Make sure that you have a good posture throughout your golf swing so that you can make a full turn with both your upper and lower body when hitting the ball. Also, be sure to hold your head still so that you don’t twist or pull off line during the swing.
The number one reason why amateur golfers slice the ball is because their clubface is open when they make contact with the ball.
There are two ways to cure this. One is offsetting your grip. Offsetting means taking a weaker grip on the club. If you hold it too far back in your palms, it will open up your shoulders and the clubface will be open at impact.
Weakening your grip will close the clubface at impact and make sure that the ball goes straight. This can be done by moving your hand to the right on the grip so that your left thumb is directly underneath your right thumb, rather than overlapping it. This is sometimes referred to as a weak or neutral grip.
The other way to fix this issue is to align your body properly at address (the starting position before you swing). If you line up to the right of your target, the natural tendency is to aim towards the target during your swing and hit the ball off-line.
To avoid this problem, simply align yourself parallel with your target line. If that’s not enough, try aiming slightly left of where you want the ball to go which will help compensate for any curvature created by an open clubface at impact.
The worst ball to hit is a bad golf shot. And the way to hit a bad golf shot is to not follow through. If you don’t follow through, it’s going to be very difficult to keep the club on plane. The club should be going straight back and through, so the club will come right back down and catch the ball straight on.
Another thing that causes a lot of us to hit the ball crooked is when we move our head in anticipation of impact. We have a tendency to raise our head up as we are coming down and it follows through with our entire body. So as we come down, we start raising up and we’re off balance by contact time. It’s very difficult to hit the ball straight when your entire body is moving forward or backward rather than just rotating around your spine.
The best instruction I’ve heard on this is from Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Mike Adams in his book “The Catalyst”. He recommends that you stand with your feet parallel, knees flexed, and shoulders perpendicular to the ground at address. Then he says simply rotate around your spine as you swing – don’t lift up or fall back – just rotate around your spine!
If you want more tips on how to fix your slice or hook, check out
Follow Through
The first thing that every golfer needs to do, is follow through with their swing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a putt, chip or drive. Time and time again, I’ve seen golfers try to stop their swings before they reach the end, and they always get a bad result. By following through, you’re going to add some extra distance and power to your shots.
Keep Your Head Down
This is another tip that many golfers don’t pay attention to. When you swing the club back at the ball, be sure to keep your head down until after impact has been made. If you lift your head, then it will throw off the trajectory of your shot. This can also lead to duffing or slicing the ball as well. Mistakes like these are what holds most amateur golfers back from being any good at all.
Don’t Swing Too Hard
If you’re having problems with accuracy and consistency on the fairways, then this tip should help you out quite a bit. Many amateur golfers will have a hard time when hitting their driver because they try to hit it too hard. Although this may add some extra distance, it will cause them to slice or hook the ball more often than not. The