BACK TO BASICS

The new year is a good opportunity to check your fundamentals

- Coach Gary Alliss

Every time a professional hits balls on the range, they’ll be checking the basics – aim, alignment, foot width, ball position... it’s all part of the set-up routine. These might not be the exciting aspects of practice, but they are the most important. All too often, however, they get overlooked.

Whether you’re a beginner or a regular player, it’s easy to fall into bad habits and for errors to creep in, especially if you’ve not played for a couple of months. How often does your playing partner remark about where you were aiming, or how far forward you had the ball in your stance?

Over the following pages, Top 50 Coach Gary Alliss helps you to nail the fundamentals and become a more consistent driver of the golf ball.

1 Posture

As set-ups go, this is pretty much perfect (main picture). You can see the slope through the shoulders, the ball position is good, and the feet are just outside shoulder width apart. If I’m being critical, my right arm looks a little straight here. If it’s too straight, it won’t fold properly on the way back. In other words, it gets in the way of a good backswing.

With the driver held out in front of you parallel with the ground, tip over until the sole of the clubhead touches the ground and then ‘soften’ the knees, which helps set the posture perfectly. To get an idea of the amount of knee flex that you’re looking for, you should be able to position your driver on a fairly straight line from just behind the tips of your toes to your knee cap.