Golf fans are often amazed at the ability of a professional to hit the ball straight and far down the fairway. The accurate drives and pinpoint placements on approach shots are seemingly magical feats which the average golfer believes to be beyond his capabilities.

This, of course, isn't true. A golfer, if he has some working knowledge of the swing, can learn to hit the ball fairly straight, provided he has aligned himself properly to the ball. Actually, lining up a shot is a simple little procedure, and it pays great dividends to those who work to perfect it.

As an example, consider the shot which Arnold Palmer hit to the seventy-second hole of the 1960 Masters tournament. He had just birdied the seventy-first hole with a curling 30 footer and needed only a par on the last hole to tie Ken Venturi, who was already in with a 283 score. But Palmer went for a birdie and got it by hitting one of the greatest clutch shots I have ever seen. It was a six-iron second shot which nearly carried into the hole on the fly—hitting inches away from the cup and spinning to a stop about 4 feet away. He then knocked the putt in to win his second Masters title, and went on to his most successful year as a professional.

Hitting the ball so close to the hole under such pressing circumstances was no mistake. Palmer planned it that way. He aimed the ball at the hole, and it took off like a guided missile homing in on target. There was more than good judgment and a good swing behind that shot; there was a golfer taking aim at a target and firing away. It took precision planning and precision alignment to hit such a perfect shot. If his body or his clubface had been just a fraction out of alignment, particularly at the address, the shot would not have landed so close to the hole. Palmer has hit hundreds of shots like the one described above, but my reason for calling your attention to it here is to point out the importance of proper shot alignment.

Another instance when good aim paid off was during the 1959 Phoenix Open at the Arizona Country Club. I went into the final round with a five-stroke lead, and, when I holed my second shot on the par-four fourth hole, I didn't see how I could lose. As it turned out, that shot proved to be the winning margin, for I shot 70 to nose out Art Wall by one stroke.

Thus, a second or two of careful attention to lining up the shot paid great dividends. It not only helped me win the tournament and launched me on a comeback after two years of diagnostic work on my swing, but the very momentum of that one shot gave me such a mental lift that I won again the following week at Tucson.

Lining up a shot is not a difficult thing to learn. To do it correctly, you must "aim yourself" first, that is, position your body in proper relationship to the ball and then "aim the ball" by aligning the clubface so that it faces directly toward the hole. Here is how it is done.

The pattern of movements involved in lining up a shot begins as soon as you pull a club out of the bag and grip it. A good player works himself into a rhythm for lining up each shot, whether he is going to hit with a driver, a five-iron, or a wedge. He sets up a habit pattern of approaching and addressing the ball, and all of his conscious efforts are directed toward lining up the shot correctly. From there on, he depends chiefly upon his reflex actions and the subconscious feel of the swing to bring forth a straight ball.

To begin, grip the club and position yourself slightly behind and to the left of the ball (Fig. 22). From this position, you can size up the hole and get a good perspective view of it while thinking of how you want to hit the particular shot before you. Keep your arms in close to your body. In Fig. 22, my arms are actually hugging my chest and my hands are about six inches away from my body and directly in front of me.

After determining where you are going to aim, as well as the type of shot you want to hit, move your feet in a bit closer to the ball. At the same time, bend forward at the waist so that the clubface will come in contact with the ground directly behind the ball. Then, after ensuring that the clubface is square, or at a right angle to the line of flight, rotate your head (Fig. 23) toward the target to make sure you have positioned yourself properly up to this point. The left foot is then moved just a few inches directly toward the target, and the right foot moves back and slightly to the right to give you a square stance (Fig. 24).

For fairway woods and long iron shots, I employ the closed stance, in which my right foot is moved back about an inch or so (Fig. 25). This permits a fuller body and shoulder turn than the square stance. The ball is

Fig. 22. Line up the shot slightly behind and to the left of the ball.

Fig. 23. Place the clubface squarely behind the ball and look toward the target before aligning your feet and body on a parallel line toward the hole.

Fig. 24. Squarely on target now with feet, hips, and shoulders paralleling
line toward the hole.

Fig. 25. For fairway woods and long iron shots, use the power stance, in which the right foot is withdrawn back from the line of flight to permit a free, full body turn.

Fig. 26                                                 Fig. 27

Figs. 26, 27, and 28. Lining-up procedure from behind. Always try to be square to the ball at the address. Then open or close your stance during final foot adjustments prior to starting the swing.

Fig. 28 positioned approximately an inch inside the left heel, and the shaft of my driver parallels the line from the ball to the inside of the heel. Note that my hands are directly in line with the ball. On fairway wood shots and all iron shots, the hands are moved slightly ahead of the ball (Figs. 15, 16, and 17) to help ensure that you will hit slightly down and through the shot.

Figures 26, 27, and 28 demonstrate the lining-up procedure from behind. Practice this routine until you can do it easily and without too much shuffling around. Of course, you will have to make a few minor foot adjustments until you can settle yourself into a comfortable stance, but don't make the mistake of fidgeting around until you have gotten out of position.

Anyone who has played golf for a long time can sense when he isn't lined up properly. When this happens, he will usually back off the shot and start his lining-up procedure over again.

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