Tip Tuesday: How Straight Lines on the Ground Can Help Your Golf Swing

Unsure of where your swing needs to be on the takeaway? Steve Dresser of the Steve Dresser Golf Academy at True Blue Golf Club in Pawleys Island, S.C. shows you how two stretches of rope, or two alignment sticks, will help you get your swing on the right line.

 

 

Steve Dresser:
I always like to have these yellow ropes on the ground out here, obviously it’s for where we want people to be hitting balls from, but whenever there are straight lines on the ground, it can be really, really helpful.

So in this case, we’ve put the golf ball on the line, so that would be our target line, and all you do to just help yourself get into position at various parts of the swing. Take your golf club back, and the idea is to try to point the handle of the club at the yellow line. So when you’re about half to three quarters of the way back, that’ll start happening. And then if I keep turning the butt end, or the grip end, of the club is still pointed at the yellow line. And then I still want it pointed at the yellow line as I come down and then I meet the golf ball. And as I release the club, turned my body through, arms crossover. Once again, the butt end of the club is pointed at the yellow line. So, that’s something you can do very easily on your own.

And, of course, we have alignment rods. You could just lay those on the ground too. Anytime there are straight lines on the ground, it can be a big help. So, in that case, we use the rope as a target line. You can also put the rope more across your feet. And so, now the rope represents the stance line instead of the target line. And I always like to say the stance line is kind of the roadmap for your golf swing. So as I take the club back, the club is a little bit on this side of the line, but it’s pretty close to being over the yellow rope.

And one of the biggest mistakes we see people make is snatch the club way back in behind that line. So, having that guideline there can be really, really helpful. And then as we come back down, of course, as everybody knows, one of the biggest things we see on the downswing is the club way out here, outside or over the top. So there, we want to try to get it more along the yellow line here. Then we deliver it out to the ball and then back over the line and even inside it a little bit over here.

What’s the moral to the story? If you have some straight lines on the ground, it can really help guide your swing!