Best Way To Set Up To The Ball In Golf

How many times have you seen someone hit a shot in the wrong direction only to realize afterwards that they had in fact been aiming right where the ball went? You might also have noticed that a golfers weight distribution at set up bears a significant impact upon the shot that they subsequently produce, be it good or bad. These are such easy things to fix so why do golfers get them wrong time and again?

It goes without saying that even if your alignment and weight distribution at set up are indeed perfect, this does not guarantee a perfect result. It does however make it significantly easier for you to produce the shot that you desire.

There are many times that a golfer sets up to the ball and it just doesn't feel right; you cannot quite put your finger on why but you don't feel good. The result is an almost foregone conclusion. If you go ahead and make your swing whilst feeling uncomfortable you have no confidence to transmit through your body to the ball and that little ball sets off as if it has a mind of it's own. It plays truant.

You know yourself that if you can just have the presence of mind to step back from the ball and go through your set up and pre shot routine again you will most often produce a far more satisfying golf shot. Ironically, a significant number of golfers will take the time to line up a putt correctly, but will somehow overlook this essential element throughout the rest of their game.

In actual fact a golfer should be dialing in his or her focus to a point the width of the cup and visualizing the ball flying there as part of the pre-shot routine for every shot. If your mind does not have a clear and defined image of the direction in which you wish the ball to go, how would you proceed to set up to the ball correctly? Good alignment is dependent upon a clear and precise image of the desired shot.

Just aiming somewhere up the fairway is far too wide a spectrum and begs for a random result. If your golf ball seems to go all over the place it's likely that your mind wasn't in the right place to start off with.

Your mind is also intricately linked with the element of optimal weight distribution at set up. In golf you frequently discover that what you thought to be a mechanical issue turns out to be a mental one.

Most golfers know to take a couple of practice swings before setting up to the ball to take their real shot. The purpose of course is to get a good feel for the shot. You want to feel your irons attacking the ball or your woods sweeping through the ball. You are taking your practice swings with the intention of feeling the right shot and imprinting that feel so as to more readily repeat it when the ball is in front of the club face.

During the practice swing you are inevitably working out in your mind where your club is brushing the ground or the tee and at what point you need to have the ball at impact. You are feeling the transfer of your weight through imagined impact with the ball. When it feels right, you set up to the ball with your body and club face in that same position, based upon that recent memory of correct weight distribution, good alignment and so on.

Your mind is intricately involved throughout this process. A good golf shot starts with good ball position, alignment and weight distribution and this cannot be achieved without first clearly visualizing the shot that you really desire. Everything about your pre shot routine is designed to give you the confidence to commit to the chosen shot and execute it well. Golf really is a mental game!

Roseanna Leaton, avid golfer and specialist in golf hypnosis mp3s and author of the GolferWithin golf mind training system.

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