Putting Alignment for Golf

Even if your stance is good, as well as your grip, you'll still have trouble putting until you learn the proper putting alignment.

Your putting alignment is crucial to whether you have success putting or not. Even if it is just barely wrong you will be having quite a few issues putting.

There are two parts of putting alignment in golf.  The first of these is how you are standing in relation to the ball and the hole, and the second part  is how the club hits the ball, which should be a right angle to the hole.

Let's start with body alignment. When you lining up for your putt, every part of your body should be lined up in a line to the whole. They should be parallel to your target. This includes your shoulders, hips, and feet. Take special care when aligning your shoulders as this is usually the hardest part for most golfers to line up. If you can't get your body aligned to the hole, you will likely have trouble putting the ball in the right direction.

The best way to make sure that your feet and hips are aligned correctly is to put down two golf clubs on the ground, pointing in the direction of the hole. The space should be wide enough the you can stand between them. Them, simply stand between the two clubs and you should be lined up.

To ensure that your hips are lined up correctly, take a club and hold it against your hips. Now straighten your back slowly until you see the club on your hips overlay the club resting against your feet. If your hips are not aligned correctly you will see that one end of the club on your hips is behind the club on the ground.

Now for shoulder alignment. In a picture perfect shoulder alignment, your shoulders will simply rock up and down to start the putting stroke and hit the ball.  However, for many golfers this is no the case. You always need to hit the ball straight at the hole unless there is a slope on the green. In that case you will need to hit it a little to the right or left. If you do not line up your shoulders correctly it is likely that you will not make the putt.

Checking your shoulder alignment is difficult because you cannot see it, unlike you can see your hips and feet. So how can you check your shoulder alignment? You can do this by standing with your feet inside the two clubs on the ground, and holding a club against both of your shoulder blades. Now have a friend stand behind you and making sure that the club on your feet is parallel to the ones on the ground. You can also do this with a mirror, although it is a bit more difficult.

The next thing I will be discussing is clubhead alignment.  When your putter strikes the ball it needs to be precisely 90 degrees to the hole (or place you are aiming) The farther from 90 degrees you get, the harder it is to make the putt. Many things can affect this angle. One of the most obvious of these things is your grip.  Here's a simple drill to check your grip.

Setup for a putt around 3 feet from the hole. Now, line up as you regularly would as if you were going to putt the ball.  Start your backswing as you normally would, but as you hit the ball, push it into the hole. Yes, literally push it into the hole with the clubhead. If you can do this without altering the course of your club, then your alignment is correct!