Have you ever played or practiced with someone who made this game look… easy?
We can promise you they didn’t get there by spending the most money on new golf equipment or the latest training aids.
Players who consistently score well perfect the minor but crucial details of the golf swing, such as knowing exactly how to aim which is fundamental to the perfect golf setup.
Our breakdown will provide you with our 5 steps to feel confident you’re aiming correctly and giving yourself the best chance at hitting your targets!
Table of Contents
5 Steps for Great Aim in Golf
1. Evaluate Your Target Fully
Golf is such a difficult sport that players should do everything they can to make it easier on themselves.
Thankfully for you, golf equipment manufacturers have invented golf watches, golf gps devices, and rangefinders that help us fully evaluate our target to gain more internal confidence we’ll make a good swing.
- Use your distance-reading device to learn your precise yardage to the hole and your distance to the front of the green.
- Choose a club that guarantees you cover the front edge of the green to eliminate the possibility of coming up short (like the vast majority of amateur golfers).
- Think back on your tendencies during your pre-round warm up or your general golf game.
If you have established a “common miss,” account for that miss when picking your target line.
2. Aiming Small Equals Missing Small
Ben Hogan once asked a caddie what his target should be while on the tee. The caddie suggested an old fence that sat behind the fairway. Hogan responded, “Which post on the fence?”
Choosing precise and small targets (like a specific fence post) at long range sharpens your focus (and helped us tighten our shot pattern dramatically).
3. Bring Your Target Closer To You
Once you’ve established a precise long range target, choose a point on this target line (the imaginary line between your golf ball and your long range target) that’s a foot or two in front of your ball.
Use this point to ensure your clubface is squarely pointed to your target.
Establishing this closer target also helps you with the next step of aligning your body.
4. Align Your Body AFTER Your Clubface
Most recreational golfers get step 3 and step 4 completely backwards.
After you’ve pointed your clubface in the direction of your target, you should then align your stance in “parallel lines” to your club face and target line.
Ensure your toes, hips, and shoulders all align parallel to your target line to give yourself the best chance of hitting straight shots at your target!
5. Swing Freely
Unnecessary tension makes great aim useless.
Focusing on making a “free swing” (like when you’re in a really comfortable groove on the driving range) with zero ounces of your focus remaining on the previous 4 steps is the final key to playing great golf.
If you’ve completed the previous steps properly, you should feel nothing but confidence since you’ve done everything to perfectly aim at your target!
Summary for Aiming in Golf
Achieving precise golf aim involves five key steps. First, evaluate your target by using distance-reading devices to determine exact yardages and select clubs that ensure reaching the green’s front edge while considering your common misses. Next, opt for specific, small targets in the distance to sharpen your focus and enhance shot accuracy, a concept epitomized by “Aiming Small = Missing Small.” Then, select a point on the target line a short distance in front of your ball to align your clubface accurately. Ensure your toes, hips, and shoulders align parallel to the target line after correctly positioning the clubface. Finally, maintain a relaxed, tension-free swing, focusing solely on the shot at hand, confident in your precise aiming process.
