The Official Dyn-Align Golf Blog

It's Time to Expand Golf's Fundamentals to Include Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment

2010-03-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Traditional pre-shot guidelines of square stance, square knees, hips, shoulders, clubface, and two knuckles showing at address can be helpful, but achieve little to insure proper hand, wrist, and clubface positioning at impact.

Hands, wrists, and forearms can easily rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise in addition to the wrists hinging vertically and horizontally during a swing. The clubface angle in relation to the target line can easily change as the hands, wrists, and forearms rotate.

Golfers at all skill levels must constantly guard against improper hand, wrist, and forearm rotation during a swing, and especially at impact. Current alignment guidelines do not provide a solution other than "timing" to explain how hand and wrist position changes from address to impact.

It's time to expand golf's fundamentals to include a method for synchronizing the key variables of potential hand, wrist, and forearm rotation with clubface alignment at impact.

Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment provides a technique for more consistent positioning of the hands, wrists, and forearms at address and impact. The technique can greatly reduce the need for a golfer to rely on their ability to control such rotation during a swing, and synchronize it with a desired clubface alignment at impact.

In addition to providing more consistent hand, wrist, forearm, and clubface positioning at impact, Dynamic pre-shot alignment helps to keep the club on a proper path during the backswing and forward swing.

Undesirable rotation can allow the club to easily travel above or below the swing plane, or too far inside or outside on the backswing. Such variation in swing path requires re-routing of the club during the forward swing in addition to the need to point the back of the leading hand at the target at impact.

Golfers are often seen swinging the club back to waist high in order to check the clubface alignment as part of a pre-shot routine. The clubface can easily be open, square, or closed due to the fact that traditional fundamentals allow for an excess of hand, wrist, and forearm rotation.

Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment helps insure that the clubface angle at waist height on the backswing is correct for the type of shot being executed.

Comparison of Baseball and Golf Swing Planes
Jack Nicklaus used the baseball swing to show how easy it is to visualize a level swing path at waist height rather than a golf swing on an incline plane. Here is a video to show how Dynalign Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment can improve both the swing path and clubface alignment in relation to the swing path.

Dynalign Produces Stabilized Clubface During Backswing from Dynalign Golf on Vimeo.
Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment is an integrated technique, and can be used to improve alignment for putting and chipping as well as full shots. One basic pre-shot alignment technique can be used for all golf shots. To learn more visit dynaligngolf.com

Right Touch Can Improve Your Distance Control

2010-01-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

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Grip and Putter Not Included

New Japanese language Right Touch now available!
新しい日本語右タッチで現在利用できる！

Tossing or rolling a golf ball with the hand has been one of the most repeated tips used by teaching pros for many years. It has been featured in all major golf magazines, and will continue to be the subject of future articles.

The golf ball toss is a good idea, but it is missing a very important element.....your putter. The Right Touch Trainer is used with your putter to give you the best feedback for improved distance control.

The Right Touch Trainer is an effective kinesthenic training aid to help golfers improve their game.

The Right Touch Trainer improves distance control for all short game shots including putting, chipping, and pitching.

Features At A Glance

Learn Distance Control.......The Most Important Part Of The Short Game And The Key To Saving Strokes............
Feel The Real Distance Controller In The Short Game

The power you put into a putting stroke is judged in a similar manner to the tossing of a ball. The weight of the baseball or golf ball is sensed by the hand and aids in determining how much force to use in a toss or putting stroke. The Right Touch Trainer allows you to feel as if you are rolling the golf ball to the hole with your hand while putting with your putter.

The result gives you the perfect sensation of combined weight and motion to sharpen your sense for distance control.

The Right Touch Trainer extends the classic ball toss technique one important step further by allowing the golfer to feel a ball toss while putting, chipping, or pitching.

Simply tossing a golf ball does not impart any information as to the added lever length of the golf club or the mass of the clubhead. With the Right Touch Trainer attached to the putter's grip and held in the fingers, the golfer is able to sense the total system mass of shaft length, putter weight, and ball weight in motion. The result is a more accurate judgment of the force needed to make the ball travel a specific distance.

The golfer may practice putting balls with the Right Touch Trainer attached to a putter on a putting green, a carpet, or a smooth cement floor to simulate very fast greens. After the trainer is removed for play, the golfer is better able to recall the sensation of holding the ball in the hand while putting on the course. Therein lies the key to distance control.
*Audio temporarily unavailable - captioned video

Click here to visit the Dynaligngolf website.

How To Choose A Golf Instructor - The Hard Question

2009-04-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

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An interesting article by PGA Master Professional and 2009 North Florida PGA Teacher of the Year John Hughes has some helpful guidelines to use when choosing an instructor. See the full article on PGA.com here, http://tinyurl.com/dazrfw

A quote from the article raises a hard question. "Let's face it; golf is not rocket science or brain surgery. However, there are physics, biomechanical, and geometric principles involved with the science of golf instruction. Your golf instructor should have a thorough understanding of these concepts related to the game of golf..."

The hard question, which goes further, that you should ask when interviewing a potential instructor is: "Explain how you teach someone to control the change in the position of the leading hand from address to impact?"

The change in position of the leading hand includes an understanding of pronation and supination.

The answer more than likely will center on performing proper swing motion leading to correct timing of the "release" so that the clubface is in the desired alignment at impact.

Proper timing of the release is made necessary because of the potential variation in leading hand position that can occur during a swing when using traditional alignment guidelines.

Traditional pre-shot alignment guidelines of square feet, hips, shoulders, and two knuckles showing, allow for significant variation of clubface alignment during the swing.

At the beginning of the backswing, the leading hand can easily open or close its relation to the target line. The club also can easily travel inside or outside the proper path.

Despite a perfect backswing, more variation of alignment can occur if you do not remember to tuck your trailing elbow on the downswing.

Once you have learned to perform the perfect backswing and forward swing, you will still need to practice timing your release so that the clubface is in the proper configuration at impact.

Dynalign Golf's dynamic pre-shot alignment technique answers the hard question in a different way.

Rather than starting with a traditional address position and requiring the golfer to create the correct impact position from a multitude of potential positions, the Dynalign technique significantly reduces undesirable potential motion in the hands, wrists, and forearms.

The result is a more efficient functioning of the biomechanism, less margin for error, and most importantly a significant reduction in reliance on the golfer to independently time the release.

Dynalign Golf's dynamic pre-shot alignment technique can enhance your control over clubface alignment at impact for putting, chipping, as well as full shots. That's when the hard questions must be answered.

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Tiger's Alignment: Address and Impact

2009-03-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

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The images below from the WGC-CA Championship at Doral on 3/15/2009 illustrate why it can be difficult to maintain clubface alignment from address to impact.

The black lines show the shoulder, arm and shaft angles at address.

This is the same view of address with red lines showing where the hands, shoulders, leading arm, and shaft will be at impact.

The red lines in the next photo indicate how the shoulders, arms, hands, and club have changed position at impact. The leading shoulder has raised approximately 18 degrees. The hands have moved forward, and the angle between the leading arm and shaft has been reduced to a straight line to the ball.

In the photo on the left, black lines show the starting point at address. The change of angles and position of the shoulders, leading arm, leading hand, and club at impact are indicated in red.

The yellow lines show an angle of about 25 degrees between the leading forearm and the back of the left hand at address.

At impact, the single yellow line shows the flat position of the back of the leading hand and how the leading arm and shaft form a straight line angle to the ball. This position of the leading hand has been called "the position of champions."

In addition to the change in position and angles of the hands, wrists, and forearms, they are also rotating in counter-clockwise motion through impact. Clubface alignment to the target line can easily vary as the rotation occurs.

If the timing of rotation is late, the clubface will be more open than anticipated at impact causing the ball to start to the right of the target line. If the timing of rotation is early, the clubface will be more closed than anticipated at impact, causing the ball to start to the left of the target line.

The rotational motion of the leading hand, wrist, and forearm is supination, and can be more easily remembered with the phrase "holding a cup of soup". The motion of the trailing hand, wrist, and forearm is an opposite motion and is called pronation.

Golfers using traditional pre-shot alignment technique, as shown above, are required to properly time the change in position of the hands, wrists, and forearms as they supinate and pronate so that the clubface is aligned properly at impact. This can be difficult even for the most highly skilled players.

An alternative is dynamic pre-shot alignment, which can reduce the variation in position of the hands, wrists, and forearms between the address and impact positions. Dynamic pre-shot alignment can help synchronize pronation and supination of the hands, wrists, and forearms so that clubface alignment at address is a more reliable representation of clubface alignment as it will be at impact.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment can result in a significant increase in control of clubface alignment at impact by reducing the need to rely on a golfer's ability to properly time pronation and supination of the hands, wrists, and forearms at impact.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment is an integrated technique that also can stabilize alignment through impact for both putting and chipping.

To learn more, visit the Dyn-Align website at http://www.dynaligngolf.com/

Good Times - Bad Times - You Know They Had Their Share At Doral

2009-03-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

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Thanks to high speed cameras we can see the fine line between a properly timed release and a poorly timed release that can cost a tour player a lot of cash or even one of the four big titles.

In the third round at Doral, Tiger's second shot into 18 was a 3 iron off a hook lie from 207. Super slow motion video through impact showed just the right amount of hand, wrist, and forearm rotation to keep the shot from going into the water on the left or the traps on the right. Tiger said: "Best shot I hit all day." Good times.

Johnny Miller said, "Look at that left forearm and how he turns down that left wrist and supinates and traps it with that right hand...turns it down.“

This was a much more difficult shot than the 8 iron Tiger flaired off to the right on the par 3 12th hole during his match with Tim Clark. Bad times.

On the 11th tee during the third round at Doral, Nick Watney was leading when he hit his tee shot wildly off to the right. Johnny Miller commented after seeing a late release in the slow motion replay that Nick was, "Just a little late." If this had been baseball, he could have said that one was "just a little outside."

Roger Maltbie said, "He got lucky, lucky, lucky, 'cause that was a horrible tee shot."

An interesting exchange between Dan Hicks and Butch Harmon occurred as Phil Mickelson was playing the 16th hole.

Dan Hicks: "Phil has said that this is the best his game has ever been from 50 yards in. And he also days it's the best he's ever hit it off the tee, as far as being long and accurate. Do you agree with that?"

Butch Harmon: " I do agree with that. He's worked very hard on his golf swing. This is about 2 years we've been together now. What you are seeing is the results of a lot of hard work. He's starting to feel very comfortable with all the changes we have made."

Phil's tee shot on the very next hole was a reminder of the fine line between success and failure.

Johnny Miller: "Uh oh, that was a Winged Footer there."
Butch Harmon: "That is way to the left. I mean that's so far left it's unbelievable."
"The club is trapped behind him right there. He can not catch up with his back hand and this ball has gotta go straight left."

The tee shot didn't cost Phil a US Open as it did at Winged Foot, but he did make a bogey and ended up in a tie for the lead after round 3. He will have to block out memories of both tee shots when he gets to the 72nd tee on Sunday at Doral.

To learn more about supination, pronation, how you can rely less on timing to synchronize your release with proper clubface angle at impact, and how to prevent trapping the club behind you, visit www.dynaligngolf.com .

Callaway FT 9 - Does The Hype Cross The Line?

2009-03-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

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New model clubs have always been promoted as being able to hit the ball farther (not further), or to correct slicing, or hit it straight, but Callaway's new FT 9 driver is advertised to be able to do it all.

Finally, the magic golf club. Never though we would live to see a golfer as exciting as Tiger, and now this!

According to the FT9 TV ad, "you can draw one around the lake, bomb one down the middle, or hit a high fade past the bunkers".

Does their new promotion cross the line between puffing the product and misleading claims? Notice that the ad states, "Imagine having the ability to shape shots without sacrificing distance." Just imagine having that ability because that's the only way you will be able to hit a fade as far as a draw.

Did you notice the fine print in the ad? In addition to using a new FT 9 to perform the desired ball flight control, the ad also shows that in order to "draw one around the lake" you need to close your stance. To hit the straight shot and "bomb one down the middle" you should use a square stance. To hit the "high fade past the bunkers" you also need to open your stance. Not exactly breaking news.

What happens when you close your stance and try to draw one around the lake only to curve your ball away from the lake and into the rough on the opposite side? You more than likely were a little late in your release. Since your stance is closed and the face is open, your shot can easily curve in the opposite direction as intended and be much farther away from your target.

In this situation, the FT9's "external web weighting", "carbon fiber body", and "hyperbolic face" may not be enough to save your shot. Instead, you will be back on the range working on the timing of your release.

A more reliable method to use when you want to draw one around the lake is to use dynamic pre-shot alignment. This method goes to the main cause of a poorly timed release by helping to synchronize the pronation and supination of your hands,wrists, and forearms at impact so that the clubface angle is aligned as you intend.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment can work with a wooden Ping Eye 2 driver, which is missing the external web weighting and carbon fiber body and has old fashioned bulge and roll instead of a hyperbolic face, as well as with a Callaway FT9. And the best part is you can actually learn how to use dynamic pre-shot alignment, rather than just imagining you have the ability to control your clubface angle at impact.

You knew the new FT9 ad was pulling your leg anyway, didn't you?

www.dynaligngolf.com

Honda Classic - Don't Forget To Release Your Putter

2009-03-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

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It's pretty easy to understand that timing the release for full shots is difficult when using traditional pre-shot alignment guidelines of square feet, hips, shoulders, and two knuckles showing at address.

Traditional alignment allows for a significant amount of wrist pronation and supination through impact on a full swing.

If you are a little late in timing the release, the clubface can be open at impact causing the ball to go to the right. If you are a little early in timing your release, the clubface can be closed and the shot will go farther left than expected for a right handed player.

But how hard could it be to time the release in putting? According to Gary Koch, one of professional golf's finest putters, timing the release in putting is anything but easy.

Gary's watchful eye saw numerous examples of missed putts during the third round of the Honda Classic. Sergio Garcia, who has a gifted short game, had consecutive holes where he was unable to properly release the putter according to Koch.

On 16 Koch said, "Doesn't look like he's releasing the putter as well as he was say about this time last year, that's for sure."

On 17 Sergio again missed a putt to the right and Koch said, "Not releasing the putter very well."

A method to reduce the need to properly time your release of the putter, or irons and woods, can be found in the Golf Shotmaker Manual.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment can significantly improve a golfer's ability to synchronize the release for all types of golf shots for improved control of the ultimate issue on all golf shots: clubface alignment at impact.

The manual can be purchased from the Dyn-Align web site at: www.dynaligngolf.com

Tiger's Late Release/Early Exit at the Accenture Match Play 2009

2009-03-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

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How difficult is it to correctly judge the timing of hand rotation through impact? A couple of examples from Tiger's match with Tim Clark indicate that it can be very difficult.

On the 12th hole, a 189 yard par 3, Tiger hit an 8 iron that ended up well right of the green. Nick Faldo's comment: "Late, tried to rotate and save it." Tiger was unable to square the clubface at impact despite his sense that the clubface was open and he needed to increase his hand rotation.

Again on the 14th, Tiger hit a 3 wood from the tee that ended up in a fairway bunker on the right. Roger Maltbie said, " Going right, late again."

The traditional address position used by Tiger, where the hands, wrists, and forearms are required to rotate towards the target from address to impact, places a premium on timing. The margin for error between success and failure to produce a desired clubface alignment at impact is small.

On Some days Tiger's timing is right on. Other days Tim Clark's timing is right on. And on some days, your timing is right on.

The difficulty of timing the rotation of the hands, wrists, and forearms from address to impact can be reduced by decreasing the amount of variation between the two positions.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment is a method that can improve your ability to produce a desired clubface alignment at impact without being so vulnerable to bad timing.

Visit dynalign.com for more information on dynamic pre-shot alignment.

PGA Tour - "When the timing is there, the shots are wonderful."

2009-02-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

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During the 3rd round at Riviera on 2/21/09, Phil Mickelson's swing was analyzed by Peter Kostis after an errant shot. Kostis pointed out that Phil's shaft angle on the downswing was more upright than it had been on the backswing, and he had not been able to square up the clubface at impact. The high speed camera clearly showed Phil's hands rapidly rolling over towards the target through impact, but it wasn't enough rotation to square the clubface.

Kostis explained that, "..it requires a tremendous amount of hand rotation and lower body work through impact to square the clubface up. When the timing is there, the shots are wonderful."

Phil Mickelson is one of the most highly skilled players in the game, and he is still vulnerable to misjudging the timing of his hand rotation through impact. He can recover from a timing mistake in the 3rd round of a tournament. He will never recover from a similar mistake on the 72nd tee at the US Open at Winged Foot in 2006.

If Phil hadn't needed a "tremendous amount of hand rotation", he would still have needed a normal amount of hand rotation. In either case timing of hand rotation through impact is a critical issue in controling the clubface angle at impact.

Hand rotation through impact is a combination of supination of the leading hand and pronation of the trailing hand towards the target. If there is not enough rotation at impact, the clubface will be more open than desired. If there is too much rotation, the clubface will be more closed than desired.

The address position of Phil Mickelson, and any golfer using traditional pre-shot alignment guidelines, allows a significant amounts of potential pronation and supination motion to be present in the hands, wrists, and forearms. The clubface alignment that the golfer sets at address can vary greatly during the swing when the potential motion becomes motion.

The comment by Peter Kostis applys to anyone using traditional pre-shot alignment guidelines. "When the timing is there, the shots are wonderful." It is no different for any golfer whether you are on tour or just hitting balls at the range.

There is a method to reduce the amount of potential rotational motion of the hands, wrists, and forearms between the address position and impact. The method is called Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment and can be found at www.dynaligngolf.com.

Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment can greatly reduce the need for a golfer to correctly time hand rotation through impact, and it can produce a much higher instance of correct clubface alignment at impact. It works because the bones that control hand rotation, the radius and ulna bones in your forearms, are configured during a pre-shot routine so that they contain less potential motion at the point of impact.

An analogy can be made with a machine such as a parts feeder on an assembly line that is required to do accurate repetitive motion, and a golfer who's biomechanism includes hands that are rotating through impact.

The moving components of the feeder machine must be adjusted to remove excess motion so that the assembly line can produce accurate products. If it weren't there would be pieces all over the shop floor and production would stop. The assembly line can't afford to have a bad day when its timing is a little off.

It is possible to adjust the moving components of the golfer's biomechanism so that repetitive motion can be made more accurate, but not by using traditional pre-shot alignment guidelines of square feet, hips, shoulders, and two knuckles showing at address. From a traditional address position, the variation of the moving parts that control clubface alignment can make it very difficult to produce accurate repetitive results.

You have a choice when it comes to your pre-shot routine. You can use traditional methods, then hit thousands of balls and continually work on your timing. Or, you can improve the the accuracy of your biomechanism and gain control of your shots with dynamic pre-shot alignment.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment goes further than just reducing your need to properly time hand rotation through impact. It's improved address position also produces a more accurate back swing and reduces swing plane variation. If Phil Mickelson had been using it, his shaft angle on the forward swing would not have been too steep to being with.

There are further benefits to the accuracy of your short game from using dynamic pre-shot alignment. Find out more at www.dynaligngolf.com

The Limitations of Popular Arc Type Putting Trainers

2008-10-16T08:44:00.001-07:00

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Of all the putting training devices on the market, the type that promote an arc, rather than a straight line, stroke path appear to get more tour use.

Arc trainers are based on geometry recorded by ancient Greeks of the body position of a person bending forward at the hips. A forward bend creates an axis of rotation for the arms that is somewhere between horizontal and vertical depending on the degree of the tilted spine.

A significant limitation of applying Greek geometric findings to putting is the failure to account for potential motion of the hands, wrists, and forearms that can become undesirable motion during a putting stroke.

Mechanical putting devices used to show the accuracy of an arc type stroke do not include movable hinges that replicate pronation and supination of the hands, wrists, and forearms. You could say that the mechanical putting devices have nerves of steel.

Proponents of arc type putting trainers hope that through repetition, the potential motion in the form of pronation and supination will not become motion and cause putter face alignment to vary at impact. The fact that short flat putts can easily be missed by even the best players is evidence of the vulnerability of the putting stroke to undesirable motion in the hands, wrists, or forearms.

Two problem areas that the golfer has to guard against are: misalignment of the putter face to the target line, and deviation of the clubhead from the preferred arc. Misalignment at impact can result from undesirable motion in either or both areas.

Various amounts of hand pressure are typically used by golfers to keep their hands still during a stroke. The hands can be relaxed and exert only enough pressure to keep the putter from falling to the ground, but they are vulnerable to any slight amount of nervous twitching or last second dominance by either hand.

Grip pressure can also be increased in varying degree in order to stabilize putter face alignment. The greater the grip pressure, the less sensitive the hands are to help determine distance control of a putt. Even with increased grip pressure, potential motion in the hands, wrists, and forearms can easily become motion and alter face alignment or cause deviation from the arc.

In addition to the pitfalls of potential motion in the hands, the track of the stroke can easily vary outside or inside the preferred arc because of the configuration of the arms as they hang naturally. The arms can easily travel inside or outside of the preferred arc because there is nothing to inhibit this type of motion other than the golfer's ability to recreate the preferred arc when not using the training aid.

Repeated use of an arc type putting trainer can provide a memory for a golfer, but once the trainer is removed for play on the course, potential motion that can cause clubface misalignment exposes the golfer to an increased risk of failure.

The risk for misalignment from the preferred arc can increase as a golfer faces pressure during a competitive round. Pressure can also increase during a casual round if a player is playing well and needs a solid finish for a respectable score.

Variation in height, arm length, and amount of bending at the hips means that a preferred arc for one player will not be right for all players. If you are not within averages for these measurements you would need a custom arc template or an adjustable arc.

There is a biomechanical method that can eliminate the need for arc type putting trainers and place the golfer in a position to make a stroke on a preferred arc path plus keep the clubface square to the target line throughout the stroke.

The method employs dynamic motion during pre-shot alignment, and it can configure the golfer so that undesirable potential motion in the hands, wrists, and forearms is minimized throughout the stroke. The clubface is much less vulnerable to the undesirable motion that can cause misalignment of the putter face to the target line.

In addition, dynamic pre-shot alignment configures the golfer's arms so that deviation from the preferred putting arc is inhibited. After dynamic pre-shot alignment, it takes some effort to make the putter travel off the arc.

The result is that the hands can be relaxed for enhancement of distance control, plus the stroke can be easily repeatable while remaining true to the preferred arc.

Dynamic pre-shot alignment is like having a training device with you out on the course. You won't have to try to recreate the stroke you made while using an arc type trainer, the configuration of your hands, wrists, and arms is essentially the training aid.

For more information about dynamic pre-shot alignment visit www.dynaligngolf.com

Learn a step by step method that teaches how to use dynamic pre-shot alignment in the Golf Shotmaker Manual now available at www.amazon.com

No training aids necessary.

U.S. Open at Torrey Pines - Timing the Release

2008-06-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

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The issue of a properly timed release was mentioned frequently during the coverage of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Commentators Johnny Miller and Gary Koch often described shots that were missed as either being released too early or too late.

On the first hole Saturday, Tiger's drive that hooked left of the fairway was described by Miller as being the result of "rolling the right hand too quickly", and that he had "turned down his left hand real early".

Lee Westwood missed a shot to right and the comment was made that " he could not release in time".

On the first and second playoff holes Monday, Rocco Mediate hit his second shots to the right of the green. Johnny Miller said that he was, "late on both iron shots", and "He was late there". Gary Koch described the shots as "either holding on a little bit, or a little late in the release".

Proper timing of the release is an issue because of its effect on clubface alignment at impact. A substantial difference in the configuration of the hands, wrists, and forearms at address and their configuration at impact is common in the best players. Such players have elevated levels of hand/eye coordination that allows them to control the flight of their ball, until their hand/eye coordination fails.

A configuration of the hands, wrists, and forearms at address that more closely resembles their configuration at impact can increase a golfer's ability to return the clubface to an intended alignment at impact. The necessity for the golfer to properly time the release is easier to achieve because of the similarity in configuration of the hands, wrists, and forearms between the address and impact position. This applies to putting and chipping as well as full shots.

Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment is a way to achieve this configuration.

For more information about Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment visit www.dynaligngolf.com

Learn a step by step method that teaches how to use dynamic pre-shot alignment in the Golf Shotmaker Manual now available at www.amazon.com

No training aids necessary.

Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment vs. Traditional Alignment

2008-06-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

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Traditional guidelines of pre-shot alignment include checkpoints of aligning a golfer's feet, hips, and shoulders parallel to a target line. A leading hand grip with two knuckles visible is recommended for most golfers, while a three knuckle grip is often helpful for golfers with lower strength levels in their arms and hands.

Even with accurate alignment of the traditional guidelines, golfers at the game's highest level can hit shots that are wildly off target. When this happens during television broadcasts, the explanation by leading experts is that the player either was early or late in their "release". This means that the timing of hand and forearm rotation towards the target through impact was not synchronized to align the clubface in the desired configuration at impact.

The waggle is widely used and taught so that golfers can get a preview of the clubface as it reaches the point of impact (impulse) with the ball. While a waggle can be helpful in producing a desired clubface alignment at impact, it does not insure a successful shot.

The fact that the hands, wrists, and forearms can easily rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise, or pronate and supinate, during a swing is a major reason that it can be difficult to produce a desired clubface angle at impact. Such rotation can cause problems as soon as the back swing is made, causing the club to travel inside, outside, above, or below the swing plane. Unless correcting moves are made during the swing, the shot will not have much chance of being successful.

Clubface alignment is directly effected by pronation and supination of the hands, wrists, and forearms. This applies to putting as well as full shots. Comments that a golfer did not "release the putter head" following a pushed putt are frequently heard during television broadcasts.

Clubface alignment is difficult to control because of the amount of potential motion of the hands, wrists, and forearms that can become motion during a swing or putting stroke. Golfer's with elevated levels of hand-eye coordination are able to produce a high percentage of successful shots, but can also fail at inopportune moments.

One solution to the problem of synchronizing club face alignment with a target line at impact is Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment. This method takes into consideration the potential pronation and supination motion of the hands, wrists, and forearms that can occur during a swing or putting stroke. Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment uses pronation and supination as components of a pre-shot routine so that the clubface alignment at address will have a greatly improved probability of being the club face alignment at impact.

Putting accuracy can benefit greatly from dynamic pre-shot alignment because it stabilizes the hands without increased grip pressure. The golfer can relax the hands for optimum feel for distance while keeping the stroke on track throughout the stroke. A track type training aid is unnecessary because the hands and arms are naturally resistant to going off line. Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment minimizes the amount of undesirable motion that can occur during a stroke.

Chipping accuracy is benefited as well from Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment.

No gadgets or training aids are necessary to learn or use Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment. In fact, many of the most popular training aids for keeping your putting on track, or your swing on plane become unnecessary.

For more information about Dynamic Pre-Shot Alignment visit www.dynaligngolf.com

Learn a step by step method that teaches how to use dynamic pre-shot alignment in the Golf Shotmaker Manual now available at www.amazon.com