How to Really Use Alignment Aids

Saw how the pros used it 2 years ago. Got myself some and have never looked back since. These are the best golf training aids there is today and it doesn't even cost a bomb.

Finally, I have been able to hit some balls after recovering from a very bad bout of flu. The ranges here are all grass and its the perfect place on maximising the usage of those 'chopsticks' in my bag. When I am overseas, I have to sort out my swing on my own. Have also purchased a slow speed camera online which will be arriving in a couple of days time.

Here you can see that besides alignment, I can also check on my address, takeaway and also the top of the swing.

Address


Halfway back


Top of the Swing


I will post how you can use these to practice chipping and putting in future.

Rex, great shots. Glad to see you having fun. BTW, how much is a basket of balls where you are?

They are USD$8 per 100 balls at this range. PGA National is USD$12 per 100.

S70B wrote:

They are USD$8 per 100 balls at this range. PGA National is USD$12 per 100.

Wow, not cheap But I'm guessing that the quality of the balls are better... and you also get to hit off grass.

Phawh..
Solid...sibeh serious... how not to get good???

The quality sucks. However, beggars can't be choosers and yup, I get to hit off grass.

a....you should be working not hitting balls during office hours....

btw nice set up and weather...no guessing who is the photographer,,,

Ball quality probably so-so also..
Most US ranges that I've been too are very expensive compared to Singapore. It's usually cheaper just to go and walk and play the twilight rates.

DGman wrote:

a....you should be working not hitting balls during office hours....

btw nice set up and weather...no guessing who is the photographer,,,

It was 6pm. Working hours are over.

Weather sucks. Not much diff from Sg in terms of humidity..only hotter. Guess its gonna pour (again) tonite so no Space Shuttle Launch (from Cape Canaveral).

rex curious to know what's the purpose of the chopstick that was diagonally placed that was pointing to your waist or (whereever else )

how does that help in setup or the swing?

Wow! range on grass!!!
But the place seems quiet eh.

Are you the only one in the range?
Take some photos of the range! hehe.

art wrote:

rex curious to know what's the purpose of the chopstick that was diagonally placed that was pointing to your waist or (whereever else )

how does that help in setup or the swing?

I try to match my swing plane to the aid from address to the back swing.

Here you can see its not exactly perfect but a swing thought for me is that the butt of the club should point at the ball halfway back so that I will not be taking the club back too far inside - something I am prone to do on my bad swings.

thanks for clarifying... i guess this is most effectively done when you have another person to capture it on the camera for you?

because if you are alone wouldn't there be a need to cater for parallax error and, also, the angle of stick into the ground? Or is there a need to be THAT precise?

never got exposure to this before, i think partly if i were to do it on our sg ranges, someone has to hold the stick for me.. no ground to poke leh.

Yep, thats the limitation of an Sg range.

Also, I will look at my swing after every camera shot or video so you can see what you are doin right or wrong. It helps to have a tripod or someone else with you. You can learn so much more by hitting just 50 balls but analysing yourself on every shot rather than aimlessly pounding 300 balls with no clue or idea what you are trying to achieve.

As I mentioned, my slow speed cam is arriving in a couple of days. Will use that together to maximise my practice.

Good to hear that you are up and hitting the balls again... hit them well...

great post!

sunny wrote:

great post!

ha nor..

s70b, i wanna see how to use the training aids for putting and chipping..
i also wanna get chopsticks..
** can u feel that im getting very serious with my golf now **

Tmr bah, cross my fingers that the hole next to my place is deserted so I can take some photos.

so i have been using pariah chopsticks for a pariah way?

Yup. Time to get the real deal mate.

Get me some chopsticks please....

mUAr_cHEe wrote:

so i have been using pariah chopsticks for a pariah way?

not really la...
you managed to hold the chopstick in the old good traditional way..

actually long before the driveway markers became popular with the PGA tour, VJ singh stuck his golf umbrella in the ground to help guide/aid his plane...

Vijay is the king of swing aids. Saw pics of him using mineral water bottles too. I guess he has to keep his practice interesting since he is the most hardworking amongst them all.

Finally, we managed to play our 1st round of golf today. We chose Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter FL. Twilight rate was USD$30 per player. Played very fast and the 2 of us finished our 18 holes ard 3 hours. Course was relatively easy but the greens were superb as they were Tif Eagle so they rolled very true, smooth and fast. I think it played to a 10 today and full short iron shots were greeted with backspin.

OK, as promised and back to the topic, here is how you can use it to aid your chipping and putting.

For Chipping, With the alignment aid in your peripheral field of view, you can see if you are swaying alot during the whole shot.

Address


Takeaway


Follow through



For putting, the aids can be used in a few ways. They can be used as rails to practice those 5 footers:

Rail guides




You can also use them to assist your stance and see if you are swaying during the stroke by aligning it at your hip side:

Address


Takeaway


Follow through


Finally, if most of the holes are used up at your practice green, you can even use it as your target:




Great tools for practice folks.