This week I watched the GC show on Jack Nicklaus. It was pretty good, and I'd forgotten how very good he was. The show brought that back to me. However, for many years I'd heard that he focused on a spot a few feet(yards?) in front of his golf ball to aim when he hit a shot. In the last of the 3 shows he explained how this method of aiming came about. When he first went across the pond to play in The Open, he had trouble finding an aiming point on the course since the links were so flat and featureless. There were no trees, etc. in the back or fore ground with which to align, so he picked a spot in front of his ball and used that. I've tried this method and can't seem to get it, so I generally pick a point in the fairway or background such as a tree, bunker, etc as an aiming point. So, my question is, does anyone else use Jack's method of aiming? And, if so, How do you do it? And why do you think it is better?

Thanks

    I didn't know it was Jack's method, but I do that. I pick a spot on my line about 2ft in front of the ball and keep my eye there as I settle into address. From there I visualize a line between my ball and that spot, and square up to that while I'm getting comfortable.

    Me too. Stand behind the ball, pick a distant target, sight a line backwards from there back towards me, pick a spot on that line 1 yard in front of my ball, line up my club face and then me. When I first started this I always thought I was aiming too far left, but I learned to trust it.

    I used to use this method quite consistently as a junior (about 35 years ago) after reading about it in a book written by the then golf coach at Texas A&M. I still use this method today, but not as consistently, which is a mistake. As Steve points out, it can appear that you are aiming too far left, which is why it is a method taught by Don Trahan, too. He says that in all the golf schools he has taught he has seen very few people who do not align way right (for right handers) and this method helps correct this alignment problem. But since I don't use it consistently enough, I tend not to trust it, will over-ride it in my mind, and end up right of the target.

      There's a couple schools of thought. Aim small, miss small or swing like you're swinging into the ocean (fearless). I tend to take the fearless approach. I aim my club head then take my stance. Then it's just swing.

      kelco9

      Bingo. When I look left toward the target at address, I know I'm wrong if I don't feel like I'm way left.

      I suspect a lot of people struggle because their body is pointed well right and they have to cut across their body to send anything out in the vicinity of straight. When they do, it tends to drift right due to that outside in move.

        I do the exact opposite. I aim for a point as far in the distance as possible. A tree, a building feature, anything as long as it's not the flag or the fairway and it's as far away as possible.

        My thought process is this: If you pick a spot on the ground a few feet in front of your ball, and that line is off by only a few degrees, the ball will be way off its intended target by the time it hits the ground. Missing by a few degrees to a target that is further away than the actual target narrows that window considerably.

        That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

          I too aim and line up using a target way off in the distance off the tee box. It helps me to make a full swing. Sometimes I'll subconsciously pick out a spot in the fairway / landing area and I usually find myself trying to steer the ball.

          I think Jack was talking about aiming his feet in this manner. I may be mistaken but I'll take another glance at the program.

            I have always aimed My Eyes at a target in the distance., perhaps a tree further, maybe a bush closer. But always my shoulders have always been aimed as a set of railroad tracks, running parallel to those of the eye target. Thus shoulders and such left of eyes and target, but on parallel.

            rsvman

            That's my thinking on this too! I figure the longer the distance between the aiming point and the ball, the more accurate line I have.

              jamez

              I don't recall the show had that detailed info from Jack. It was kind of a comment in passing, with nothing else added.

                There's some truth to what rsvman said, but at the same time I guess if you're consistent enough to get the ball going exactly over the intermediate target a few feet in front of you - that works too.

                All I know is this: the black and white barber poles in the middle of the fairway at 150 yards (on some courses) - I'm most always hitting more fairways when those things are there. Focusing on a positive target generally equals less focus spent on the negative target you wish to avoid.

                I cannot pick a target in front of the ball on full shots, it just feels unnatural and I cannot align to it.....I pick a distant target,that is typically higher up, and take my stance to it. Clubface is generally square, unless I'm trying to hit a draw or fade, then it it is open or closed but generally is always pointed at target unless I really need to curve the ball. When Chipping and putting, I do pick an intermediate target and align to it, and block out the hole. So on shorter shots that method works, but not on longer shots as my swing is drastically different vs. A putting, chipping, pitching motion.

                I have done this for years. I guess I heard Nicklaus say this at sometime back in the 70's because I have been picking a spot in front of the ball since that time. It is easy for me I just walk behind the ball before hitting it. Pick a spot to hit the ball and then look at the grass in front of the ball, walk into the setup aiming over that spot.

                I use both a distant target and something a few feet ahead of the ball - when I've decided on the type of shot I want to play and the club to use, I stand behind the ball and pick something small in the distance on the line that I want to start the ball on (a tree trunk, the edge of a bunker, a window in a house alongside the course...), then find something just ahead of the ball on that line, then set up for the shot, using the nearby spot to get me lined up, then looking up to check I'm lined up with the distant target. (This sounds complicated, but it's fairly quick and straightforward because it's routine for me.)

                Aligning the clubface to an intermediate spot in front of the the ball, followed by feet and shoulders parallel to the clubface doesn't work for players with swing flaws. To compensate, players will instinctively put themselves in a position, aligned left or right, which will get the ball to the intended target.