Head to the practice range during a tournament, and you’ll see a lot of alignment sticks. You may have a couple you keep slotted away in your bag, in which case you probably have a good idea of how to use them. Alignment sticks, or drill sticks as they’re also referred to, are an essential piece of golf kit. In fact, anyone taking up the game would do well to buy a couple straight away—it would certainly help ingrain the basics from the very beginning.
The clue is in the name—alignment sticks are designed to help your alignment. However, there are several ways you can use them and a whole variety of drills that require alignment sticks to help you improve. In short, they do a lot more than the name suggests.
Here’s how to use golf alignment sticks.
1. Shot shaping
Set two sticks down parallel, one for your feet and one for your club (see video below). To work on a fade, aim the stick nearest you to the left (for right-handed golfers). Align your feet with the stick and simply take your swing—hopefully, you’ll hit a nice, soft fade (left to right shape).
If you want to hit a draw, aim the stick nearest you to the right. Align your feet with the stick and take your swing. Of course, there are various other aspects to the golf swing, such as the grip, but if everything else is in order, you’ll hopefully hit a draw (right to left shape).
2. Ball position
You can never spend too much time working on the basics—ball position being one of them. This drill can help to identify any flaws you might have in your set-up. Set two alignment sticks up like crosshairs. With a 7-iron, you want the ball in the middle of your stance. Take your set-up and hit some balls, keeping the alignment sticks in position.
You can also use the crosshairs to help shift the ball back in your stance, which will encourage you to punch down on the ball—a useful shot to have if you’re looking to keep one under the wind.
Perhaps someone has told you that you have the ball too far back in your stance when you’re driving. Again, you can use the alignment stick to line the ball up just inside your lead heel, which is where it should be.
3. Swing plane
Set an alignment stick in the ground behind you at approximately 45 degrees. On your backswing, get that feeling as though you’re taking the club over the stick and then under it on the way through. Many club golfers tend to go ‘under and over’, which creates that cutting-across-the-ball action. This alignment stick drill simply encourages you to get back to neutral.
4. Holing out
Here’s a simple drill that can work wonders for multiple parts of your putting technique and one that Jordan Spieth frequently uses. To start, find a flat spot on your putting green and set your alignment stick up parallel to your target line and just on the right edge of the hole (just switch around if you’re a left-hander). You can use varying distances, but 5-6 feet is a good place to start.
Set the ball up just inside the alignment stick so that the edge of your putter is almost touching it. The drill provides a fantastic visual aid. If you move the clubhead out and away from its natural arc, it will cross over the alignment stick, and you’ll be able to see that instantly. If you can see the clubhead moving slightly on the inside away from the alignment stick on the way through, it will move on the correct arc.
As well as helping you to groove the right path, the alignment stick will also show you whether your clubface is square at impact. It’s so simple to set-up, and it can help eradicate your pushes or pulls very quickly.
5. Bunker basics
Lay two alignment sticks down in a bunker, a ball’s width apart. Pop down two balls and set up so you have a club head’s width between the lead stick (ideally, this will be a different colour). Flare your feet, hold your sand wedge in the air, open the face slightly, and put your hands on the club.
At this point, the clubface is aiming really far to the right. However, as you settle down into position (see video below) with the weight forward, the loft goes from pointing to the right to pointing towards the target.
Make an impression in the sand where the alignment sticks are, and then take them out. The aim now is to work along the two lines left by the alignment sticks. Take your set up away from the golf ball. You want to develop a feel as though this is an upper body-driven movement with the lower half staying relatively quiet. You should be looking to impact the back line, taking out the sand through the forward line.
As you work along the lines, you’ll get instant feedback on whether you’re striking too far behind or too far in front. This visual aid will help you to groove a consistent strike where you’re taking the right amount of sand each time.
6. Hip rotation
If you’re struggling to strike your irons cleanly, you might want to try this one. This drill will help you to understand how exactly the lower body should work in the backswing.
Put two balls down and build your stance around the one closest to you (see video below). The ball should be in the middle of your heels. Put the alignment stick on the ground just outside the other ball and place it into the belt buckle on your trousers. As you stand, you should be able to place your arms across your shoulders, and the alignment stick should be in the middle of your stance.
From here, make what you feel would be a normal rotational move into the backswing—so allow your hips and shoulders to move. Keep your eye on how the alignment stick moves in relation to the golf ball between your heels.
The most common fault among club golfers is swaying, where the hips move laterally off to the right away from the target. If you’re guilty of this, you’ll see the alignment stick move behind the ball.
You should try to make a rotation but keep the alignment stick centred, pretty much over the ball. The idea isn’t to try and keep the alignment stick still by hardly moving. You want the hips to be allowed to rotate.
Rehearse this over and over again, and it will highlight any excessive movements. You’ll learn how to get yourself a lot more centred over the ball at the top of your backswing, and you’ll find it a lot easier to shift your pressure onto your lead side, which will deliver the golf club with a more descending blow. In short, you’ll start to hit the ball more cleanly and with greater accuracy.
7. Pitch drill
This drill might look a little awkward, but it’s one that could transform your short game. This drill aims to reduce wrist action to promote shaft lean. Someone may have called your action a little ‘flippy’, which is where the right-hand takes over (see video below). However, using an alignment stick can tidy all this up.
If you can put the stick down the shaft through the grip, that’s ideal. However, you can just put it alongside. Rehearse some pitch shots and get used to the stick being out of the way—it shouldn’t be hitting you in the side. It’ll help you groove the correct action and promote a cleaner strike, and you should see more of your pitch shots finishing closer to the hole.
