Hey guys, Milo Lines here. In today’s video, I’m going to highlight an optical illusion that I see harming so many swings. It could be harming yours as well. But rather than just teaching you about this concept, how about we take a look back at a lesson that I gave where this principle was really causing this player to do some things he didn’t want to do in his swing. And after that, you’re going to see me training this principle to a group at one of our golf schools. So, let’s dive in so I can show you how you can overcome this trick that’s being played on your mind.
The player was struggling with his alignment. When asked where he felt he was aligned, he pointed toward the target, but when we checked, he was actually aimed quite a lot to the right. If I aim too far right but still need to get the ball back to the left, I have to use my hands to do that. If we can aim you a little bit more left, then your arms can swing out this way a little bit more out of that setup.
As soon as we changed the setup, his hands and arms started swinging a little differently. They were freer because they had a new task. The problem was that his alignment had been causing him to compensate with his swing.
There are a lot of optical illusions in golf because we stand off to the side of the ball rather than behind it. What you’re seeing is an optical illusion called parallax. If I’m standing to the side and trying to aim a stick at the red flag, it can feel like I’m aimed correctly when, from behind, the stick is actually way over to the left.
If I were standing behind it, it’s really easy to aim the stick. It’s much harder to aim from over here to the side. That’s why you need to pick something that’s relatively close to your ball to aim the face at, rather than trying to aim directly at a target 100 yards away.
For example, I made a hole right here in the ground. Aim your face at that. Now your face is there, and you’re square. Once you’re square, you can start working on getting the ball to start to the right.
The goal was to get every ball to start on the right side. From the player’s perspective, it looked like hitting from one ball toward another would send the ball to the right. But that line was actually straight toward the target. This is one of the biggest tricks parallax can play on a golfer.
You need to feel like you’re going to hit it at that ball. Really feel like you’re going to hit the inside of it and start it way to the right. You have to feel like you’re swinging more out to the right than you think you need to.
Once he started doing that, the ball went dead straight over the target. His arms also looked like they were swinging more. The reason he had been making that “hitter” or “mover” type of motion was his aim.
If you line up with your body in the wrong place and still want to start the ball at your target, your brain has to come up with a plan. If you swing it from the inside, you’re going to start it too far in one direction. So instead, you may develop a compensating motion to get the ball back toward the target.
When he squared everything up, his perspective changed. What previously would have scared him because it looked like he was aiming so far left suddenly became the correct alignment. He simply didn’t know what he didn’t know.
Now his brain had to come up with a new plan for how to strike the ball. He had to come more from the inside, and that allowed him to swing more into-out and let the club rotate naturally instead of using the previous compensating pattern.
When practicing, you should probably set up something similar. Use two alignment sticks: one halfway between your feet and the ball and another right on your target line. Then live on the right side of it for a while.
If you hit draws, a draw that doesn’t start to the right isn’t much good anyway. You have to learn how to start it on the right.
Another useful drill is to pick something far out on the right side of the range and try to start the ball over there without changing your aim. Don’t aim there. Use your body to start it there. Make your hands and arms send the ball in that direction.
The feeling of starting the ball to the right is not something you’re likely to overdo during this type of practice. Eventually, you can start producing shots that begin on the right and turn back toward the target—a little push draw.
I like to use this station for practice because when we’re setting up, there’s an effect called parallax in golf. You might have seen my video on the site about parallax. If I set up to this ball and know that the line from the ball to the alignment stick is in line with the blue flag, I know it is because I checked it. But when I look at it from the side, it looks like if I hit it at this stick, I’m going to hit it toward a tree about 30 yards right of where I intend.
There are some games being played on our brain. Part of the reason people tend to want to come over the top is because of the picture they see when they’re standing to the side. The alignment stick can look way too far to the left of where it really is.
This is why it’s useful to practice with alignment stations like this. Have you ever set up to a station like this and looked at it? Tour pros practice with setups like these a lot.
When you look at the station from the side, it can look way off. It may appear to be aimed toward the trees, even though it’s actually aligned with the target. The farther you stand from the ball, the more off it looks. This is especially important for clubface alignment.
If you jump behind the ball and look at where the clubface is actually aimed, you can see the difference. That’s what you see with most tour players. You don’t see the exaggerated alignment that the optical illusion can make you believe is necessary.
There’s another component to this involving the clubface and lie angle. With a more lofted club, the center of the face can appear to be aimed differently because of the club’s lie angle. If you lower the handle with loft, you can see how the face appears to be aimed way over in another direction.
At address, you may naturally be a little toe-up. The lower your hands are, the more the clubface can feel like it’s aimed significantly to the left. This is one reason why, in a bunker, you don’t necessarily need to open up if you know how to set up correctly.
When I go to set up, the first thing I do is get behind the ball. I pick a spot within a foot or two of my ball where I’m going to aim, such as a blade of grass or a piece of dirt. There’s always some imperfection you can use as an aiming point.
Then I’m going to walk in and aim my face, but I try to aim my face with my right foot in like this. I’m still behind the ball. I’m not out here in front of it trying to aim the face at that distant target. I’m still behind it, aiming the face at that piece of grass or whatever it is.
Then I square myself to my club. It’s easier to aim from behind. That’s my method.
If I come in and put my left foot in first, it’s pretty probable that I’m going to go like this and be closed. But if I put my right foot in first, I can establish the alignment differently.
There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong way to walk into the ball. The important thing is that you become good at aiming and aligning yourself.
Players who walk in from the side often practice with alignment stations a lot, so they become accustomed to what they’re seeing. Dana walks in from the side a lot. Henrik Stenson doesn’t even go down the line; he just walks right in. He’s probably used a lot of alignment aids at home, so his eyes are always calibrated.
Let’s give a couple examples of how whether it’s the face or your feet, your alignment can throw off your swing.
Let’s say we have a few people who aim too far right. Most everybody sets up and aims a little to the right like this. I also noticed that the ball positions were pretty far back. So, we had aim right and ball back.
Now, if my goal is to hit it at that target, my brain is going to come up with a plan. It might not be the optimal plan, but it’s a plan. To hit it over there, I’m most likely going to make a compensating motion. Or I’m going to stop everything and throw this out to get that ball to shoot in the right direction.
Then you miss left a lot of the time, and things aren’t stabilized the way we would like them to be.
Another example is the clubface. Let’s say you’re good at aiming but your face is off. I’ve seen this with some pretty good players. In order to correct a shut face, the body may slide and the handle may raise to try to counteract it. Because if the player simply swung the club around himself naturally, he’d hit the ball way over to the left.
So he slides, raises the handle, and hits okay shots, but it’s not optimal.
Hey everyone, thanks for watching. If you’d like to improve faster, come on over to my online academy at milolinesgolf.com for one-on-one coaching combined with the Athlete Swing, my simple step-by-step playbook to truly swing like an athlete. Click the link below to start your training today. And if you’re new here, please be sure to hit that subscribe button to stay in the loop. Thanks again. We truly appreciate all of you.
