Alignment Station
Ages 8 and up · Two alignment sticks (or spare clubs), a target to aim at, balls and a club; range mat or grass
The alignment station (two sticks or clubs on the ground: one aimed at the target, one along the toes) is how good players practice EVERY full-swing session, because aim is the silent fault underneath most bad shots: a junior aimed thirty feet right learns compensations, not a swing. The station makes square setup automatic before a single swing gets judged.
It costs two sticks and ten seconds, and it upgrades every bucket of balls the kid ever hits: swings practiced from a square, repeatable setup actually groove; swings from a random one groove randomness. Add a ball-position marker and the station governs the two setup variables that matter most.
How to run it
- Lay the outside stick aimed at the target (just outside the ball line). Lay the second parallel to it along the toe line: a railroad track, ball on the outer rail, feet on the inner.
- Check the picture from behind once: the sticks parallel, the outer one pointing at the target.
- Set up to the station: feet, hips, and shoulders parallel to the toe stick, clubface square to the target stick. A third small marker (a tee) can mark ball position (middle for short irons, forward of middle as clubs lengthen).
- Hit the session's balls from the station, re-setting to it every shot: the routine becomes look, set to the rails, swing.
- Periodically test without it: three shots station-free, then check by laying a club along the toes. The station's goal is to make itself unnecessary; the test measures progress.
What to say
Common faults and fixes
Shoulders open while feet obey the stick (the sneaky half-aim).
The club-across-the-shoulders check: hold a club against the shoulders at address and see where it points. Feet square with shoulders open still aims the swing; check all three lines.
The station set once and drifted from (shots migrating off the rails).
The re-set-every-shot rule: step out, step back into the station each ball. The repetition of setting up IS the training; drifting practice trains drift.
Station only on good days (skipped when hurrying).
Make it the non-negotiable first act of every range session, ten seconds, always. Aim decay is invisible and constant; the station is the cheap antidote applied on schedule.
Make it easier, make it harder
One stick (toe line only) with a distant aim point; a parent checking the picture from behind.
Ball-position markers per club; the station-free tests scored; gate drills merged in (a headcover just outside the ball punishing over-the-top paths); alignment at targets across the range (re-building the station at new aims, the real skill on course).
This page teaches the drill. ParentEdge builds it into a plan for your kid.
Built around their game, their goals, and what they’re working on.