Part One
The three checkpoints.
A good setup isn't a dozen things to remember. There are three that matter — and these are the three I want you checking every time you stand to a ball.
01 · Posture
Tilt from the hips, not the waist.
Stand tall, then hinge forward from your hip joints — let your seat move back like you're about to sit on a tall stool. Soft knees, arms hanging straight down under your shoulders, chin up off your chest. Athletic, balanced, ready to move.
02 · Ball Position & Width
Stance the width of your shoulders.
Feet roughly shoulder-width for a full swing, narrower as the club gets shorter. Ball position moves with the club — forward for the driver, drifting back toward centre for your wedges. Weight even, centred over the middle of your feet.
03 · Alignment
Clubface first. Body second.
Aim the clubface at your target first, then build your body to it — feet, knees, hips and shoulders all parallel to the target line, like railroad tracks. Pick a spot a foot in front of the ball to aim over. Your body lines run left of the target, not at it.
Part Two
Build it the same way, every time.
A great setup you do once is luck. A great setup you do every time is a routine. Here's the order we ran today — the same way, every shot, until it builds itself.
01
Aim
From behind the ball, pick your target line and a spot a foot in front of the ball to aim over. Set the clubface on it first — before your feet move.
02
Build
Step in. Feet to width, ball into position, then match your body lines to the face you already aimed. Build to the club — don't drag the club to you.
03
Settle
Tilt into your posture, soften the knees, one look at the target — and go. A setup you trust doesn't need a fourth look.
"
The same setup, every single time. That's what turns a swing into a shot you can count on.
Part Three
What we did today.
A recap of the hour, in order — so you can mentally rewalk it on the range and remind yourself what each piece felt like.
The Why
Same swing, two setups, two results.
You saw it for yourself — change nothing but how you stand to the ball, and the strike and the start line change with it. That's the lesson. Everything else is detail.
The Build
Posture. Stance. Alignment.
Three checkpoints, in order. We hinged from the hips, set the feet and the ball, then matched the body to the target line — and felt what "ready" actually feels like.
The Mirror
Seeing it, not just feeling it.
Feel lies. We used a mirror and a phone so your eyes could confirm what your body was doing — because "this feels strange" almost always means "this is finally right."
The Sticks
Alignment rods on the ground.
We laid the rails down and you hit shots inside them — clubface to the target first, body parallel — until aiming stopped being a guess.
The Send-Off
Full swings from a setup you trust.
We took it to a real shot — the routine, the build, the one look — and let the swing start from somewhere good.
This Week
Your homework.
Four small things between now and your next round. Do these and your setup becomes automatic — not something you have to think about anymore.
i
Posture in the mirror.
Once a day, set up in front of a mirror — face-on and down-the-line. Hinge from the hips, arms hanging. Ten seconds. Let your eyes learn the shape.
ii
Lay down the rails.
Every range session, start with an alignment stick on the ground. First ten shots — clubface to target, feet parallel. Aiming should never be a guess.
iii
Run the routine.
Aim, build, settle. Every shot, every time — even chips and putts. The routine is what makes the setup repeatable when it matters.
iv
Check your ball position.
Before each club, glance down: forward for the longer clubs, centre for the wedges. Small drifts here are hiding behind a lot of mishits.