How to Use Golf Alignment Sticks - 5 Drills That Work

Quick answer: Most golfers use alignment sticks for one thing - checking that they're aimed where they think they are - and stop there. That check is worth two minutes of every range session. But a pair of rods will also train your swing plane, give you a physical limit that tells you the instant you sway off the ball, and act as a reference for keeping your head still. Paired with an Alignment Disc to hold them at fixed angles, they work indoors as well as on the range. (Left-handers: mirror every direction in this guide.)

In this post, WhysGuy will cover:

• The traditional uses for golf alignment sticks - checking alignment and ball position.
• Three more ways to use rods that make a practice session genuinely more productive.
• How the WhyGolf Alignment Disc paired with Padded Alignment Rods adds value to the drills you're already doing.

5 Ways to Use Golf Alignment Sticks

The first two are the checks. The last three are the drills - the reason to own more than one rod.

1. Check Your Alignment

• It probably goes without saying, but alignment in golf is critical. There's no path to consistent golf without knowing where you're aiming.
• Using alignment sticks consistently in practice bridges the gap between where you feel you're aiming and where you're actually aiming - and that gap is usually bigger than golfers expect.
• It's best practice to check your alignment every time you go to the range. It only takes two minutes, and it makes every other thing you work on that session mean something.

2. Check Your Ball Position

• Ball position is one of the most overlooked elements of a fundamental golf swing. Golfers tend to attribute mis-hits to a faulty swing when the real culprit is where the ball was sitting.
• Checking your ball position with alignment sticks before every round is about the lowest-hanging fruit there is in golf.
• To learn more about the signs your ball position is off, read our guide to the 4 signs of incorrect ball position.

3. Train Your Swing Plane

• You can push alignment sticks into the ground, or use our Alignment Disc to set them at specific angles. The disc is particularly useful if you train indoors and have no easy way to stand a rod upright.
• Match the rod's angle roughly to the shaft angle of your club at address, then swing so the clubhead tracks along it.
• To use rods to emphasize a draw or fade path specifically, see how to hit a draw or how to hit a fade.

4. Stop Swaying

• Place an alignment rod vertically an inch or two outside your trail hip.
• When you swing, try not to slide your hips into the rod. The rod does the job a coach would - it tells you the moment you moved, without video and without waiting.
• Find the full method, including the pressure shift that replaces the sway, in our guide on how to stop swaying in the golf swing.

5. Keep Your Head Still

• With our Padded Alignment Rod couplings, you can join two rods end to end and use the Alignment Disc to work on keeping your head stable through the swing.
• You'll likely want the 65 degree setting on the Alignment Disc, with the rod lined up just outside the ear closest to your target.
• The extended rod gives you a fixed reference point right at the edge of your vision, which is enough to tell you whether your head travelled.

Why Padded Alignment Rods?

Alignment rods are incredible practice tools - right up until you catch one with a wedge. Padding gives you three things a bare rod doesn't:

• Durability. The padding protects the rod when you hit it, which extends its life and saves you replacing it every season.
• Safety. It reduces the risk of injury to you or anyone nearby if a rod gets struck.
• Visibility. During a full-speed swing you're looking at the golf ball, not the rod. A padded rod is far easier to pick up in your peripheral vision, which means you swing confidently instead of flinching away from something you can't quite see.

That last one matters more than it sounds. A drill you're subconsciously avoiding isn't training the thing you set it up to train.

Common Mistakes With Alignment Sticks

• You aim the rod at the target. The rod along your toes is parallel to the target line, not pointing at the target - railway tracks, not a single track. Aiming your body at the flag puts you right of it every time.
• You check aim after warming up. Ten balls hit from a drifting setup have already taught you something you don't want to learn. Lay the rods down first.
• You use one rod for everything. A single rod can check a target line or a ball position, but not both at once - and the drills in sections 3 to 5 all want a second one.
• You put them away for the drills. Checking aim is the part most people do. The swing plane, sway and head-position drills are the part that actually changes your swing.
• You leave them in the car. The most common failure by a distance. Rods that live in your bag get used; rods that live in the trunk don't.

Key Takeaways

• Golf alignment sticks are useful tools that can help you monitor and make key changes to your golf swing - not just check your aim.
• Check alignment and ball position every session; it takes two minutes and it makes everything else you practice meaningful.
• Rods can also train your swing plane, tell you the instant you sway, and give you a head-position reference.
• The WhyGolf Alignment Disc paired with Padded Alignment Rods lets you set fixed angles indoors or out - and padded rods survive being hit.

Check out our YouTube channel for drills and tips: