How to Line Up the Shoulders in Golf

Of all the fundamentals in your golf setup, your shoulder alignment might be the most silent killer of consistency. It’s that invisible force that can send a perfectly good swing disastrously offline before you’ve even started your takeaway. This guide will walk you through, step-by-step, how to understand, check, and master your shoulder alignment so your body is pointed exactly where your swing needs to go.

Why Shoulder Alignment is Your Swing's Director

Think of your shoulder line as the director for your entire golf swing. When your shoulders are aimed correctly at address, they create space and a clear path for your arms and club to swing on plane towards the target. When they are misaligned, even by just a few degrees, your brain instinctively knows something is wrong and forces your swing to make mid-flight corrections. This is where inconsistency is born.

Imagine a set of train tracks. One rail represents the line your feet and hips are on, and the other rail represents the line your shoulders are on. For a straight shot, both rails need to be running parallel to each other and pointing parallel left of your final target (for a right-handed golfer). If your shoulder "rail" is pointed left (open) or right (closed) of the other rail, your swing is destined to go off course. An open shoulder line encourages an outside-in, over-the-top swing, leading to that weak slice or pull. A closed shoulder line promotes an inside-out path, often resulting in a hook or a push.

So many golfers spend hours grooving their swing motion without realizing that the root cause of their misses was established before the club even moved. Get the shoulders right, and you give your swing a fighting chance to succeed.

The Most Common Alignment Mistake (And How to Spot It)

For most right-handed amateur golfers, there is one overwhelmingly common alignment fault: they aim their feet way right of the target and then 'correct' it by opening their shoulders to point them directly at, or even left of, the target. It's a subconscious compensation that feels right but sets you up for failure.

Why does this happen? Most golfers walk up to the ball from behind, pick their target, and then set their feet aimed at it. But because you stand to the side of the ball, if your feet are pointed directly at the target, your body is effectively closed off. To see the target from here, you must peel your front shoulder open, creating a major discrepancy between your upper and lower body alignment. This open shoulder alignment almost always leads to a slice.

Checklist: Are You Making This Mistake?

Here’s a quick on-course test you can do:

1. Set up to your shot as you normally would.
2. Once you feel settled, hold your golf club across your chest, pressing it firmly against your shoulders so it forms a straight line.
3. Hold your position and look where the club is pointing.

Don't be surprised if that club is pointing well left of where you intended to hit the ball. For many who struggle with a slice, this is a mind-blowing realization. Your body has been aiming one way while your brain has been trying to swing another.

Understanding 'Square': Aiming Parallel Left

One of the trickiest mental hurdles in golf setup is accepting that "feeling square" is often not actually square. Because you stand to the side of the ball, true square alignment for a right-handed golfer means having your feet, hips, and shoulders aimed parallel to the left of your actual target line.

Let's use our train track analogy again:

• Your target line is an imaginary line running from your ball directly to the flag. This is the track the ball needs to travel on.
• Your body line (feet, hips, shoulders) is where you are standing. This set of tracks must run parallel to the target line.

If you aim your shoulders and body directly at the pin, you are actually aimed severely to the right from the perspective of the swing path. It's a bit of an optical illusion. You have to train your brain and eyes to accept what 'parallel left' feels like. When your shoulders feel like they are aimed perfectly at the target, they are almost certainly too 'open' (i.e., aimed too far left of the body line).

Committing to this parallel setup feels weird at first. You might feel "closed off" or feel like you're aimed miles to a right-wing bunker, but this is the geometrically correct position that allows for a straight swing path.

A Simple 3-Step Process for Perfect Shoulder Alignment

Fixing your shoulder alignment is all about building a reliable pre-shot routine. Instead of just plopping your feet down and hoping for the best, follow this methodical three-step sequence every time.

Step 1: Get the Clubface Pointing to the Target

Always start from the ball forward. From behind the ball, pick an intermediate target - a discolored patch of grass, a leaf, an old divot - just a one or two feet in front of your ball that lies on your real target line. This simplifies your job immensely. Now you only have to aim the clubface at that close spot, not the flag 200 yards away.

Walk up to the ball and place the clubhead behind it, carefully setting the leading edge square to that small intermediate target. This is the most important part of the entire process. The rest of your body aligns relative to this clubface.

Step 2: Build Your Stance Around the Clubface

With your clubface aimed, it's time to build your stance. We want to align our body parallel to the line created by the clubface and a much more accessible intermediate target.

• Set your feet: Imagine that train track rail passing across your toes. It should be parallel to the line created by your clubface. Many pros feel like they set their front foot first, then their back foot, to establish this line.
• Set your 'bottom' half: Your knees and hips should follow the line of your feet. Try to keep them parallel to that foot line.
• Relax the back shoulder: This is a powerful move. As you settle into your posture, consciously let your trail shoulder (the right shoulder for a righty) feel like it settles slightly lower than your lead shoulder. Because your right hand is lower on the grip than your left, this is a natural consequence. Fighting it and trying to have ‘level’ shoulders will almost always pull your lead shoulder open. Allow the trail shoulder to feel low and relaxed from your spinal tilt.

Step 3: The Final Check, 'The Cross-Chest Drill'

Before leaving the driving range, put it all together to confirm the feeling. Perform the Cross-Chest Drill again by placing a club tightly against your shoulders. After going through Steps 1 and 2, this cross club check should be now pointing parallel to your foot alignment, NOT necessarily at your end target.

The beauty of this is its visual power. When that club is pointed down your body line correctly, you will start recognizing instantly how that feels. With enough repetition, you won't need the club anymore, you'll have an internal system you trust your sense of what 'square' truly is.

Drills to Make Great Alignment Stick

Knowledge is great, but reps get the job done. Here are a couple of my favourite drills to bake proper shoulder alignment into your DNA.

The Two-Stick Gate Drill

This is the gold standard for alignment practice and the top range tool of the pros.

• Lay one alignment stick on the ground a few of inches outside of your golf ball. The further that you get to this intermediate stick's location, the most challenging that the drill gets. It should be aimed directly at your target - this represents your target line.
• Lay a second alignment stick on the ground where your feet will go. Position it so it is perfectly parallel to the first stick. This is your body line.

Now, just hit shots. Your only goal is to set your clubface to the outer stick (your intermediate target), while setting your feet, hips and shoulders parallel to the inner stick. The visual reinforcement from a bird's-eye view is powerful. After about 20 balls with this set up the right way, your confidence will grow for sure on the course!

The 'Walk In' Approach

Your practice on the range needs to be translated into your play out on the course. You don't get alignment sticks on the first tee, so you need a routine. Try the "walk-in" method:

1. Stand directly behind your ball and pick your target and your intermediate spot (again a spot out in front that you are lining up towards). Lock those two into your mind's eye.
2. Keeping your eyes on that intermediate spot, walk into the ball from the side.
3. Place your clubhead aiming at the intermediate spot first.
4. Settle your feet into a parallel position.
5. Once your stance feels right, take your eyes up the line to your final target for a final look to commit to your shot.

This routine systematically builds your alignment from the clubface out, preventing your shoulders from taking over and aiming you offline.

Final Thoughts

Perfect shoulder alignment isn’t about some complex mystery solving or secret move. It’s born from a repeatable setup process that organizes your body around one thing every single time you swing your club and that is a perfectly aligned clubface at address before your takeaway. By making this deliberate, step-by-step routine your habit, you’re eliminating one of golf’s biggest variables.

For those moments out of position lie or when your typical on course struggles are magnified due to some weather or course conditions, having an expert opinion in the form of a tool like Caddie AI that you can access can prove a huge game-changer for many amatuer golfers. It allows your game to get rid of much of the big number holes due to uncertainty, and you can simply get some quick suggestions on your shot selection or even snap a photo of a really peculiar lie where you'd be looking for more advice and feedback. That expert advice and shot selection suggestions can help calm your nerves so that a big miss is avoided.