Hitting the golf ball straight and long is not easy to do. Most of us will never be able hit the ball at anywhere near a professional level. But the preparation for the shot is the key to making the best stroke you can, and perfection in that area is easily within the reach of any golfer.

The setup for any shot consists of six parts--five physical: grip, stance, posture, aim, ball position, and one mental: a calm mind. Calm your mind before you do anything else. Then get to the physicals.

Sam Snead said the grip is everything. Without a good grip, forget about playing good golf. Cary Middlecoff said more bad shots are caused by minor variations in the grip than by anything else. So get a lesson if you have to. Get this part right.

Stance and posture are closely linked. Stance means that every part of your body (especially your shoulders) is in square alignment with every other part. Posture means that your back is straight, you’re bent comfortably from the hips, and that your weight is forward. Your stance and posture should generate a live, athletic feeling containing great potential for movement.

Aim means the square alignment of your body is pointed right at your target. A teaching pro once told me that most lessons on correcting what a golfer thought was a swing flaw turn into lessons correcting aim.

Ball position is like the grip in that minor variations turn a consistent swing into bad shotmaking.

Good shots come from a good setup. The only thing that comes out of a bad setup is luck. Your setup deserves as much attention and practice as swing movements do. If you get into a bad stretch of ball-striking, check you setup first. Correcting errors there could be all it takes to get you back on track.

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