Your golf swing begins with the correct set up. When preparing for your tee off with your driver, the ball should be inside of your left heal. If your in the fairway using a wood or iron, the ball should be a few inches toward the center. Your feet should be about the same width as your shoulders and your weight should be pretty much even on the balls of your feet.

Your knees should be slightly bent, back straight, and lean forward from your hips. Your arms should be allowed to kind of hang down, as natural as possible when hitting irons. When hitting a fairway wood, its OK to reach slightly towards the ball, but don't let your weight lean towards the ball. Point the grip end of the club towards your left elbow. This will help to keep the club aligned properly.

Your shoulders, hips, and feet must be in line with the target. Your shoulders are maybe the most important part of alignment, to allow the best swing plane. Keep your head still, have a very firm grip, and never try to crush the ball. A nice easy swing using less than full power will give you a much better result. Trying to "slam" the ball will only give you eratic results. The ball will go all over the place.

If you follow these basic tips to address the ball, you'll enjoy your game and that's what its all about. When you take the fun out of the game of golf, that's when the frustration begins. A nice simple swing will get you more distance, you'll hit more fairways, and you wont spend too much time and energy searching the rough for your ball.

Remember that you start with the basic set up position, which may feel a bit uncomfortable at first. You should adjust yourself slightly, and try only slight variations. When you hit the ball, after your set up properly, you'll feel and hear a nice "swoosh" as you make contact with the ball and follow through. If you feel like you just ran your hands into a wall and you get a "sting", then you were not aligned properly.