FMCK golf : lining up

Most players stand over the ball trying to feel ready. Rechecking the angle. Repositioning the feet. Looking down and back again. They chase alignment until the moment is thin. We do not play that way. FMCK treats lining up as a decision, not a negotiation.

The ruling out is correction at address. We do not adjust once we’ve set. We do not rock back and forth. We do not hover the clubhead hoping for confirmation. The line is chosen before the stance. The stance is built around that line. Nothing follows.

Lining up properly begins before approach. In how you stand behind the ball. How long you look. Whether you trust what you’ve seen. The error most players make is carrying uncertainty forward. Into the shot. Into the body. Into the moment that should already be complete.

The margin detail is how long you stand still before starting the stroke. Not frozen. Still. The breath comes once. The hands are steady. The club doesn’t twitch. You place, pause, act. No rehearsal. No delay. No checking for company.

This is not about speed. It’s about clarity. The player who lines up once isn’t in a hurry. They simply don’t outsource the decision to the swing. The swing is what follows, not what solves.

We do not restart once we’ve begun. No stepping back. No resetting the stroke. If the posture was wrong, the process before it was wrong. That is not a moment to fix. That is a moment to note for next time.

There is a refusal here. We do not chase a perfect start. We commit to a clean one. The player who lines up once has already accepted that the result might not be perfect. That is not resignation. That is discipline.

Another margin detail. How the eyes move between ball and target. One glance back. Not a scan. Not a flicker. The body settles around that glance. It does not seek reassurance afterward.

When lining up is done properly, the putt begins before the stroke. The body doesn’t need reminding. The motion lands where the decision already was. No delay. No grip shift. No extra air.

The stroke happens. The player watches. The moment ends. There is no rewatching. No retelling. No apology.

That is what lining up once feels like. Not confidence. Not finality. Just the quiet knowledge that the decision was made early, acted on cleanly, and left alone.