Today, at the Quicken Loans National Tiger Woods was set up left on a par 3 that begged for a soft draw off a hill to the right side of the green. Ian Baker Finch, Peter Kostis and Nick Faldo were all in awe of the fact that he was lining himself up so left. Well, coming from someone that used to hit a power fade on every single shot I can tell you that you just get accustomed to lining up this way. This is me two years ago:

As you can see, I am definitely aimed to hit the ball straight into the trees. I developed a swing that was a guaranteed power fade that ended up in the fairway over 75% of the time. I have since cured what ails me and straightened out my ball flight which in turn has added about 30 yards to my driver. That said, when you are used to seeing the ball flight of a power fade coming off your club face you are going to line up left no matter what the shot calls for.

The only way Tiger is going to fix his alignment is to hit the ball straighter with more confidence. He has proved he cannot do this under pressure so he goes right back to aiming left and hitting the power fade that is going to curve to the right. As someone that went through some struggles with this I can tell you it is not an easy fix. Tiger’s eyes have been accustomed to seeing a power fade for decades so it is not like he can just aim straight and hit the ball straight. Even when Tiger was lapping the field he was aiming left and hitting the ball with a fade. Check it out:

Notice the divot, it is off to his left because he is lining up left. This was during the US Open when he won by 50 million strokes.

Also, notice my alignment on this same hole in 2015 vs 2013: