It's The Alignment!!!!!!!

Without a doubt, every time I give an on course lessons, I find alignment issues.  The serious issue with this is, your swing path is effected by faulty alignment.  In most cases, the golfer is aligned to the right, (for right handers) only to swing the golf club across their body or to the left.  The by product is scooping, breakdown of the left wrist, and either a high fade or a pull shot.

You should always, always, always put a golf club on the ground when you practice.  Top touring pros do and they have been playing golf for a long time and most likely play better than you do, so don't be embarrassed about putting a golf club on the ground while practicing at the driving range.

Second, here is the process for lining up properly.

1) Get behind the golf ball and get your belly button, the ball and your target in a straight line.
2) Find something directly in front of the ball you can recognize that is in line with your target, hopefully very close to your golf club's face.
3) Point the leading edge of the golf club at your target.  The leading edge being the front edge of the golf club face.
4) Then, you align your shoulders at 90 degrees to the golf club face.
5) Your feet go last and are not important except that it is preferable, in most cases when playing an iron shot, that your stance is slightly open or to the left of the target, again for right handers.

Here's a video below about keeping a golf club on the ground for alignment.