Visualization - what?

You hear a lot about visualization and target awareness these days - there was a good show on the golf channel yesterday with a lady pro/teacher saying she doesn`t advocate swing thoughts at all because they take away from target awareness which is all important.
I can see the sense in this, but exactly WHAT do you visualize when you are looking down at your ball ready to swing?
Everyone says pick a small target to aim at, either on the horizon or on the ground, but once I`m looking down I have only a vague sense of where that target is.
I always line up with a point on the ground a foot or two in front of the ball, but isn`t this detrimental to target awareness too?

Don't mix a "swing thought" with the alignment process. I did not see the show, but I can only guess that what she was talking about was putting a spacific "swing element" as the main forfront of your mind (key positions throughout the swing etc..) vs. simple target alignment and the results. I have to also guess that she was focusing on a lower handicap player who has gained enough expierience playing golf to be able to put basic swing fundamentals out of the mind enough where they can still execute the shot reasonable well. And the ability to focus on just the target and alignment will be more benifitial.

So your question about what do you visualize when addressing the ball is a good one and was probably answered in that show (had to be). Picking little targets in front of the ball is the START of the alignment process so to get the the feet, shoulders and clubface ligned up. Don't think that preshot alignments is taking away from the visualization and target awareness, it is essential. Once that is done, you are at that moment before starting the swing sequence...what your question is about. And this is where "visualization and target awareness" starts.

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I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino