How critical is ball position in and out?

[Clugnut]

After shooting lights out for about two months, Wednesday night it was just gone. I lost about a club on all shots, and could only hit a weak fade that started straight, and takes the off-ramp.

I went to the range to pounds balls today. I feel like I'm getting jammed when I come around, and it felt like I should open my stance to make room. When I open up, I hit a big pull.

My question is: Is it possible I'm just standing too close to the ball? I moved it away, and I hit a nice, high, long seven iron right to the 160 pin. It felt a lot better, too. I could swing naturally and not get jammed. Unfortunately, I only had 3 balls left. Am I on to something, or is this all BS?

[MIKE1218]

I sometimes used to have the same problem, a weak fade that lost about 10 yards. Same fix as well. Whenever it comes back I check that my fist fits between me and the butt of the shaft with room to spare.

[ezra76]

Very important IMO. It can throw your whole swing way offplane. I work on my setup to let my arms hang naturally and be able to swing onplane every time.

[mont86]

Originally Posted by ezra76

Very important IMO. It can throw your whole swing way offplane. I work on my setup to let my arms hang naturally and be able to swing onplane every time.

I'm with Ez on this I will have a tendency to stand too far away and it throws me off. I'll hit the ball towards the toe.

[twofast2s]

Originally Posted by mont86

I'm with Ez on this I will have a tendency to stand too far away and it throws me off. I'll hit the ball towards the toe.

i tend to stand too far or place my ball too middle/back of my stance when pressure builds on, blocking sometimes, but more of hosel shots.

one method is to address from the ball to arms, shoulder, hips, legs and feet in this order. i'll ground my club first, w/ relaxed arm, set my shoulder, hips and legs, and my feet. this way i know that i have good posture and aim at the intended target. i didn't notice it, but i got of habit of doing this and now it's my part of routine.

[LyleG]

2fast

You bring up a good point and I do the same thing. When I stand too far from the ball or start playing it to far back I start hitting hosel rockets. I think this is from getting too steep but cant say for sure. IMO ball position is where it all begins. Get this wrong and everything else will surely go to shit soon after.

[warbirdlover]

Rule of thumb is about 1 to 1-1/2 "fists" between belly and back of club at address (depending on how fat you are ). Reaching is the worst thing you can do.

[Topflite_D2]

A way you can tell if you are too far away from the ball is take an iron, put some electical tape on it. Than address the like normal and hit. See where the ball mark is. If it is near the toe of the iron you are too far away if the mark is on toward the heel you are too close. Than you can adjust how close you stand until the mark is more in the center. I agree with WBL that you should be about 1 to 1.5 hand widths away from the club.

[King Par]

It's not only your stance that effects where you will hit the ball on the club face. There are many other factors.

[Topflite_D2]

Alright I'm always wrong no matter what subject just keep correcting me. I was just trying to help him out. So if there are many factors and he tries my idea he will know that it isn't his stance. I just thought I would help him out since my instructor told me about it.

[LyleG]

The problem with the stance is that we are great at making adjustments in other areas to compensate. I can hit the center of the club while standing nearly on top of the ball or reaching big time for it. As long as you have good hand eye coordination you can still make good contact. The problem is your results will not be as good as they can be. The arms should hang naturally from the shoulders. When you get comfy take your bottom hand off the club and it should fall to the side. If it falls towards your body you're reaching, if it falls away you're crowding.

Topflight, theres no need to get defensive, thats why we call this a discussion.

[dave.]

Originally Posted by warbirdlover

Rule of thumb is about 1 to 1-1/2 "fists" between belly and back of club at address (depending on how fat you are ). Reaching is the worst thing you can do.

I slightly disagree with this bigman

Take your address position, and let your arms hang down under your chin, thats it, doesn't matter how many fists away imho. Some pros practically touch their thighs, others are 3 or 4 away.

I think its more likely a posture problem, not a ball position issue, hard to tell online, I prefer to work on posture FIRST, the ball is therefore positioned as a result of my posture, not the other way round. Trying to figure out where the ball should be then working your body around it is almost certain not to work long term, You may make compensations on the range and it may work, but ultimately posture is far more important. Imho

[warbirdlover]

I slightly disagree with this bigman

Take your address position, and let your arms hang down under your chin, thats it, doesn't matter how many fists away imho. Some pros practically touch their thighs, others are 3 or 4 away.

I think its more likely a posture problem, not a ball position issue, hard to tell online, I prefer to work on posture FIRST, the ball is therefore positioned as a result of my posture, not the other way round. Trying to figure out where the ball should be then working your body around it is almost certain not to work long term, You may make compensations on the range and it may work, but ultimately posture is far more important. Imho

dave

I have a feeling this will end up about the same if you're not too erect or too bent over... but I'm going to try it to see!!

On this same topic, how much (if any) should you bend your knees at address?

.

[Topflite_D2]

The bend in your knee should be at about 170°-175°.

[The Salt Vampire]

The greatest golf advice that I have ever received is, "Your swing is your swing". Once you get to a certain level, your action really doesn't change much.

After that it is ball position, tempo, grip and posture. The fundamentals, what a surprise! For me, when I hit it crooked, it's because I get too quick or because my ball position gets out of whack.