You're Correct!

Making sure you are the correct distance away from the golf ball is very important to enable a good swing path and affect ball striking.

However, it is an area of the golf technique that many players are confused by. The first thing to remember is that as a clubs loft reduces it tends to get longer. This means the golfers need to gradually edge further away. To ensure that the swing dynamics are not altered, the posture must remain the same. Good posture and correct distance from the ball tend to go hand in hand.

Here is how you can achieve a great posture whilst ensuring you are a correct distance from the ball:

• Using a mirror, stand bolt upright and look at your side profile. Your whole body should be straight with your chest out and shoulders back.
• Pick up any club and extend it in front of the body. The shaft should be parallel to the ground and the grip pointing back at the navel.
• Tilt forward from the hips, keeping the back flat and straight. This tilting should continue until the club touches the ground. The club should only fall as the hips tilt with the arms staying extended.
• When looking back in the mirror, the spine should be straight and tilted over from the hips.
• Now add some knee flex. This should be a flex and not a bend. Its important to flex because it adds athleticism to the posture. A bend could cause the hips to tuck under the body. The body weight should be tilted on to the balls of the feet.
• When looking at the side profile, the arms should hang vertically down and the hands should sit in the space left by the hips pushing backward.
• The club should then extend towards the ball with the leading edge flat to the ground where possible.
• As the clubs get longer, repeat the same process but remember to edge slightly further away.

Although using a tape measure would certainly ensure a golfers distance from the ball is consistent, the time it would take on the course would be ludicrous!

Adopting the same distance away with every shot will not work because of the increasing/decreasing lengths of the shafts and will cause problems with posture and balance.

Although the leading edge of the club should be quite flush to the ground, just using this check point will not guarantee success as a golfer could lift their hands artificially.

Correct posture and using the check points of the arms and hands will help ensure a correct ball position.