Correct Golf Ball Position (Video) - Lesson 5 by PGA Pro Pete Styles
Correct Golf Ball Position (Video) - Lesson 5 by PGA Pro Pete Styles

So another hugely integral part of your good setup in getting your fundamentals right is where that golf ball is actually positioned. And again, it’s one of these things that we can't fix because you're going to use different clubs; they're going to have a different effect on the golf ball to produce a different shot. So your ball position needs to be slightly different as well.

Starting with the longest club in the bag, the driver, we're going to position the driver right next to the front of your front foot, sorry, your instep of your front foot, my mistake. So as I set up this golf ball, quite a nice little tip, go dead level with the golf ball, feet close together. And then from there, just move your rear foot backwards to the normal width or stance, and that clearly produces a ball that’s pinned right on to the front in my instep there. So you get my front foot instep, that’s my ball position for the longest club in the bag. Nice high tee peg, stay behind it and hit that ball on the way up.

The next change I'm going to make is just down to a mid-iron, just down to a 6 iron. Same thing, get my feet perfectly level with the middle of the golf ball, not on the tee peg this time, and from here, I'm going to go 70/30. 70% step back, 30% step forward. And that will produce a golf ball that’s positioned nicely towards my front foot. Slightly away from center, but nowhere near as far forward as it was with the driver. That allows me a good opportunity to strike down on the golf ball but still moving forward a little bit, not taking too big a divot.

Taking that to the extreme now of going to the shortest club that I would use, going down to my wedge, going to play the golf ball directly in the center of stance this time. So normal stance there, starting off with it dead in the center, and I just widen your stance 50/50, both feet moving out 50% so I get a ball position directly in the center of my feet. Make my normal swing that would encourage me to hit quite a long way down on the golf ball taking quite a deep divot, so with your short clubs, big divots, with your middle clubs, smaller divots, shallower divots. And with your longer club, up against the front foot there, no divot at all. The next time you're on the driving range, just experiment with the ball position that moved from the – The center of your stance for your shorter irons, moving slightly more towards the front of your stance for your longer irons, moving right up against the left instep, for the longest club in the back of the driver. And it’s a gradual process. There’ll be half an inch per club going up and down on that scale, as you change between all of your clubs. So a slightly movable ball position would just help you get a bit more consistency out of your strike, and it’s a really key part of a good setup.

 2012-05-23

So another hugely integral part of your good setup in getting your fundamentals right is where that golf ball is actually positioned. And again, it’s one of these things that we can't fix because you're going to use different clubs; they're going to have a different effect on the golf ball to produce a different shot. So your ball position needs to be slightly different as well.

Starting with the longest club in the bag, the driver, we're going to position the driver right next to the front of your front foot, sorry, your instep of your front foot, my mistake. So as I set up this golf ball, quite a nice little tip, go dead level with the golf ball, feet close together. And then from there, just move your rear foot backwards to the normal width or stance, and that clearly produces a ball that’s pinned right on to the front in my instep there. So you get my front foot instep, that’s my ball position for the longest club in the bag. Nice high tee peg, stay behind it and hit that ball on the way up.

The next change I'm going to make is just down to a mid-iron, just down to a 6 iron. Same thing, get my feet perfectly level with the middle of the golf ball, not on the tee peg this time, and from here, I'm going to go 70/30. 70% step back, 30% step forward. And that will produce a golf ball that’s positioned nicely towards my front foot. Slightly away from center, but nowhere near as far forward as it was with the driver. That allows me a good opportunity to strike down on the golf ball but still moving forward a little bit, not taking too big a divot.

Taking that to the extreme now of going to the shortest club that I would use, going down to my wedge, going to play the golf ball directly in the center of stance this time. So normal stance there, starting off with it dead in the center, and I just widen your stance 50/50, both feet moving out 50% so I get a ball position directly in the center of my feet. Make my normal swing that would encourage me to hit quite a long way down on the golf ball taking quite a deep divot, so with your short clubs, big divots, with your middle clubs, smaller divots, shallower divots. And with your longer club, up against the front foot there, no divot at all. The next time you're on the driving range, just experiment with the ball position that moved from the – The center of your stance for your shorter irons, moving slightly more towards the front of your stance for your longer irons, moving right up against the left instep, for the longest club in the back of the driver. And it’s a gradual process. There’ll be half an inch per club going up and down on that scale, as you change between all of your clubs. So a slightly movable ball position would just help you get a bit more consistency out of your strike, and it’s a really key part of a good setup.