Ball Position with Hybrid Clubs, and Irons Part 4

As you might suspect, the ball position that you use for your hybrid clubs is going to be a bit farther back in your stance from your fairway woods. Since hybrid clubs are exactly like their name sounds – hybrids between woods and irons – you are going to want to place the ball somewhere between the ball position that you would use for a fairway wood and the position you would use for a long iron. You should be striving for a similar impact pattern to that of your fairway woods, meaning you want to sweep the ball off the ground with no downward or upward movement at impact.

Experimenting with ball position for your hybrid clubs takes on much the same process as you have gone through for both your driver and your fairway woods. Test out a number of different positions on the range until you find a spot that encourages quality contact and a consistent, repeatable ball flight time after time. Hopefully, this ball position will be slightly to the right of your fairway wood position, but it is okay if you end up playing both of these types of clubs from the same spot. In the end, the important thing is that you are comfortable with your ball position prior to each swing, and you are able to produce a ball flight that is useful out on the course.

One problem that many players have with hybrid clubs is hitting them slightly fat when playing from the fairway, or even from the light rough. If that is an issue that you are running into on the course, try moving the ball up slightly in your stance to flatten out your swing plane. Some golfers swing hybrid clubs too much like regular irons, meaning they head down into the ball on a steep angle of attack. That steep angle is great for short iron shots, but it will ruin your chances at hitting a quality shot with a hybrid club. Hybrids are meant to be swept off the ground, so be sure that you are using a ball position which will promote that kind of action through the hitting area.

There is one last point that needs to be made on hybrid ball position – you may need to change positions slightly between hitting a hybrid from the tee and hitting it from the fairway. When the ball is on the tee, you can get away with moving the ball a little bit farther forward, especially if you are trying to hit a fade. However, when playing off the ground, make sure you can easily reach the ball so you don't wind up topping the shot. The best way to find your perfect ball positions is to experiment, so take your hybrid clubs to the range sometime soon with the mission of locating your ideal ball position for each type of shot.

Ball Position with Irons

Since you probably carry seven or eight irons in your bag, you will need to know exactly how to position the ball in your stance for each of these clubs if you are going to become a consistent ball striker. Unfortunately, you can't just lump all irons together and treat them the same – you have to deal with each on its own in order to be able to position the ball right for all swings. None of your irons is built the same as any other, as all have unique lengths, lofts, and lies. Therefore, it is your job to work through the set and track down the right ball position for everything from a three iron on up through to a pitching wedge.

The best way to narrow in on your ball position with the irons is to establish limits with your three irons and your pitching wedge, and then work into the middle from there. So, first, you are going to figure out exactly where in your stance you want to position the ball while hitting three irons. Most likely, you will get the best possible performance from the three iron while playing it from a similar spot to your hybrid clubs, but you should still test this out on the range as always. Once you know where you are comfortable playing your three iron from, you will have established a good baseline for the front of your stance with the irons.

Next, work on finding a ball position that is comfortable with your pitching wedge. Most players will find that this position is precisely in the middle of the stance, but you might like playing the ball just a bit forward or back from that spot. After a period of practice on the range, decide on exactly where you are going to place the ball when you are hitting your pitching wedge with a full swing. This will set the back of the range for your iron ball positions.

With those two extremes set, you can easily position the ball for all of the remaining irons in your bag. Hitting a four iron? Move the ball just slightly back from your three iron position – about a half-ball width should do the trick. Hitting a nine iron? Move the ball slightly forward from where you would have it with the pitching wedge. Going gradually forward or back depending on if the club is getting longer or shorter is all you need to do in order to dial in the right ball position for each iron in the bag. Eventually, when you get to the six and seven iron, you will find that the ball position you are using is halfway between the three iron and pitching wedge points.