Beginner Golf: Proper Golf Ball Position (Video) - by Pete Styles
Beginner Golf: Proper Golf Ball Position (Video) - by Pete Styles

So now setting on to the golf ball, we are correctly aiming in the right direction, we’ve got a nice wide proper stance, now we need to check that we’re placing the golf ball in the right necessary position. Now, this isn’t as simple as it might sound because it actually needs to be in a slightly different position when you are using your different golf clubs. So, I’ve got three different golf clubs to look at here. I’ve got a short golf club, so one of my wedges; remember the wedges, the shorter clubs that go high in the air. Here I’m going to place the golf ball exactly in the center of my stance. So, my stance is quite broad but the ball goes exactly in the center of my stance. That encourages me to hit down onto the golf ball to make the golf ball go nice and high back up into the air.

As I change now towards the slightly longer golf club, I’m going to make an adjustment of around about half an inch per club moving forward. So, if I could take my sand wedge, my pitching wedge and my 9-iron from the center of my stance and then shuffle half an inch to my back foot, my right foot as a right-handed golfer for my 8, 7 and 6-iron. So the 6-iron I have my hands now the golf ball is left of center, it’s ahead of center. That again encourages me to hit down on the golf ball but keep my body weight moving forward as I make my swing and then another adjustment now as we go to the longest club in the bag, the driver or the 1-wood.

This time I’m going to position the golf ball even further across so the ball sits right up against my front heels, my left heel as a right-handed golfer, I am standing well to the back of the golf ball as I make my set up. The club is still aligned, the stance is still wide but the ball position is now a long way of center. That when you try for the time, you will feel quite strange, particularly if you started off playing golf with an iron, more from the middle of your stance, standing off center, so you are standing to the right, can often feel quite strange but it encourages you to make a slightly different angle when you hit the golf ball, you are not going to hit down on the golf ball quite so aggressively, you can actually sweep this golf ball up into the air creating the loft of the shot that we actually need for the driver.

So just consider that when you set up to the golf ball and you are using different clubs within your bag, you would have a slightly different ball position depending on the number on the bottom. The longer clubs are nearer to your left hand side for the right-handed golfer and the shorter clubs are nearer to the middle. I hope that helps you.

 2012-07-31

So now setting on to the golf ball, we are correctly aiming in the right direction, we’ve got a nice wide proper stance, now we need to check that we’re placing the golf ball in the right necessary position. Now, this isn’t as simple as it might sound because it actually needs to be in a slightly different position when you are using your different golf clubs. So, I’ve got three different golf clubs to look at here. I’ve got a short golf club, so one of my wedges; remember the wedges, the shorter clubs that go high in the air. Here I’m going to place the golf ball exactly in the center of my stance. So, my stance is quite broad but the ball goes exactly in the center of my stance. That encourages me to hit down onto the golf ball to make the golf ball go nice and high back up into the air.

As I change now towards the slightly longer golf club, I’m going to make an adjustment of around about half an inch per club moving forward. So, if I could take my sand wedge, my pitching wedge and my 9-iron from the center of my stance and then shuffle half an inch to my back foot, my right foot as a right-handed golfer for my 8, 7 and 6-iron. So the 6-iron I have my hands now the golf ball is left of center, it’s ahead of center. That again encourages me to hit down on the golf ball but keep my body weight moving forward as I make my swing and then another adjustment now as we go to the longest club in the bag, the driver or the 1-wood.

This time I’m going to position the golf ball even further across so the ball sits right up against my front heels, my left heel as a right-handed golfer, I am standing well to the back of the golf ball as I make my set up. The club is still aligned, the stance is still wide but the ball position is now a long way of center. That when you try for the time, you will feel quite strange, particularly if you started off playing golf with an iron, more from the middle of your stance, standing off center, so you are standing to the right, can often feel quite strange but it encourages you to make a slightly different angle when you hit the golf ball, you are not going to hit down on the golf ball quite so aggressively, you can actually sweep this golf ball up into the air creating the loft of the shot that we actually need for the driver.

So just consider that when you set up to the golf ball and you are using different clubs within your bag, you would have a slightly different ball position depending on the number on the bottom. The longer clubs are nearer to your left hand side for the right-handed golfer and the shorter clubs are nearer to the middle. I hope that helps you.