Check your Distance from the Golf Ball at Setup (Video) - by Pete Styles
Check your Distance from the Golf Ball at Setup (Video) - by Pete Styles

In this tip, I would like to talk to you about correct distance away from the ball. Now, other golfers would find their inconsistency comes from either hitting the toe of the club or the heel of the golf club, and that fault can often stem from the wrong distance away from the golf ball.

So, when you stand to the golf ball, I would like you to get your normal comfortable address position. Find that way you feel naturally comfortable with a little bit of knee flexed. Then, just let go of the golf club. Let it rest down towards your left leg. Now, when it lands towards your left leg, I would like to see it in a position where it sits about two inches above your left kneecap.

Just be careful, as you are doing that, that first the club should sit next to the ball, so don’t push it away and then measure. Also, be careful that you don’t lock your knees out to measure and you don’t flex them too much to get it in the right position either. So, it’s normal comfortable address position, flex your knees nicely and just lower the club down and check if it’s in the right spot.

You should be able to check it pretty much every shot. It only takes a couple of seconds of setup check, and you get used to where it should land on your knee. If I was too close, I would feel it was in a different place. While if I was too far away, I feel it’s in a different place. Also, you can consider how that would affect with different clubs. If you have a longer club, for example you take a driver; the club should still land in the same position.

If the club gets longer, it would actually reach further back up your leg but conversely even further away. In that way, you’re actually holding the golf club in about the same position. You are not hooked up with the driver. You are not reaching out with the pitching wedge, but the club is actually the thing that tells you how far back away from the golf ball you should be. Now, if you can get that distance right in your setup position, hopefully it will be right when you hit the golf ball and that will lead to much more consistency in your game.

 2012-06-06

In this tip, I would like to talk to you about correct distance away from the ball. Now, other golfers would find their inconsistency comes from either hitting the toe of the club or the heel of the golf club, and that fault can often stem from the wrong distance away from the golf ball.

So, when you stand to the golf ball, I would like you to get your normal comfortable address position. Find that way you feel naturally comfortable with a little bit of knee flexed. Then, just let go of the golf club. Let it rest down towards your left leg. Now, when it lands towards your left leg, I would like to see it in a position where it sits about two inches above your left kneecap.

Just be careful, as you are doing that, that first the club should sit next to the ball, so don’t push it away and then measure. Also, be careful that you don’t lock your knees out to measure and you don’t flex them too much to get it in the right position either. So, it’s normal comfortable address position, flex your knees nicely and just lower the club down and check if it’s in the right spot.

You should be able to check it pretty much every shot. It only takes a couple of seconds of setup check, and you get used to where it should land on your knee. If I was too close, I would feel it was in a different place. While if I was too far away, I feel it’s in a different place. Also, you can consider how that would affect with different clubs. If you have a longer club, for example you take a driver; the club should still land in the same position.

If the club gets longer, it would actually reach further back up your leg but conversely even further away. In that way, you’re actually holding the golf club in about the same position. You are not hooked up with the driver. You are not reaching out with the pitching wedge, but the club is actually the thing that tells you how far back away from the golf ball you should be. Now, if you can get that distance right in your setup position, hopefully it will be right when you hit the golf ball and that will lead to much more consistency in your game.