How Can I Check The Distance From The Ball In My Golf Set Up? (Video) - by Pete Styles
How Can I Check The Distance From The Ball In My Golf Set Up? (Video) - by Pete Styles

Striking the ball correctly on the clubface is one of the most important parts of producing a good golf shot. And I think a lot of golfers are familiar with the idea of topping the ball by hitting the bottom of the club or fatting the ball where they hit the club into the ground and then they hit at the top, but very few golfers seem familiar with the idea of hitting it across the clubface to the toe or to the heel. And it’s actually a very common mistake that I see people hit, particularly when they describe their swing as just not being particularly well timed, they are not flying the ball particularly well particularly far, they just don’t feel like their irons are normally working for them. Most people just go and buy themselves a new set of golf club, because that cost them $500 and they move on with the same fault. But this is actually the reason why they are striking the ball wrongly in the first place and for most golfers it’s because they are not consistent with that distance away from the ball. So they might be too near to the golf ball, and that’s causing the problems with hitting the golf on the heel. They may have even gotten themselves too far away from the golf ball and they can’t strike it correctly, they hit at the toe. And a lot of golfers that we see in a fairly regular basis or both, they are just very inconsistent.

One day they may stand too, somebody says something to them or they watched a TV article, they move further away from the ball, the next week, they are still too far away. So it’s very, very important you’ve got some really good consistency in that distance away from the ball. An inch forward or backward for you, does not feel like much, an inch to the golf club feels massive, an inch to the toe and it will spin off sideways, an inch to the heel and it shanked outside with a horrible noise. Striking it in the middle about the size of a dime right in the center of the clubface; that’s the Holy Grail, that’s what you are aiming for and your distance away from the ball is so important to get this right. So when you set up to the golf ball, you should feel nicely relaxed, a little bit knee flex and a comfortable distance away, you lower the handle towards your front leg and it will hit two inches maybe an inch, inch and a half to two inches above your knee. When I'm in that position, I make a nice grip, nice comfortable stance and I'm good to go. If find myself too near to the ball and its landing six, seven inches above my knee, I'm clearly too close, that’s going to cause me problems likewise if I'm too far away, it lands damn well below my knee, there’s a problem as well. Now it does alter with different clubs, whether you’ve got driver or wedge, it should always be landing in that inch, inch and a half, two inches above you knee zone. The dropping that down, that’s a good position, and I'm good to go and I can do that consistently, shot after shot, round after round, week after week, the same distance away from the ball to produce the same strike, to produce the same golf shots. 2014-08-14

Striking the ball correctly on the clubface is one of the most important parts of producing a good golf shot. And I think a lot of golfers are familiar with the idea of topping the ball by hitting the bottom of the club or fatting the ball where they hit the club into the ground and then they hit at the top, but very few golfers seem familiar with the idea of hitting it across the clubface to the toe or to the heel. And it’s actually a very common mistake that I see people hit, particularly when they describe their swing as just not being particularly well timed, they are not flying the ball particularly well particularly far, they just don’t feel like their irons are normally working for them. Most people just go and buy themselves a new set of golf club, because that cost them $500 and they move on with the same fault. But this is actually the reason why they are striking the ball wrongly in the first place and for most golfers it’s because they are not consistent with that distance away from the ball. So they might be too near to the golf ball, and that’s causing the problems with hitting the golf on the heel. They may have even gotten themselves too far away from the golf ball and they can’t strike it correctly, they hit at the toe. And a lot of golfers that we see in a fairly regular basis or both, they are just very inconsistent.

One day they may stand too, somebody says something to them or they watched a TV article, they move further away from the ball, the next week, they are still too far away. So it’s very, very important you’ve got some really good consistency in that distance away from the ball. An inch forward or backward for you, does not feel like much, an inch to the golf club feels massive, an inch to the toe and it will spin off sideways, an inch to the heel and it shanked outside with a horrible noise. Striking it in the middle about the size of a dime right in the center of the clubface; that’s the Holy Grail, that’s what you are aiming for and your distance away from the ball is so important to get this right. So when you set up to the golf ball, you should feel nicely relaxed, a little bit knee flex and a comfortable distance away, you lower the handle towards your front leg and it will hit two inches maybe an inch, inch and a half to two inches above your knee. When I'm in that position, I make a nice grip, nice comfortable stance and I'm good to go. If find myself too near to the ball and its landing six, seven inches above my knee, I'm clearly too close, that’s going to cause me problems likewise if I'm too far away, it lands damn well below my knee, there’s a problem as well. Now it does alter with different clubs, whether you’ve got driver or wedge, it should always be landing in that inch, inch and a half, two inches above you knee zone. The dropping that down, that’s a good position, and I'm good to go and I can do that consistently, shot after shot, round after round, week after week, the same distance away from the ball to produce the same strike, to produce the same golf shots.