How Should Your Golf Ball Position Change with Different Clubs (Video) - Lesson 12 by PGA Pro Pete Styles
How Should Your Golf Ball Position Change with Different Clubs (Video) - Lesson 12 by PGA Pro Pete Styles

There’s one area of the setup that changes quite regularly when you’re using different golf clubs and that’s going to be the ball position. Now, I’m a fairly big advocate of the fact that the ball position should change with different golf clubs. I feel it when you’re hitting your shorter shots, the ball should be more in the center of the stance. When you’re hitting your longer shots, the ball should move a little bit more towards your front foot, as shown by this white cane on the ground here. I’ll be standing in this position with my body quite along my back for a driver and I’ll be a little bit more in this position if I was playing with the sun with your pitching wedge, and the ball would move about half-an-inch per club in between those two longest and shortest in my back.

There are some golf-teaching professionals and some players that actually have a static ball position where the ball stays in the same place. And it would normally start just underneath the left chest muscle here, so just a couple of inches away from the front foot. Now, if I’m playing a short shot and I have a narrow stance, you can see how that position actually makes my ball position pretty central for my short shots. Then as I take my right foot back for my longest shots, widening my stance through a driver stance, it does move the ball position progressively more forwards, yet it still stays in that position underneath the left chest muscle.

So, if you struggle with understanding where the ball position should be and you’re struggling with hitting some shots fat and some shots heavy, you might consider using the static ball position to help you get a more consistent strike. Position the ball underneath the left chest muscle, have a narrow stance when you’re chipping and pitching and a wider stance when you’re driving, effectively the ball position will move from the center of your stance more forwards, but it’s just the width of the stance that’s altering that position. Experiment with that and see if that helps you become a more consistent ball striker.

2012-12-03

There’s one area of the setup that changes quite regularly when you’re using different golf clubs and that’s going to be the ball position. Now, I’m a fairly big advocate of the fact that the ball position should change with different golf clubs. I feel it when you’re hitting your shorter shots, the ball should be more in the center of the stance. When you’re hitting your longer shots, the ball should move a little bit more towards your front foot, as shown by this white cane on the ground here. I’ll be standing in this position with my body quite along my back for a driver and I’ll be a little bit more in this position if I was playing with the sun with your pitching wedge, and the ball would move about half-an-inch per club in between those two longest and shortest in my back.

There are some golf-teaching professionals and some players that actually have a static ball position where the ball stays in the same place. And it would normally start just underneath the left chest muscle here, so just a couple of inches away from the front foot. Now, if I’m playing a short shot and I have a narrow stance, you can see how that position actually makes my ball position pretty central for my short shots. Then as I take my right foot back for my longest shots, widening my stance through a driver stance, it does move the ball position progressively more forwards, yet it still stays in that position underneath the left chest muscle.

So, if you struggle with understanding where the ball position should be and you’re struggling with hitting some shots fat and some shots heavy, you might consider using the static ball position to help you get a more consistent strike. Position the ball underneath the left chest muscle, have a narrow stance when you’re chipping and pitching and a wider stance when you’re driving, effectively the ball position will move from the center of your stance more forwards, but it’s just the width of the stance that’s altering that position. Experiment with that and see if that helps you become a more consistent ball striker.