The position of the ball relative to your right and left feet is one of the most critical variables in our search for solid ball clubface contact.
Whenever the ball is on the ground and we are attempting to get it airborne, it is critical the bottom of the swing arc is slightly after the golf ball. This rule is consistent with every club in your bag from a wedge to your driver. Consistent contact between the middle of the clubface and the golf ball can only be achieved with a descending blow. The backspin created from the descending blow is what gets the ball up in the air. This is the reason the touring professionals always take divots and the divots are always after the ball. When we attempt to lift the ball into the air with upward movement we will do one of two things; hit the top of the ball or hit the ground before we hit the ball.
There are two major things we must do to make sure we strike the ball solidly before we strike the ground with our swing. The first and most important is to make sure we execute a consistent and properly timed weight shift. Every time we make a full swing the weight should be 75-90% in the left foot by impact. No matter how precisely we place the ball in our stance, the club will be approaching the ball improperly if there is too much weight on the right foot at impact. The more weight on the left foot the better the chances we have for solid contact. The key to transferring the weight is ROTATING the legs and torso toward the target at the initiation of the downswing. If the target ward swinging of the arms precedes the turning of the body you will be in trouble.
Every time you set up, check the position of your ball. Here are some guidelines for ball position:
Short Irons (wedges, 9-iron and 8-iron) . The ball should be placed in the centre portion of your stance. These clubs have the most upright lie angles and they must be swung at the steepest angle, and you should take a divot in front of the ball.
Middle Irons. Your middle irons should be played one ball toward the target-side foot from center (a ball left of center for the right-handed golfer). These clubs have a slightly flatter lie angle and you should take a slightly shallower divot than with the short irons.
Long Irons and Fairway Woods. The correct ball position for the long irons and fairway woods is two balls toward the target-side foot from centre (two balls left for the right-hander). With these clubs, the ball should be struck directly at the bottom of the swing arc with very little divot.
Driver. The driver is played farthest forward (three balls left of centre for the right-hander) to strike the ball on the upswing.
As published on:
http://www.angusglen.com/DriveGolfTips.fxml
Labels: Ball Position