golf swing

{Golf Ball Position Setup}

Introduction:

Before I get into golf ball position setups, I want to touch briefly on your own particular golf swing. You must have your own consistent golf swing before you should start thinking about other technical aspects of the golf swing like golf ball position.

I see a lot of golfers, especially beginner and novice golfers go out and try to emulate or copy the swing of say, a Tiger Woods or another pro golfer. Unfortunately this thought process never works.

golf ball positions

The fact of the matter is that no two golfers swing the golf club the exact same way.

The next time you are at the driving range look at all the golfers hitting balls and you will notice that everyone of them has a different golf swing.

Each golfer has their own unique body style and muscle groups therefore they each have their own unique golf swing.

A golfer that is tall and thin will not have the same swing as someone that is shorter and heavier.

So what I’m trying to say here is you need to go out and develop your own consistent golf swing that is natural to your talents.

Whether you have to take a quick lesson from a professional or go out and practice on your swing alone, just remember your golf swing should feel natural and not forced.

Once you feel you have reached this comfort zone with your golf swing we can now go on and learn about your golf ball position setup for each of your clubs.

What is Golf Ball Position?

Whether you are on the tee box, in the fairway, chipping up near the green or on the green putting, when you approach your ball and take your golf stance, your golf ball should be in the correct position in your setup.

Each one of your golf clubs have different length shafts, with your driver having the longest shaft and your wedges having the shortest shaft. Taking this into consideration directly determines what position your golf ball position should be in your setup.

Golf Ball Position for Your Driver

In a Typical 18 hole round of golf you will use your driver on about 14 of your tee shots. That doesn’t sound like a lot but if you think about it, these 14 shots with your driver can determine the total outcome of your round of golf.

driver position

With that being said, hitting your drives in the fairway makes this game of golf much easier. The farther and straighter you hit your drives, the shorter and easier your approach to the green will be.

When hitting your driver you want to hit the golf ball on the upswing, giving you more launch and less ball spin thus giving you more distance and accuracy.

The ideal ball position for your driver is for the ball to be lined up off your left heel at address. What this does is guarantee that you make contact with the ball past the bottom of your swing arc on the upswing.

Another thing to take into consideration is the height that you tee your golf ball up. With the larger driver heads available today you must make sure you tee the ball up high enough.

Practicing these tips on a regular basis will have you splitting the fairway down the middle more often than not.

Golf Ball Position for Your Long Irons and Hybrids

I believe one of the toughest golf shots you can face is the shot with your long irons. This would include your 4, 5, 6 irons. I also believe with most average golfers it is totally a mental thing.

The everyday weekend golfer probably drives the ball somewhere around 220 yards or fewer. On a 400 yard par four that will leave you 180 yards left to reach the green.

This is where the mental part comes in to play. After your drive you get to your ball and look how far the green is and your first thought is, I’m going to really have to crush one to reach that green.

golf club, long irons

Well, that is actually the farthest thing from the truth.

What you need to do first off is to practice hitting your long irons and hybrid clubs more and learn how far you hit each one of these clubs.

Most golfers tend to not take enough club and end up trying to kill the ball, thus ending up with a terrible shot.

The golf ball position setup for your long irons and hybrids should be, take your stance with the ball about a two golf ball distance back from your left heel.

Because of the longer shaft on these clubs this setup will allow you to hit the ball with a descending blow and follow through straight towards the target without taking too much of a divot.

Always remember to let the club do the work as they were designed to. Take a nice easy, smooth swing and you will be hitting these shots on the green with much more consistency.

Golf Ball Position for Your Mid/Short Irons

Your mid and short irons basically consist of your 7, 8, and 9 irons. These clubs would be used on shots from 120 yards to around 145 yards from the green depending on what level of golfer you are.

Because of the shorter shaft on these clubs you will have much more control of them. Sometimes when you feel you are in between distances you can choke down on the grip and have even more control.

short irons

For this golf ball position you want the ball right in the center of your stance, narrow your stance a little and setup a little closer to the ball.

These shots require a more pendulum motion as opposed to a wider, flatter swing as with your long irons and your driver. You want to strike the back of the ball taking your divot beyond the ball position.

This technique will launch the ball higher and allowing the ball to land softer on the green.

The only time you should deviate from this setup is if you have an awkward lie in the fairway.

If you have an uphill lie you want to set up with the ball a little forward of center and if you have a downhill lie you want to set up with the ball a little back of center in your stance.

Golf Ball Position Setup for your Wedges

Most golfers carry three wedges in their bag. Their pitching wedge, sand wedge and their lob wedge. There are many setup positions for each one of these wedges.

Your Pitching Wedge:

Your pitching wedge can be used anywhere from 120 yards up until chipping around the green. If you are taking pretty much a full swing with your pitching wedge you want the ball positioned a little behind center of your stance.

If you are near the green and have no obstructions a plenty of green between you and the hole you want the ball setup far back in your stance which will keep the club face closed giving you less loft and the ball will roll out to the hole.

Your Sand Wedge:

Well, the name of the club says it all. This club is used mostly when you are in the sand trap.

golf sand shot

To execute this shot properly you want the ball in the center of your stance, open the club face, swing back and through, striking the sand about two inches behind the ball.

With this shot the club never touches the ball, the sand actually pushes the ball out and on to the green, hopefully near the hole for an easy par.

Your Lob Wedge:

Your lob wedge or 60 degree wedge is the most lofted club in your bag. Most commonly it is used when you are fairly close to green and you need to get the ball up high over an obstruction and land softly on the green.

Say you came up short on your approach shot and you have a sand trap between you and the green. Take your lob wedge and setup with the ball in the middle of your stance.

Your back swing will depend on how far you want the ball to travel and land. You don’t always want to take a full back swing with your lob wedge but always a full follow through. Take plenty of time practicing with this club.

Golf Ball Position Putting:

More than half of your golf strokes in a round of golf are made on the putting green, so the better you get at putting the better your golf scores will be.

As far as you’re putting setup goes every golfer is different, so every golfers putting technique will be different. There is two things every golfer needs to do to improve you’re putting.

In you’re putting setup you will first need to be sure to strike the ball on the center of the putters face, second, you want to strike the ball on a slight upward path.

putting position

This will ensure you have topspin on the ball moving forward which in turn will give you a truer straighter roll which will hole you more putts and cut down on your three putts, thus lowering your scores.

So get to the putting green and start practicing you’re putting. You will be surprised how much difference it will make in not only you’re scoring but also how much more fun you will have playing this great game.

One more thing about putting:

Another way to dramatically improve your putting is learn how to read greens. Learn more about reading greens by checking out my article,

learn how to read greens like a pro:

green reading

In Closing:

I hope you have enjoyed my article on golf ball position setup. I’m sure if you practice all have gone over here you will take your golf game to a new level.

If you have enjoyed this please feel free to leave a comment below and any questions you may have I will answer them as soon as possible.

Good Golf To You

Robert

{Fixing Golf Swing Problems}

Introduction:

Fixing golf swing problems, where does one begin? Each and every golfer, especially novice and beginner golfers have so many golf swing problems they don’t even know how to correct them.

In this article I am going to try to help you golfers with your golf swing problems without you having to go out and spend a fortune in golf lessons from a pro golfer.

If you really want to figure out about fixing your golf swing problems then please read on and I’m sure I can help you out.

Let’s Get Started:

Let me get started by telling you a little story about a female friend of mine. For this article we will call her Jenni. I was playing golf with her one day on just a little nine hole course

She was hitting the ball great off the tee and was a really good putter. Her biggest problem I observed was with her mid and short irons getting on the green.

Before I go on let me tell you that Jenni was a very well-endowed women but yet very athletic, anyway when we were done playing we were sitting around having a beer and started talking about the round of golf we just finished.

I mentioned to her about her iron game and suggested maybe she should think about taking a lesson, well that was the worst thing I could have said .

She then went on to tell me all about her golf lesson. To make a long story short the pro is telling her all the basic stuff, keep your spine angle straight, keep your elbows in, swing straight back etc. etc.

So she turns to him and says let me see you do everything you just told me with boobs like this in your way! My point here is every golfer is different, short, tall, slim, heavy, in other words all the basic golf lessons will not apply to every golfer.

What is Your Particular Golf problem?

The first thing we need to do is figure out what the worst golf swing problem you are facing in your golf game. It could be that you slice the ball off the tee box.

Maybe you are hitting your long irons thin from the fairway, or maybe you are constantly chunking your chip shots around the green.

Maybe your golf game is pretty good from tee to green but you are losing to many strokes on the green because of you’re putting.

Whatever your worst golf swing problem is we are going to help you out here and help you to shave strokes off your score thus enabling you to enjoy this game of golf much more.

Do You Slice the Ball With Your Driver?

One of the biggest golf problems I see from the beginner and even more experienced golfer is a big old slice off the tee with their driver.

This is normally caused by an outside to inside swing path, thus coming across the ball causing side spin which makes the ball swerve to the right.

This occurs when on your back swing your right elbow flies out which never lets you get your golf swing on the proper swing plane.

One way to correct this is to practice your back swing with a towel tucked under your right arm and take your golf swing without having the towel fall. This will help you create an inside out swing which will help to hit the ball straight or even maybe a right to left draw.

Other things to take into consideration is your setup. Line your feet up with them square to your body about shoulder width apart. The ball should be teed up a little forward of your stance just off your left heel.

Be sure your left shoulder is facing your target line, where your shoulder is aimed is where the golf ball is more likely to go.

Keep your swing smooth and relaxed with your knees slightly bent. Just because you have a driver in your hand does not mean you have to try to kill the ball. ( One of the most common mistakes made )

Keep your head down and eyes on the ball. There should be little head movement throughout your entire swing. You should not be looking to see your shot until after you have made contact with the ball.

After contact be sure to follow through to a complete finish, this will ensure you hit the ball with your club face square and thus eliminating your slice.

Hooking The Ball

The hook, although not as common as slicing the ball, is still not a pretty shot and can lead you to trouble or even out of bounds thus causing you a penalty stroke or two.

What causes you to hook the ball? There are a few factors that can cause you to hook the ball. Most often a hook is caused by striking the ball with the club face pass square and in a closed position.

One of the biggest culprits causing a hook is you have your tee ball set up too far forward in your stance thus causing you to hit the ball to late after you have passed square.

Another reason could be that you swing to hard and break your wrist to fast causing, once again having a closed face at impact. This is why you need to have a smooth, relaxed. Controlled swing. Do not try to kill the ball!

Hitting Your Mid/Long Irons Thin or Fat

Probably the second biggest golf swing problem I see a lot is when a golfer is around 160 to 200 yards from the green. I believe this is mostly a mental thing with most golfers.

For one thing, I don’t believe enough golfers practice with their 4, 5, or 6 irons as much as they should. Even their hybrid clubs for that matter.

Besides practice I have another tip that might help you out with this golf swing problem. First thing I want you to practice with your long irons is choke down a little on your grip.

Second: Do not try to swing harder just because you have a longer shot. A lot of golfers see they are 200 yards away from the green and they feel they have to swing harder and faster.

This is the farthest thing from the truth. Golf clubs are designed with a different loft angle on the face which determines how far the golf ball will travel with the same swing.

Once you learn this about the golf club design the sooner you will be hitting more greens in your golf game.

Do You Chunk Your Chip Shots

There are many types of chip shots that you can encounter in any given 18 hole round of golf. You can basically chip with any given club in your bag depending on your situation.

If you are close to the green and have no obstructions in your way and plenty of green in front of you to work with you can play what is called a pitch and run.

The pitch and run can be played with any of your less lofted clubs. The idea behind the pitch and run is to just chip the ball on to the green and let it roll to the pin without a lot of loft.

The biggest problem I see with most golfers is when they have to pull out their pitching wedge, sand wedge or lob wedge and have to chip the ball with a lot of loft.

What happens here a lot is that they do not set up right, they do not execute their swing plane properly and therefore end up hitting the center of the ball on an up swing send a line drive shot way over the green.

Let’s take a second to understand what your wedges are and how they are designed. Primarily the wedges you carry have 3 different lofts. 56 degrees, 58 degrees and 60 degrees, depending on how high you need to hit your shot.

So if you are in a situation where you have to pitch the ball over a sand trap or bush and need to get the ball up in the air, here are a few tips that will help pull these shots off with confidence.

First you want to set up to the ball with a little narrower stance with the ball a little back in your stance. Your back swing should go back only as far as you want the ball to travel with very little wrist action.

Your objective here is to hit the ball on a descending blow allowing the ball to ride up the club face lifting it up, over and on to the green. Your follow through should be not much more than waist high. Practicing this well help your pitching and thus lower your scores.

See more of my short game tips here.

Putting Tips

A lot of golfers do not realize just how important putting is. The amount of putts you take in a typical round of golf determines almost half of your total score at the end.

So you can see how important you’re putting can be. I see so many golfers show up at the golf course go straight to the driving range and start smashing golf balls. They spend only a couple minutes on the practice putting green.

The fact of the matter is you already know your golf swing and grip so you only need a dozen or so shots on the range and the majority of your time should be on the practice green getting down the speed of the greens that day and you’re putting stroke in general.

When it comes to putting and especially the putting grip there is really not one putting grip the same. You need to practice and find the most comfortable putting grip for you.

I putt with my left-hand low but that is what’s comfortable for me. That style may not work for you so that’s my point about the golf grip.

When putting you want to create topspin to get the ball rolling truer. A lot of golfers I see hit the ball square on the face which in turn deadens the putt which never makes it to the hole. You want to hit the ball with an upward strike which will create the topspin.

Another important aspect of you’re putting is the relationship between your hands in correlation with the golf ball. You want your hands to be a little ahead of the ball or at worst even with the ball.

Having that setup will create that strike that will get the ball rolling with the topspin needed for a pure roll helping you hole more putts.

Now for the most important thing. Once you have all the above down pat you need to learn how to relax and release all the tension in your hands and arms.

I see so many golfers stand over a 25-foot putt and want to make it or at least get it close for a tap in that they get all tense and end up bombing the putt 10 feet past the hole and miss that putt coming back.

One of the worst things in my opinion that can happen on a golf course is three putting. Nothing more can blow your score up more than three putting. Check out more of my golf putting tips here:

Another thing that will dramatically improve you’re putting and help you hole more putts is learning how to read greens. You will make a lot more putts if you know what line to hit the ball on.

Check out my article ( how to read greens like a pro )

In Conclusion

I hope that you have enjoyed my article on fixing golf swing problems and hope that it can greatly improve your golf game and lower your scores. If you have enjoyed this article please feel free to leave a comment below.

Good Golf To You

Robert