Ball Position - How I explain proper ball position - by Patrick Nuber, GolfTEC Golden

Great questions guys and thanks for the comments.
If this ball position is not working for you and you are hitting fat shots its going to be because of two issues in your swing or a combination of the two.
1 - Hanging back in the downswing on the back foot or 2 - flipping the club.
In these two cases its ok to have the ball position a little back but by playing the ball back in your stance all you will do is reinforce those faults. Better ball strikers shift and rotate into the lead leg (left leg for right handed players, right leg for leftys) and the ball position is forward to accomodate that shifting.

Hope that clarifies.

Patrick Nuber
GolfTEC
PGA Certified Professional
 
Great questions guys and thanks for the comments.
If this ball position is not working for you and you are hitting fat shots its going to be because of two issues in your swing or a combination of the two.
1 - Hanging back in the downswing on the back foot or 2 - flipping the club.
In these two cases its ok to have the ball position a little back but by playing the ball back in your stance all you will do is reinforce those faults. Better ball strikers shift and rotate into the lead leg (left leg for right handed players, right leg for leftys) and the ball position is forward to accomodate that shifting.

Hope that clarifies.

Patrick Nuber
GolfTEC
PGA Certified Professional

Thanks for the feedback and it does make sense! You know how we are...want to get better without reinventing the wheel. :D
 
Was expecting to come to this thread and see something about moving the ball farther back as you get closer to the green, and was pleasantly surprised to see this. I've read tons of different ideas, but I've never found consistency except through your method. The only time my ball gets close the the middle of my stance is when chipping or punching it through a stiff wind. Great post. When I do move it back for a low shot, it tends to have a strong draw, any ideas on keeping it low without the draw?
 
Ball position

Ball position

I've always used the same ball positioning for my irons, but that still hasn't led to much consistency in my game. Real lost with my ball striking right now...
 
This is so cool, because it's what I've always done. I play the ball exactly where you said, and my stance is slightly wider/narrower depending on the club I hit. It's something my dad taught me.
 
Very interesting thought but i dont think it would work for everyone. I myself have prolly 3 different ball positions. 1 for the Driver, 3W, Hybrid, 4Iron, then one for 5Iron, 6Iron, 7Iron, and then one for 8Iron, 9Iron, and wedges. I feel this is key in order to make sure you hit the ball first every time. Your going to be coming down a little bit more on the short irons rather then the longer irons thus the ball should be a bit further back but that's just my take on it.
 
Very interesting thought but i dont think it would work for everyone. I myself have prolly 3 different ball positions. 1 for the Driver, 3W, Hybrid, 4Iron, then one for 5Iron, 6Iron, 7Iron, and then one for 8Iron, 9Iron, and wedges. I feel this is key in order to make sure you hit the ball first every time. Your going to be coming down a little bit more on the short irons rather then the longer irons thus the ball should be a bit further back but that's just my take on it.

But by adjusting your back foot you DO account for the adjustments between lengths of irons.

Tried this the other day on the 54 I played and really liked it personally or it's consistency for me. It'll be something I continue to mess around with for sure.


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But by adjusting your back foot you DO account for the adjustments between lengths of irons.

Tried this the other day on the 54 I played and really liked it personally or it's consistency for me. It'll be something I continue to mess around with for sure.


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True but would never work for me because i have a wide stance on all my shots. I have an awkward swing that works really well for me and it consist of a wide base, and really stretching out with the arms. My stance is always prolly just a bit wider of shoulder distance no matter what the club is so i adjust the ball position and not the foot.
 
I've played all my irons from one position for about a year, it was a tip from our local pro and it's really helped with moe consistent contact.
 
True but would never work for me because i have a wide stance on all my shots. I have an awkward swing that works really well for me and it consist of a wide base, and really stretching out with the arms. My stance is always prolly just a bit wider of shoulder distance no matter what the club is so i adjust the ball position and not the foot.

Hey, but if it works for you, that's all that matters, awkward or not!


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I like the idea of one position for all irons, but I also feel that this, like many other things is a little subjective. I have played a long time and have been lucky to have the same PGA teaching pro for 35 years, and as I have progressed over the years and wanted to be able to work the ball in either direction, my pro has taught me to move the ball position around a bit for different shots.

While I feel the one position approach is great for most players, it is not for everyone. For me, it is obvious that making good ball contact first, with the divot second is all about ball and hand postition both at setup and contact, so a perfectly centered ball position throughout the iron set will not work everytime for me.
 
Used this tip the other day and I was blown away. Ive never been more consistant. Thank you so much!
 
That is a great post.

Totally agree, I'm going to work on this on the range tomorrow, as I have always moved the ball in my stance, as well as varied the width of my stance. It makes a ton of sense.
 
THanks so much for that. I historically have played most of my balls center or 1 ball forward of center. I will need to try this, especially for my 8-PW shots.
 
Thanks for all the comments. To reply to OG's question about moving the ball back the answer is yes....that is a correct ball position assuming the player swings correctly. If you are hitting behind the ball with that positioning then there are greater faults to work on however I would suggest keeping it there since until you learn how to hit the ball correclty with the right position. The only problem with that is that if you keep the ball in a position that is too far back all you do is reinforce the problem that is causing you to hit bad shots with a proper ball position. Make sense?

I let my students play a ball position that is considered "back" 1) if that is where they currently hit the ball with better results and over time we work through the other issues so we learn to move it forward or 2) the player plays with a stronger grip. Strong grip players like Zach Johnson tend to play the ball "back" slightly because of how the hands and body work differently then players with a more neutral grip.

Patrick Nuber
GolfTEC - Golden, CO
PGA Certified Professional
 
So while I don't believe in "correct" ball position, I tried this at the range today and with some minor exceptions, it absolutely worked for me. Sure, I hit some big draws and a few hooks, but for the first time out trying the same ball position and changing the width of my stance felt very natural. I also noticed that I wasn't taking as wide of a stance with my long irons as I normally did. I'm going to work on this all week and try to game it this weekend.

...now if only I could find a few moments of lucidity with my driver! lol.
 
Wow....I know I looked at this last night but did not see where there was three pages of comments...still getting into this I guess.

I want to comment on HoosierGolf's comments. To change trajectories, hit larger draws or fades, etc...its absolutely great advice to move the ball up or back in the stance. My original post was based on a stock shot and for the vast majority of golfers looking to learn to hit one shot more repeatedly. Even around the greens you can play the ball up or back a bit if you want the ball to flight a little lower or higher if you want. For the vast majority of you out there....its great to do this once you get more comfortable with doing it more fundamentally and learn to do that one ball position.

Patrick Nuber
 
mind blown.
 
Is it possible to get pictures uploaded?
 
GREAT thread!!!
 
The goal of a proper ball position is to help the golfer strike the ball in a manner that optimizes the flight of the ball and encourage the proper angle of attack based on how the club is designed to strike the ball. Irons are desigend to strike a ball differently then a driver...

Over the years and the 900+ people I have worked with I have heard so many different thoughts, explanations, previously taught ideas, etc....about where the ball is to be played in the stance. Thoughts that the ball should be played more back in the stance for higher lofted clubs to the ball progressively moving up for longer clubs to playing the ball in the same position for every club. While some of them do make some sense initially, please read through how I explain it and see if this helps any of you out there curious as to where you should play your ball with your irons. I will add more for the hybrids and other woods but its 10:20pm and I was outside teaching from 8am - 7:30pm today with the temperatures in the high 90's and baked right now.

Irons
I teach ONE ball position for every iron for a normal stock shot. I do not teach a varying ball position for longer or shorter irons. Why??? The main goal I hear day in and day out is to be more consistent and to me having a ball position that varies for the irons you play leads to possibly 2, 3, or possibly 8 different ball positions. If you want to be consistent then start with playing the ball in the same spot relative to your left heel. Work on being consistent with one position vs. eight! I like the ball either one clubhead or two golf balls width inside of the left heel (for a right handed player) FOR EVERY IRON. For you leftys it would be the same distance inside of the right heel. If a player desires to flight the ball lower then he/ she can move it back one balls width. For a higher flight play the ball one balls width forward.

Here's where it should start to click if you are doing this at home or work! You don't need a club to do this either...

Instead of varying your ball position, the variable that I teach is the RIGHT FOOT. By narrowing or widening my right foot at setup with the correct ball position relative to the left foot the ball will look more forward or more back in the stance, but the ball position and the left foot are constant/ consistent.
Example#1 - If I were playing a 5 iron vs. a Pitching Wedge I would have wider stance and the ball would appear more forward in my stance vs. with a narrower stance for my Pitching Wedge.
Example #2 - For my chips, I have students narrow their stance so much that the ball appears more back in the stance but relative to my left foot it has not moved from where I play my 5 iron or any other iron shot.

I will work on getting some photos up to show this but not sure when I will be able to do this. Looking forward to hearing what all of you think about that concept!

When you say the irons should be 1 club head inside your left heel. What exactly do you mean? For instance, I stand with my feet parrallel sort of like " l l " not duck toed like " \ / ". Where should it be if I stand like this? Does that make sense?
 
Solid advice and a philosophy shared by none other than Jack Nicklaus:

Jack:

"I try to play every shot with the ball opposite a point just inside my left heel. That is a pure fundamental for me. The width of my stance and the distance from the ball to my stance line is dictated by the length of the club.

It might appear that I play the ball progressively farther back in my stance for fairway woods, irons and wedges, but that is more a result of my stance becoming narrower.


http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2010-05/flick-nicklaus-ball-position
 
One of the reasons I was able to go from about a 15 down to a 5 over the past couple of years is I started to setup with the ball in the exact same position for every plain straight shot with every club except the 3W and driver, only my stance changes, just as indicated here. It works great for me.
 
Thanks for the advice.
 
I stumbled onto this method quite by accident. Andy had me shift the ball forward in my stance to reduce the number of fatties I was hitting. When I did, I started making much better contact with the ball, and I now I don't move it unless I need a lower ball flight. I struggle moving it further forward as I start hitting really thin shots
 
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