Fore King Golf

Where The Golf Ball Should Be In The Stance

Steve

Golf ball position concerning your stance plays a vital role in the overall performance of your shot. With every golfer having a slightly different stance, there’s no magic rule to a perfect ball position. However, using a little science, we can come pretty close.

Mastering your golf ball placement concerning your stance is key to successful shots. Every club has a lie angle, and using this angle with a little common sense; we can derive the best position for the ball for every shot.

Let’s now dive deeper into the stance and ball placement relationship to swing and thus shot performance. We’ll discuss the different positions based on the club and give a few tips to help you dial in your golf ball placement.

Mastering Golf Ball Placement In Stance (A Coaching Guide)

The Golf Ball Placement Grid

Before we begin with the finer points of clubs versus golf ball position, I want you to imagine you on the course, and there’s a grid in front of you.

I like to imagine lasers making a grid ‘like those mission impossible scenes where the hero repels down from the ceiling to steal some special something or other’.

golf ball placement grid in relation to the stance

Take a good look at the example grid layout above. It is a fictitious layout for the Pitching wedge, 7 iron, 3 wood, and Driver.

Note their corresponding positions in the middle of the grid.

Now, you will also notice that each grid line in our example is labelled A-E or V-Z.

Note that the centre-line measure (red vertical line) comes from between the heels. It is measured from this position because you might have your feet angled outward, so we use the heel as the measuring point.

Lastly, you will notice that there are three footprints. It is merely to show that stance will change depending on the club, distance, and swing.

For example, one will have a wider stance for a driver, so it may appear that the ball placement moved nearly outside of our striking area. Still, actually, because of the larger stance, relatively, the ball isn’t moved much.

One must also consider a centre-line between your heels, but if you shift your body forward or backward over your feet, your body’s centre-line moves, but your heel centre-line does not.

Due to the rotating of your swing in the upper body, it is essential to take the torso centre line into account.

Golf Ball Placement Grid Horizontals A-E

On our imaginary grid, we’ve got vertical lines and horizontal lines.

The horizontal lines are labeled A through E on the left side of the image. These lines indicate distances from the last line, labeled E. This last line crosses from the tips of our golf shoes.

The distance of the centre-line ‘C’ is relatively determined with three measures.

  1. Your Height.
  2. Your Club Lie Angle.
  3. Your Club length.

First, your height is essential because we aren’t using a robot to play golf for us, now are we?

The second is the club’s lie angle.

The lie angle is the angle between the club shaft and the ground where the club head rests in the perfect striking position. It causes the shaft to be on an angle.

You know what I mean; no one holds a golf club straight up and down (except maybe some putters perhaps, but even then, most are angled slightly).

Lastly, our virtual equation requires the club’s length.

Now, we put these three elements together, and you will find that there is, in fact, a perfect distance for you to comfortably grip your golf club, holding it as though you were about to hit a ball in front of you.

Depending on which club you are using, the ball’s distance from your toe line E will change.

For example, the short game shots are all closer to you, while the more prolonged the shot, you will place the further the ball from your toe line E.

Golf Ball Placement Grid Horizontals W-Z

Let’s refer back to the graphic above. The vertical lines on our imaginary grid are labelled W through Z. As mentioned, the centre-line (red, highlighted) measure comes from the foot’s heel, not the toes.

The ball placement distance to the centerline of your stance will vary based on several conditions.

  1. Type of Swing/Shot
  2. Ground Slope
  3. Stance

The type of swing is the most obvious reason the distance will change. For example, a full golf swing using a driver will be quite different from a short distance wedge shot.

Next, we have the ground slope. For obvious reasons, this factor only comes into play when you are on a hill or perhaps trying to get out of a bunker.

Lastly, but most certainly not least, importantly, we have the stance. The stance is relative to the type of swing that you want to achieve.

When you take a more significant golf swing, like you would use with your driver or woods, you are aware that you need to widen your stance compared to using a wedge or even putter to take it right to the other side of the spectrum.

Moving your stance can affect the golf ball’s distance to our centre-line, and it can also affect the position of our centre-line itself.

For this reason, I like to imagine the laser grid emanates from my right heel (I shoot right-handed).

When I adjust my stance, I adapt my left and imagine the grid staying planted to the right. But you could do the opposite and have the same effect, as long as you remain consistent with how you imagine the grid.

For example, the short game shots are all closer to you, while the more prolonged the shot, you will place the further the ball from your toe line E.

The Importance of Consistency

Once you’ve figured out your golf ball placement grid and determined where your shots need the ball to lie, it’s imperative to maintain consistency.

A wise decision would be to take your newly acquired imaginary grid with you and your clubs to the driving range. Or at least to your backyard or a park if you have one nearby.

Although be careful to check as you may not be able to safely hit a golf ball in a park, so perhaps a driving range would be the preferred option.

Try taking each of your clubs and do swing drills using your grid (golf ball placement method). With some exercises of swinging 20 times per club, then changing clubs and repeating the process, you’ll find that you are mastering your stance and grid very soon

Combine these sorts of drills with practice or lessons on keeping your golf swing shallow enough to be right on point, and you’re well on your way to being a golf pro yourself!

Why Move The Ball Closer To Your Leading Foot For Long Shots?

When you swing your golf club for a more extended shot like those you would make using your driver or other woods, you should know that moving the ball a little forward towards the W line will increase the ball’s contact with the clubface.

It allows for more of a whip action in full swing.

This extra snap of the swing isn’t required in the short game like it is on the long game, so the longer the shot, the further forward the ball should be.

It is a very general statement, I know, but it’s as close as we will get to making a definitive rule that everyone can follow. After all, everyone’s different.

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