Friday 13th November 2015.
The ball position is debated endlessly and there does not appear to be a definite answer as to where the ball should be positioned.
Is it in fact important?
I believe that it is because the ball direction will change, sometimes dramatically, when the ball is positioned to far back or to far forward in the stance because the impact time lasts for half of one thousandth of one second and the ball will leave the club head when the club head has moved a maximum of three quarters of one inch forward after impact. These tolerances make golf the hardest game in the world. The top 1% of golfers can make it look easy but the other 99% of the 61,000,000 golfers in the world need some factual information and guidance.
One of my pupils who finished 20th on the Ladies European Tour in 2014 sent me an email from China recently saying that some of her iron shots were going to the right ( she is right handed) I replied suggesting she moved the ball slightly forward (to the left) and her shots then went straight and she finished in 10th place in the tournament followed by a 5th place in her next tournament in India when she was only two shots behind the winner.
This blog is not about any aspect of your golf swing but it is about one of the key fundamentals of everyones game.
I can quarrantee that your game will become more consistent if you focus on having a CONSISTENT ball postion.
Jack Nicklaus has won 18 Major Championships by reducing the game, in his mind, to a few key fundamentals.
One of these key fundamental was to play every shot with every club with the ball in the same place i.e. two inches (5cm.) inside his left heel. Ben Hogan did the same.
I can hear you thinking that surely the driver should be played towards the left heel and the wedges towards the right heel. Jack Nicklaus didn’t.
I can hear you thinking the ball is hit on the upswing with the driver and on the downswing with the irons. Jack Nicklaus didn’t.
One of my pupils, a highly intelligent legal secretary from Edinburgh in the UK, was not very good at playing golf as she had been taught to have a different swing with every club and a different ball position with every club. When I explained to her the principle of one swing and one ball position she did not beleive me.During the course of her next few lassons she rapidly changed her mind as her golf improved dramatically.
Over the next few weeks position the ball two inches ( 5cm.) inside your left heel for every shot, including your short shots, and see what happens.
I think you will be pleasantly suprised.
