To Hit All Clubs Perfect Do This Before Every Swing

One of the most common requests I get from golfers every day is that they want to be more consistent or more predictable with their ball striking. Of course, consistency starts with having a consistent approach to hitting high quality golf shots. Ball position in particular, this is one a lot of players get wrong. I got a great little system to make sure that you understand how to do it and get it right time and time again. You don't want to miss this lesson. Let's dig in. So when you look at golf in general, if we're talking about full swing shots, not short game shots, full swing shots, there's two different kinds of shots in golf you're going to hit. One shot where the ball is sitting on the ground. And of course, another shot with our driver where the ball is going to be elevated on a big high tee. And we have to learn how to set up differently for on the ground shots versus teed up shots in order to create an angle of attack that's going to be suitable for the club that we're hitting. So in general, when the ball's on the ground, we got to hit a little bit down on this ball. And if you look at radar data for touring professionals, you might be surprised to know that the average downward strike in terms of degrees is only about three degrees down for a player's three wood and about five degrees down for a pitching wedge. And these are tour averages. Certainly you can watch golf on TV and see plenty of shots where a player's got deep divots flying and whatnot. And you're going to say that they're hitting more down than that in those particular shots. But of course, these are just averages. So we're hitting a little bit down. We're not hitting a ton down. And the amount that we're hitting down isn't changing a whole lot from our shortest club to our longest club relative to an off the ground shot. So in golf, one thing you got to know is that your lead shoulder, this is the center of the swing. This is the center of the circle. So if your lead shoulder is the center of the circle, then below your lead shoulder, well, that would be the bottom of the circle. And in golf, we want to hit the ball first and then the ground second, right? So the bottom of the swing or the low point needs to be more on the target side of the ball. And the way that we do that for all of our full swing shots off the ground is we make sure that we position the ball to some degree inside of or behind the swing center. So if my left shoulder is the center of the circle, an easier point of reference would be something beneath my shoulder, which in this case is going to be our lead heel. Now, these two points might not match up perfectly, but for the sake of discussion and for what we're trying to accomplish with the outcome, they're going to be close enough. So we're going to use ball position relative to lead heel. Of course, the lead heel is also lined up pretty nicely with the swing center. So a good rule of thumb for all of your full swing shots off the ground, let's say full swing, you know, pitching wedge through three wood is going to be having about a club head width inside of your lead heel or playing the ball about a club head behind the bottom of the circle. And the moment I do that, I start to create a slight downward hit where the low point occurs on the target side of the ball as the club shaft lines up with my lead arm, lines up with my lead arm beneath the swing center, which because of weight shift is now even a little bit more forward, I would say over the middle of my lead foot, right? So we got to get a consistent way of walking into these shots that gets the ball predictably inside the heel to about that amount or that degree. And here's how you're going to do it. You're going to start off by putting an alignment stick or a club on the ground to create a point of reference. And I want you to stand here with your feet together, straddling that line. So I might have a little zero painted right here and that's where these players are starting. Find your grip, get your arms at full extension, stand up nice and tall. From here, what we're going to do is we're going to take this trail foot, we're going to create a little tiny step towards the golf ball, right? So if you're in one of my classes, now you might see a number one painted right here, right? We're going to take that foot, we're going to step on number one. Now, as I step to position one, my instep is lined up with the back edge of the golf ball, or that's really critical because when you don't have something on the ground, right, you're going to get this ball straddled right between your feet. It's really important this first step is moving towards the ball, just like so, as opposed to stepping away from that imaginary line or reference point, right? So we're starting in zero, we step to one. Now, from here, the player's going to see a number two painted where the ball is. So I put the club head on the ground and that's two, right? So how do I do that, right? Well, when I walk in to position one, you can see how my hip joint is kind of over top of my ankle joint. I can lift this lead foot off the ground, I can balance myself nicely. So once I do that, all I'm doing is bowing forward or hinging forward from that hip joint to lower the club down to the turf. And so here I go, starting in zero, standing at attention, I step to one, I bow forward to two. Now, if you're in one of my classes, you'll see a number three painted right here. And that number three, three, is going to be a club head width, a club head width between my heel and that golf ball. One, two, and three. Now, as I get to two, one, two, I'm going to look at that club face, I'm going to turn my eyes and look at the target and make sure the face is pointed where I want it to go. Feet together, position zero, one, two, eyes look at the target, and there I am at three, okay. So now this foot right here, how far I step away from the target, that's going to determine my overall stance width when I'm done here. Now, if you eliminate the putter, well, you got 13 other clubs in your bag. And certainly we're not going to have 13 different stance widths, because that would be kind of ridiculous, right? So what I want you to think about here is looking at your set and saying, okay, I've got short range clubs, mid range clubs, and long range clubs. So if I have a short club, let's say I got a nine iron right here, I'm going to go one, two, three, and then step number four is a short step, just like that. So if I have a short club, I take a short step, my overall stance is pretty narrow. And even though I got the ball a club head width inside my lead heel, from your position back there at home, you might say, you know, that ball is pretty close, pretty close to the middle of the stance. Not exactly, but it's closer to the middle than it is being way forward. Okay, so now let's say we transition to a longer club. So let's say this is a seven iron. Hey, seven iron, that's one of my mid range clubs. So now I got the same first three dance steps, one, two, three, mid range club. How about a mid range step? So I got a little wider stance, still not my widest stance. Now I still have that ball, a club head width inside my lead heel. But again, from your perspective at home, you go, well, hey, you know, when he's got a longer club, something more towards the middle of the set, he's playing the ball more forward than he did with that short range club. And that's absolutely true. But my first three steps were exactly the same. And by virtue of me stepping a little bit wider with this trail foot, it creates the appearance that the ball is moving relative to my overall stance, even though relative to my heel, it's the same as it was for my shorter club. Okay, so you see where this whole thing's going. So now let's say I got a long iron, I got a hybrid, I got a fairway wood, right? Well, that's a long range club. My first three steps are the same, one, two, three, long club. Let's say this is my four hybrid. There's my widest stance for a shot off the ground. And now from your perspective at home, you go, gosh, now that you've got a hybrid in your hands or a fairway wood, you really like to play that ball forward. And I might say, well, relative to my trail foot, I would agree, but relative to my lead heel, the ball's still in the same position, right? To our average, five degrees down with a pitching wedge, three degrees down with a three wood, right? Changing my stance width by only adjusting this trail foot and keeping the first three steps the same, one, two, three, four, right? That is in part creating these subtle differences in angle of attack. It's not the only thing, but it's a key factor here at play. And you're gonna start getting ball first, ground second, a slight downward hit by learning these basic steps or these basic moves, right? So when you're practicing, I would, after every single shot, reset yourself, find your grip, get your feet together, get that ball right between your feet. Practice these little dance steps. One, two, eyes look at the target, three and four. If you're gonna hit a shot, right? Do it like you're gonna play. Long look at the target, short look at the ball, touch the club head down and then swing away. There's a lot more we can talk about here, but that's the basics for how to get into the proper ball position. One, two, three steps, same three dance steps. This trail foot, that's the only variable one, short club, short step, medium club, medium step, long club, long step, right? A great way for you to get more organized to create more consistency or more predictability for you. So now let's say we're going into our driver, right? Well, this ball is gonna be teed up fairly high, right? Good rule of thumb is about half the ball above the top of the club. And here's how this is gonna change, right? Well, now we don't wanna hit down. We wanna hit a little bit more level, maybe a little bit up. Like I said, there are some players that hit a little bit down on their driver based on a certain ball flight, certain trajectory works just fine. Let's just kind of keep it to basics here. A little bit more level to slightly up. So now we got the same starting position, the same step one, the same step two. Step number three, I just slide this foot forward again to match my trail foot. So now the ball is right up off my lead heel, longest club, widest stance. And now you can see how the ball's more forward, lined up with my heel, a little bit more underneath the swing center. And by virtue of me getting my widest stance, look at this logo on my cap here. Notice how much the logo on my cap, one, two, three, has shifted, shifted a good five inches or so back behind the golf ball, right? So what's happening here? With my head more back and the ball more forward, those two things together are gonna give me a much more level strike through this golf ball. And that's the only difference here going from a shot on the ground versus to a shot elevated up off the tee. Ball more forward, widest stance. Widest stance moves your head more behind the ball than you have for your short, mid, or even your long range clubs in the fairway. So I go one, two, three, and, and four, right? Going back to the shots on the ground. Now I'm using that club head spacing again. Here I go. One, two, three, four. Long look at the target, short look at the ball. Less time versus more time. A little slight, slight downward hit, right? Creating a consistent routine for how to set up and at the very least get the ball in the right position to be able to hit quality shots off the tee and in the greens, that's a great place to start. So hopefully this made sense. Like I said, there's a lot of different ways you can do this. This is a really reasonable approach that's worked for me as a player. It's worked for my students. It makes sense for everybody. Follow those little numbers on the ground in your imagination. Just four little dance steps will always get you right where you need to be. Thanks for joining me. I hope that helps. So really been enjoying putting these lessons together for you. If you enjoy the channel, do me a favor. Subscribe, give us a like, leave those comments below. Until next time, best of luck with your game.