Ball Position Help

As you said, there are enough different opinions from enough credible sources to make it clear there's not a pat answer.

Personally, I start with the lob wege about halfway between the center of my stance and my back foot and move the ball progressively forward through the bag until the driver is about even with my front heel unless I'm trying to flight the ball lower.

The design of the clubs for the face to be aligned at the target without changing my address position tells me that's the logical way to do it. (But that's just me).

For driver:

Go through this thread - lots of good video and updates on last page or so - but towards outside of lead shoulder socket

http://thesandtrap.com/t/44307/hitting-up-or-down-with-the-driver-in-an-inline-pattern

Irons - I go around logo on shirt, where my chin covers ball at impact

50-60 wedges - weight on front foot all the way through, shaft either slightly forward, vertical or backwards depending on ball flight I want and distance, ball inside or around logo depending on shot, chin covers ball at impact

I think it's easier to look at the body parts rather than foot position for the ball.

Experiment with above depending on your swing.

Jack Nicklaus says in Golf My Way that he always put the ball just inside his left foot for all clubs. I tried that, but I didn't like the way it looked while I stood over the ball. So I move the ball back for shorter clubs. I'd say a normal full wedge for me is about a ball back from center and it progressively moves forward. A 3 or 4 iron is about at my left armpit. A 3 wood is maybe half a ball forward of that. My driver is in line with my left heel.

And of course, all of that is due to change if I wish to alter the trajectory.

Dynamic loft (I think that's the term) is less with more forward shaft lean at impact - as a result, it makes sense that trajectory is lower with more forward lean as well as backspin. WIth a vertical  shaft at impact, you have higher trajectory, more dynamic loft and more backspin (at least, that's what I was taught - more loft = more backspin). Of course, speed enters into the equation.

As to distance, more forward lean at impact with, let's say, a lob wedge will result in more roll and lower trajectory, and probably more overall distance - pitch with run. You can get more run if you turn over the club at impact.  While backwards lean results in higher dynamic loft, a higher flight, less or no roll, and less distance - stop and drop, especially if the clubhead passes the hands as you are making impact.