Incorrect ball position & resulting swing faults?

[rebby]

I have a tendency to "reach for the ball" w/my woods, especially my driver. I'm anal when it comes to the fundamentals so, of course, this is something that I'd like to fix. For some reason reaching for the ball w/my woods gives me a greater feeling of confidence and it's something that I've done for as long as I can remember. As a result, it's not something that I've been very aggressive trying to fix.

My other tendency with my woods is to come over the top. This will seemingly come out of nowhere and without even noticing I begin to creep further and further from the ball. Perhaps as an unconscious "fix" to keep from swinging outside-in (ie: coming over the top). I eventually notice that I'm creeping away from the ball because I begin to lose my balance. As you can imagine this swing fault is something that I've really worked to fix (practice will minimize the problem but I've never been able to eliminate it altogether).

With my irons, I don't have this problem, never have. Maybe that is why I've rarely carried fairway woods and instead relied on long irons (I've always had more confidence in my long irons than my fairway woods). At the same time, my address with my irons is fundamentally sound.

For some reason I got to thinking about these two swing faults tonight and, for the first time, actually thought that they may be related. It makes sense, coming over the top can be a result of having to much separation between the arms and the body and, obviously, standing to far from the ball creates separation. On top of that, I don't have the issue with my irons which also suggests that my address w/my woods may be part of my problem.

Am I on to something here? Could fixing my "over the top" problem be as easy as fixing my incorrect address? If so, can anybody suggest some good drills that would help me make this transformation?

[jambalaya]

Golf is a game of very subtle adjustments so of course it could help if that is indeed the cause of your problem. Could be that when you get those bigger clubs in your hand you want to wail on the ball. Maybe you are swinging a little harder and getting off tempo. The overswing could be causing you to throw your shoulder out and come over the top. With our irons we often try to limit ball flight so we swing in a more controlled manner. We don't want to hit over the green do we? We have a small target area we are trying to hit. Hey, you've got a much lower handicap than me so take what I am saying with a big grain but those are my thoughts. You problem can't be a big thing since you otherwise hit the ball so well.

[kc8kir]

A tip with the fairway woods and driver.

When you position the ball forward in the stance, and correspondingly (instinctively for most golfers) face the ball, DO NOT allow your shoulders to open. This can happen without you realizing, easily openning your shoulders 20 degrees with the driver. Stay square in your setup. If the ball is more forward, only move the club head forward instead of turning your chest.

Very easy to constantly be in a position to hit cut shots without even knowing it. This realization is literally changing my game. I was setting up with open shoulders (worse and worse with long clubs) without knowing it. The result was pull > fade > slice as I go up the set.

Sneaky golf. It's all in the fundamentals!

[Kahnighit]

A tip with the fairway woods and driver.

I've been figuring out how to swing my driver and something that I've been doing lately that's helped alot is something I have yet to read about anywhere so I'm worried that it's fundamentally wrong. It does, however prevent the open shoulders you were talking about...

I go through my routine of addressing the ball with it forward in my stance (off my left heel) however I move the club head back to the middle of my stance and initiate takeaway from there which helps me visualize two things: a) the bottom of my arc so I know I'm hitting up on the ball and b) gives me two points the head must cross through which helps me keep from coming out-to-in. I'm a relative noob to the game so I'm sure it's quite possible I'm reinventing the wheel here. Is this taught or are there pro's who do this? Then again my "trick" could be wrong in a fundamentals sense and if so please tell me.

[jambalaya]

I've been figuring out how to swing my driver and something that I've been doing lately that's helped alot is something I have yet to read about anywhere so I'm worried that it's fundamentally wrong. It does, however prevent the open shoulders you were talking about...

If I am correct what you are basically saying is that you do not address the ball with the club directly behind the ball but a little back in the stance. I would say a fair number of people address the ball with a driver in that manner. The clubhead could be a good 4 to 6 inches behind the ball. Some also hover the club just above the ground rather than ground the club on the driver. What you are proposing is not that unorthodox and if it is helping you hit the ball better keep with it.

[bruce]

A tip with the fairway woods and driver.

Very good point,i'm going to take note of this myself.