Hands behind the ball

[mnel]

Should the hands always be behind the ball at address? I find that keeping my hands directly behin the ball works well for my 6-9 irons. For my wedges, I keep my hands above the ball, otherwise the bounce of the club prevents me from making crisp contact with the ball. For my low irons, my hands are a bit further behind the ball than with my mid irons.

My wrists are not very strong, and I think this promotes the wrist snap at the bottom of the swing. Trouble is, with my low irons, I'm hitting a bit of a hook every now and then. Does this have anything to do with my hand positioning?

Where should the hands be positioned with my driver? I have never been comfortable with my driver, and experimenting with the hands positioned behind the ball, seems to improve my contact and trajectory a bit. But I don't want to over-correct, or ingrain a wrong or bad habit.

[NM Golf]

Your hands should be slightly ahead of the ball with all clubs except the driver. Positioning your hands behind the ball promotes scooping the ball as opposed to striking down on it. As I said the driver is the exception because it is the only club you don't hit down with. With the driver however your hands should either be even with the ball or just slightly behind. Take a lesson and work on your setup because it will be impossible to make consistant solid contact with your hands behind the ball.

[mnel]

... and then I find out that I already have some bad ingrain habits Thanks for the advice!

[pickapocket]

I have recently been experimenting putting my hands behind the ball when playing cut up and bunker shots. It really lets you feel your wrists cocking upwards and lets you snap them under the ball and really get some good height.
Take a look at Geoff Ogilvey or even Phil Mickelson when they are playing high cut up shots and you will see that they have got their hands behind the ball.
Having said that though this is the only time your hands should be behind the ball.

[milesdowsett]

Don't ever be afraid to experiment with your hands or the position of the ball in your stance. There are lots of different situations you'll find yourself in on the golf course and you need as much variation of flight as you can get.

For example, if you're hitting into a fierce wind, don't be afraid to hit a mid-long iron a few inches off your back foot with your hands well ahead of the ball, with your weight favouring your left side. You'll find that the set up will promote a shortened follow through and the ball will really drill into the wind - this is effectively what Tiger does with his 2 iron a lot of the time, and it feels great!

At the other extreme, although conventional pitching says to put 70% of your weight on your left side, don't be afraid to put more weight on your back foot and open yourself up, with hands behind the ball for those Mickelsonesque floating lobs.

There are just three words to remember: EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT. The driving range is great for this. Instead of hitting ball after ball with the same club and same shot, why not challenge yourself and hit a high shot with against a low shot with the same club, to the same target; practicing will never be so much fun!

[schlyer]

Having your hands behind the ball at address isn't ideal, but it isn't a killer either. As long as you don't actually come into impact with your hands behind (except the driver), you'll be OK.

Starting them behind the ball at address just mean you have that much farther to move to get them ahead for impact.

[Azprogolfr]

I am a good player. I have often 'fought' with my hand position. I fould looking in a mirror helps.