Ball position: distance from body

[LuciusWooding]

So I am working on my swing, mainly getting a consistent point for bottoming out, and I realized that my open face at impact was a result of the ball being too close to my body.

I play the ball a few inches off my left foot, and keep both arms connected to my body, setting up my hands close to my body at address. I address the ball using the lie of the club as upright as will balance; however I started to feel either hitting the mat too smoothly, or bottoming out with the toe down. Lie angles on the clubs are +1, +.25" and fitted statically.

I moved the ball away, moved my weight mostly on the balls of my feet (Hogan recommends weight on the heels, which I had done, but the weight balanced better feels like a stronger and more athletic swing, with a better bottom and a more effortless turn. I had my legs underneath me too much, combined with low hands I feel I must've had some sort of move to compensate). With the ball farther away, I release my wrists more, and surprisingly enough the club remains well-soled at address due to the rounded sole; my older irons have a dead-flat sole, but the new ones are rounded and wide soled.

I checked some tips for setup position, and sure enough, I found several sources recommending weight more on the balls of the feet and the hands a bit further from the body. Another source had a handy check point; use the shaft of a 43" driver from hosel to the beginning of the grip, about 28" or so, to place the ball for that club. This was a lot different, and felt more like I'm going after the ball.

My driver, though not affected by lie angle since I don't rest it on the turf to set up, feels a lot faster and I can feel the shaft going all flaccid when it over kicks (it's called an R flex, but it's a soft R and I definitely require at least an S). By setting up farther away, my swing is much flatter and gets much better hip power, and my wrist action feels a bit more on line, as opposed to being downward to hit the ball. Lately, I've been getting a lot of slices with the driver, and moving the ball back in my stance is getting me hot, low, ballooning, small fades. Irons have been pretty damned bad due to topping and slicing.

I'm beginning to think that my trouble topping the ball and slicing (despite understanding how a slice works) were a result of my hands feeling a toe down hit coming, and opening the face to cause a level sole and forward shaft lean. Also, Hogan and everyone else recommend a grip in the fingers, and this setup allows me to do that naturally, since the grip used to rest more diagonally across the palm, but the shaft angle is less upright now. Swinging from the heels, on top of the ball being too close, produced an open face and an inward move on the downswing.

Modern irons, I'd like to add, are very round on their soles, which could cause this mistake for other golfers. I told my buddy, an avid slicer who just got a new driver, to move the ball away, setting up with the tee an inch off the toe; it worked the first couple times. (Of course he found a way to slice afterwards, because he got overconfident and gets his power from the wrong sources, so once he swings harder it just makes it worse.)

So I made a drill of it the last couple days, placing the ball very far away to get the feel, and soon settling on an optimal position for my height. This, combined with keeping my right arm tucked in, has cured my contact point, and looks to straighten me out a lot as well. Anyone else experiment with this or run into issues with it?

[mvmac]

Decent rule of thumb is that the handle of the club is about 1 hand away from the body.  Important that the hands hang down, not straight down, slightly forward of the shoulder socket, also

Also check out the first couple minutes of this video

[michaeljames92]

You seem to be loving Rocky's swing at the moment Mike. It's a swing which looks really effortless and solid at the same time.

Originally Posted by mvmac

Decent rule of thumb is that the handle of the club is about 1 hand away from the body.  Important that the hands hang down, not straight down, slightly forward of the shoulder socket, also

Also check out the first couple minutes of this video

[LuciusWooding]

He's probably a good swing model for me; I don't wear a hat either. :P

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by michaeljames92

You seem to be loving Rocky's swing at the moment Mike. It's a swing which looks really effortless and solid at the same time.

Yep it's a good one.  Very few compensations, good swing to compare positions.  Little added coolness that he's a MORAD guy (Mac O'Grady).  Dana's a fan and so am I