Club alignment at setup

[paddlefoot]

When standing over the ball, say with a seven iron, is your shaft slightly tilted to the left in front of the ball (righties) i.e. in a slight lagged position, or is it vertically straight?  What's the "proper" position on this?  I've heard different opinions...just wondering what's correct.

TIA

[WUTiger]

It depends...

Students of Ernest Jones and Manuel de la Torre go with a vertical shaft at address: The idea is to hit the ball at bottom of arc to maximize club loft and momentum (minimal divot). This method does not believe in consciously hitting down on the ball. This is a club-focused approach to golf, rather than a body-focused approach.

Ben Hogan "split the difference" on this. In Five Lessons , he advocates a vertical shaft at initial address position. Then, the shaft gains a slight forward lean after the player makes completes pre-swing waggles.

Other books: Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and a British group led by Malcolm Campbell all recommend and show pictures of the irons leaning forward at address.

Another factor involves your ball position for irons. Some players use one position (such as inside left heel) for all  iron shots, while others move them forward and back.

Woods and drivers: Pictures vary... Some show hands slightly ahead, while others show the shaft vertical at address.

EXCEPTION: One technique of hitting a very high lob shot is to play the ball toward the front foot, and actually lean the wedge shaft back slightly. Caution, this doesn't seem to work if you have a tight lie.

[rustyredcab]

Moe Norman (my model) has the club head behind the ball a few inches. So, at address, the club head is behind the club grip and the shaft is pointed at the "pivot" point left of my belly button (right hand golfer.)

[paddlefoot]

Thanks for the advice.  I'm trying to learn better compression, and from what I've been able to tell, a slight lag at setup helps me come down on the ball better (Maybe it's a mental thing).