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Ted Norby, Director of Instruction for the National University Golf Academy, explains how your golf ball position can affect your golf stance. To discuss this golf tip with other golfers and share your own, leave a comment below. We look forward to your feedback.
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DIALOG FROM THE VIDEO
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I’m Ted Norby, Director of Instruction for the National University Golf Academy. What I’m going to talk about today is ball position. There are a couple theories out right now about ball position.
1. One is that we put the ball in the same place every time and we then we widen our stance.
2. The other one is that we move the ball in our feet depending on whether or not it’s a long iron, a short iron, driver, that kind of stuff.
They really do the same thing. And I’m going to talk to you a little bit about the theory behind both of those ideas.
So theory number one, we put the ball basically in the same place, off that left heel. And then I narrow the stance for my short irons, and then as the clubs get longer, I start widening my stance.
The second theory is I keep the same width of stance but then I put the ball kind of in the middle of my stance for a short iron and then as the clubs get longer I start getting closer to my left foot. The reason we do this really has nothing to do with the ball and the feet but it has to do with the bottom of our swing and where my body is. As I put the ball in the proper position, just off my left heel, and if I have a narrow stance the center of my body is pretty much right over on top of the ball. So on a short iron if I shift forward the bottom of the swing is now ahead of the ball. If now then widen out my stance my center gets a little further behind the ball. If now I shift forward, like I’m supposed to, the bottom of my swing now happens just in front of the ball. If I go to the full width of my stance now my upper body is a good four to six to eight inches behind the ball. And as I shift forward the bottom of my swing is pretty much right where the ball is. Same thing occurs if I take the same width of stance but put the ball kind of in the middle of my stance for my short irons and then I move it forward I’m putting the ball relative to my center in the same place in both theories.
So figure out which one works best for you, whether we widen the stance for the longer clubs or move the ball forward for my longer clubs. But it really has more to do with the center of my body. When the ball is in the middle of my stance or I have a narrow stance the bottom of my swing now occurs just in front of the ball. So when I hit a shot I will get a divot out past the ball. Now when I go to my driver I want to catch the ball slightly up on the swing. So I’m setting my ball from this full width of stance now I’m going to put it up onto my left heel. Now my center is even farther back behind the ball. So as I shift forward the bottom of the swing occurs just behind the ball. So automatically I catch it slightly on the upswing.
So think more about where the ball is in relation to the middle of your body rather than your feet. And you can do either one of those theories. Since you’re thinking about ball position think more about where the ball is in relation to your body instead of where it is in relation to your feet.
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