Ball position
Sand line
Ball position too far forward
Learn to see where the lowest point of your swing is, so that your ball position lines up with it.
Recognise this?
- You hit the ground before the ball: a fat, short shot where the ball seems to stay where it is.
- Or the opposite: you catch the ball halfway up with the bottom of the clubface, it shoots away low and the shock rings through your hands.
- Balls that start left, or start straight and then curve away to the left.
- With the driver the opposite picture: you cut across it and the ball curves away to the right.
- The feeling that you have to reach for the ball and that your arms are already coming up before the club reaches the ball.
Why it happens
Your swing is an arc, and that arc has one lowest point. That point should sit just on the target side of the ball: then you strike the ball first and the ground second. If the ball is too far forward, the arc has already passed its lowest point at the ball and the ground comes first. A lowest point behind the ball gives a fat shot, a lowest point in front of the ball a thin one -- which is why the same fault produces two very different misses. Direction comes on top of that: a ball further forward turns your shoulders open, and with open shoulders you cut across the ball, which gives a pull with the irons and a slice with the driver. That has been measured too: in eleven professionals, a shift of half to a full ball width (2.14 and 4.27 cm) towards the target was already enough to turn the shoulders with it, aim the clubface with it, shift the weight to the front foot, make the path more out-to-in and make the angle of attack less downward.
What the drill fixes
The sand shows where your lowest point actually is instead of where you think it is: you can see the strip that has been swept away, and you can adjust your ball position to it in half ball widths.
What you need
- A tray of dry sand, or a line you scratch into the ground with a tee
- A mid iron
- A handful of practice balls
easy
How to do it
Step 1: Draw the line
Sprinkle a straight line of sand on the ground, at right angles to your target line. Set up as if the ball lay exactly on that line, with your normal ball position for that iron.
Step 2: Swing through the sand
Make a full swing without a ball. Then look at where the sand has been swept away.
Step 3: Read the strip
The strip should start on the target side of the line. If it starts in front of the line, your lowest point is behind the ball: move your ball position half a ball width back and repeat.
Step 4: Only then put a ball on it
Only put a ball on the line once three sand swings in a row start on the right side.
How often
3 × 5 sand swings, then 5 balls
Five repetitions is enough to see whether it is a pattern and not a one-off, and short enough that you still look sharply at the line instead of swinging away blindly.
Sources
- Learn this crucial ball-striking skill and pure your irons like never before (Christy Longfield)
- Why proper ball position is so important in the golf swing (Christy Longfield)
- This was our most-read golf instruction tip of the year (Luke Kerr-Dineen)
- Why your ball position is hurting your golf swing, according to Lee Trevino
- Perfect Ball Position With Every Club (Katie Dawkins, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach)
- Why Do I Pull Iron Shots? (Katie Dawkins, Golf Monthly)
- Kim e.a. (2018), Biomechanical Effects of Ball Position on Address Position Variables of Elite Golfers, Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 17(4):589-598
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