Golf Ball Position - 4 Signs Yours Is Wrong

Quick answer: Ball position controls two things at once - where your club bottoms out, and where the clubface points when it reaches the ball. Get it wrong and you get slices, hooks, fat shots, thin shots or ball flight that balloons, all of which look like swing faults. As a starting point: driver off your lead heel, mid irons in the center of your stance, short irons and wedges just behind center. Check this before you change your swing. (Left-handers: mirror every direction here.)

In this post, WhysGuy will cover:

• 4 signs your ball position is the problem, not your swing.
• Where to play the ball with every club in the bag.
• How to correct a pull hook or a push slice with setup alone.

1. You Can't Stop Slicing and Hooking It

Many golfers, on realizing their ball veers wildly offline, decide to change their swing before considering that ball position might be the problem. This point is critical.

Ball position affects the point at which the clubhead meets the ball, and therefore the clubface angle at impact. Forward ball position means the face angle will be farther left; a back ball position means it will be farther right (for right-handers).

Here is an extreme example. Imagine you are in your golf posture, but we force you to play the ball two feet in front of your lead heel. You are aimed down the middle of the range, and we ask you to start the ball right of your target and slice it. It would be virtually impossible - by the time the clubhead reached the ball it would be so far into the through-swing that your face angle would be pointed miles left.

That is how strongly ball position drives face angle at impact, and the shape that follows from it.

2. You're Hitting It Shorter Than Usual

If your ball position is too far forward or too far back, your ball flight will not be optimized for distance. Even when you make solid contact, spin rates can run too high.

With driver, start with the ball just inside your lead heel. That way you are hitting up on it slightly, which optimizes your launch conditions instead of fighting them.

3. You're Chunking or Thinning It Over and Over

Fat and thin shots are often a ball position problem too.

If the ball is too far forward, the club can reach the ground before it reaches the ball - a fat shot. Too far back and the club can catch the ball on the way down with the leading edge - a thin one. The ball is moving relative to the low point of your swing arc. The farther forward, the more level or ascending your angle of attack; the farther back, the steeper it gets.

Don't be afraid to experiment to find what works for you.

4. You're Hitting It Very High

Ball position affects your angle of attack, as covered above. If yours is too far forward, your angle of attack is likely positive - ascending - which adds loft at impact and produces a high, spinning shot that goes nowhere into wind.

Before you change anything in your swing, move your ball position back a couple of inches and see what happens.

Fixing a Pull Hook

• Hitting pull hooks? Your ball position may be too far forward in your stance.
• A forward ball position generally points the face left at impact for a right-hander, which is exactly the ingredient a pull hook needs.
• Move it closer to the middle of your stance and the ball will likely start on line again.
• The trade-off: since the ball was hooking, moving it back may push your swing path farther right. Aim your shoulders and feet slightly left at setup to counteract that.

Fixing a Push Slice

• Stuck hitting push slices? Your ball position may be too far back.
• Too far back and your swing path gets stuck behind you, arriving too much from the inside.
• Move the ball forward in your stance.
• The trade-off: since the ball was slicing, moving it forward may push your path farther left. Aim your shoulders and feet slightly right to counteract that.

Why Your Ball Position Keeps Slipping - Common Mistakes

• You set it from your lead foot every time. Your stance width changes between driver and wedge, so "off the left heel" and "center" move relative to each other. Reference the ball to the center of your stance, then adjust.
• You never check it from down the line. Ball position is almost impossible to judge from above. Put a rod on the ground or film one swing face-on - it takes thirty seconds and it is the only reliable check.
• You changed the swing and the ball position at once. Then you cannot tell which one did anything. Move one variable at a time.
• You found the right position and stopped checking. Setup drifts. It is the first thing to re-check when good ball striking disappears for no obvious reason.
• You use the same position for every iron. A 4 iron and a pitching wedge want different low points. The progression from just-forward to just-back across the set is the point.

Key Takeaways

• Proper ball position is critical to consistent ball striking - it sets both your low point and your face angle at impact.
• Before you make serious swing changes, move the ball forward or back and see whether that cures your ball flight problems.
• Driver off the lead heel, mid irons center, short irons and wedges just behind center - then adjust from there.
• If you correct ball position and still struggle, the WhyGolf Alignment Disc helps you feel and change your swing path effectively.

P.S. Buying for a golfer instead of fixing your own setup? Start with our golf gift guide for dads.