Ball Position Blues

From Shane: What are you views on ball position? I have read a lot of your stuff but can’t find anything definitive… What is the correct way – move ball backwards and forwards or move feet and adjust width?

My response: Shane, you’re going about this the wrong way. There’s almost no way I can tell anyone how they should stand to the ball. It’s impossible. I should start off with a question or two,

Where do you think the ball position should be?

or

Whereabouts does the ball feel good to you?

There’s no doubt that if someone had the ball miles outside their front foot we could tell them to make some sort of adjustment. But this is only a rough guide. The final position depends on a lot of things. Most importantly the position needs to find the golfer. Hit shots, experiment and see what feels right. It’s their golf swing so the position needs to come from within.

You will always see golfers standing on the practice fairway (or golf course) fidgeting about. They are too left brained. They are consciously attempting to think their way to a better stance (or swing). But they are too naive to let their body go where it really wants. They are fighting their system and this rarely works.

The bottom line? There is no correct way. Stand up to the ball and become aware of what works for you. Don’t be shy to push boundaries here. Explore. Experiment. There is no correct way, only YOUR way.

As adults we’re often too scared to go things alone. We sit back and want the “right” answer to come our way – but it doesn’t happen. It fails…

One more point: I have been telling golfers for like 100 years to move the ball back in their stance with chipping. I still think this is good advice, but the final position still needs to be determined by the golfer.