Driver Ball Position

[Dubyah]

As of late I've been struggling to keep my driver straight and continually slice it out right. One of the things I did before I was taught against it when I was younger was where I positioned the ball during my Driver setup. I used to play hockey, so I put it where it felt natural to me -- alligned with my lead foot, or a hair outside my lead foot. A few days ago at the range I was trying to correct my swing when I tried it again. Since then I've been nothing but straight. While it works I was wondering if there are any downsides, or if anyone else sets up like this and has had success.

 

The only other documentation of this I could find was from a decade ago: 

Thanks.

 

 

[Dubyah]

Or if there is any reason this works and a solution I could apply to a natural setup to be straighter.

[me05501]

A lot of times it's less about ball position and more about setting up with your shoulders open which can be hard to feel. 

 

If the ball is forward in your stance it can be pretty easy to get your shoulders open when you set the club behind the ball or when you add your trail hand to the grip.

 

You some kind of cue to check that before you swing. 

 

[LKNgolf]

This sounds acceptable to me.  Driver hits on the upswing, most drivers have very tall faces nowadays, and you tee the ball up.  Logic says that if everything else stays the same with clubs you hit off the ground, the place to catch the ball with your driver would be further ahead in the arc of your swing.  When my driver gets wonky sometimes I like to also drop a head cover another foot or so in front of the ball and really feel like I’m launching up and over it.  

[SNIPERBBB]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:42 AM, me05501 said:

A lot of times it's less about ball position and more about setting up with your shoulders open which can be hard to feel. 

 

If the ball is forward in your stance it can be pretty easy to get your shoulders open when you set the club behind the ball or when you add your trail hand to the grip.

 

You some kind of cue to check that before you swing. 

 

Something I struggle with as my shoulders want to set open relative to my toe line if I don't think about it. 

[me05501]

31 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Something I struggle with as my shoulders want to set open relative to my toe line if I don't think about it. 

 

It's easy to do this and can be hard to feel when you're doing it. 

 

It helps me to set the club behind the ball using my lead hand only then add my trail hand while being conscious not to let my trail shoulder move out toward the ball. 

 

If I'm really being intentional about it I'll slide my trail hand down the outside of my trail leg until my fingertips reach my knee. This sets the correct spine angle and allows me to add my trail hand to the grip without having to reach out for it. 

[MonteScheinblum]

Aligning ball position with the feet is often problematic.  You likely have it way too far forward and are hitting the ball when the swing direction is too left.

 

ball position off front arm pit.

[Zitlow]

Too far forward and your shoulders are pointed left of the target, too far back and they are pointed right of the target. 

[Rapidcat]

2 hours ago, Zitlow said:

Too far forward and your shoulders are pointed left of the target, too far back and they are pointed right of the target. 

 

For 'too far forward' it depends if you address the ball with clubhead directly behind the ball or some inches back to keep your shoulder alignment square.

 

Jon Rahm has an interesting take on this:

"Jon Rahm’s advice on his driver setup could help you hit a perfect draw off the tee"

https://golf.com/instruction/driving/jon-rahm-advice-driver-setup-perfect-draw/

 

"Setting up to the ball this way, Rahm says he’s able to put the ball further up in his stance, opening things up more by placing the driver 4-5 inches behind the ball."

 

I guess it also depends on what 'too far forward' is.

[Zitlow]

19 hours ago, Rapidcat said:

 

For 'too far forward' it depends if you address the ball with clubhead directly behind the ball or some inches back to keep your shoulder alignment square.

 

Jon Rahm has an interesting take on this:

"Jon Rahm’s advice on his driver setup could help you hit a perfect draw off the tee"

https://golf.com/instruction/driving/jon-rahm-advice-driver-setup-perfect-draw/

 

"Setting up to the ball this way, Rahm says he’s able to put the ball further up in his stance, opening things up more by placing the driver 4-5 inches behind the ball."

 

I guess it also depends on what 'too far forward' is.

I used play the ball way forward with my driver about an inch outside my left big toe. Everything got to the ball at the same time and I got jammed up so that gave me some room. 

 

To compensate I pushed my hands way forward and squared up my shoulders by closing them off. I could make it work but sometimes I would hit duck hooks. 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Zitlow

[phizzy30]

3 hours ago, Zitlow said:

I used play the ball way forward with my driver about an inch outside my left big toe. Everything got to the ball at the same time and I got jammed up so that gave me some room. 

 

To compensate I pushed my hands way forward and squared up my shoulders by closing them off. I could make it work but sometimes I would hit duck hooks. 

 

 

I find that when I play the ball too far forward, I tend to shut the face and hit nasty hooks with it so I need to be mindful of ball position with the driver when I practice and play. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by phizzy30

[Moonlightgrm]

4 hours ago, phizzy30 said:

I find that when I play the ball too far forward, I tend to shut the face and hit nasty hooks with it so I need to be mindful of ball position with the driver when I practice and play. 

That’s interesting. I move the ball a little bit forward in my stance, about 1-ball from standard position, to fade my driver and a little bit back in my stance, about 1-ball from standard position, to draw the driver. It works very consistently for me. 

[phizzy30]

59 minutes ago, Moonlightgrm said:

That’s interesting. I move the ball a little bit forward in my stance, about 1-ball from standard position, to fade my driver and a little bit back in my stance, about 1-ball from standard position, to draw the driver. It works very consistently for me. 

I'm a habitual flipper so the further back I play the ball in stance with driver, the more open the face is. 

[aggiegolfer21]

If it works it's right.  Don't change your ball position if you're hitting it straight.

[F1Aussie]

I have been very hit and miss with my driver recently, hitting lots of low snap hooks and even if I hit a straighter shot have been getting very poor carry for my swing speed. 

I had been feeling like my weight had been getting stuck over my right side on the downswing maybe because I was exaggerating the spine tilt and it was putting too much weight on the right side. 

 

When I went back to a less tilted position I was getting very poor consistency even with the ball position on my left heel. As I was getting very frustrated I tried an experiment of putting the ball towards the outside of my left foot and with my left foot flare it does not look that far forward. With this change I started hit more constant and was hitting bombs up to 310 yards and pretty straight and with significantly more carry. 

 

I will need to do a few sessions with this to make sure it was not just a one session wonder. I have very broad shoulders and was wondering if that may have had anything to do with it as weird as that sounds. 

Edited July 3, 2023 by F1Aussie

[LKNgolf]

I like this technique with the modern drivers.  Tee it high and move it forward.  The feel of the swing is completely different for me than every other club in the bag.  Like everything you are not supposed to do to get the ball airborne is what I’m trying to do with the driver.  For me, once I came to terms with that…no more of low spinny driver misses.