By Jim Morse, PGA Director of Instruction
If you recall, last weeks tip was How to Grip the Golf Club. This week I will continue with fundamentals and discuss how to Setup to the Golf Ball, also known as “Addressing the Golf Ball”.
Alignment: Take an imaginary line from your golf ball to your intended target and set your toes, knees, hips and shoulders parallel to that line. This is often overlooked and if done incorrectly can cause poor accuracy and loss of distance.
Width of Stance: The inside of your heels should be approximately the same width as your shoulders with a mid-iron. When setting up with longer clubs such as the driver, your stance should be slightly wider and with shorter clubs such as your wedges, your stance should be a bit narrower.
Posture: With your knees slightly flexed, bend from your hips so your rear end slightly sticks out. To help prevent your shoulders from becoming too rounded you may find it helpful to keep your shoulder blades closer together.
Arms: With the proper posture, your arms should be extended and hang naturally from your shoulders. Try to avoid reaching too much or crowding yourself by placing your hands too close to you.
Hand Position: With irons your hands should be placed slightly forward or towards your front thigh, so the shaft of the club leans a bit towards the target. With longer clubs, especially the driver, the hands will be less forward to decrease or even eliminate forward shaft lean.
Ball Position: With mid and short irons a great starting point is to have the ball in the middle of your stance (directly in between your feet). With the longer clubs, especially the driver, the ball position should be placed more forward (towards your lead heel).
