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You need a golfer and a golf ball.
Along with two extension sticks.
And Cameron McCormick’s formula.
And with those, he says, you can figure out the exact width of the stance and the positioning of the ball.
Understanding comes via an Instagram video THE GOLF Top 100 Teachers posted this week – and it could potentially clean up your ball-striking. Place your feet too close or too far apart and you’ll be wrong. Put the ball too far forward or too far back in your stance and you’ll be wrong.
Below is the video. Below are some notes.
In the video, Jordan Spieth’s longtime coach placed a ball down, placed a pitching stick just to the right of it and perpendicular to it, and placed another stick parallel to it. The former extension stick acts as a book; his feet serve as the other. The last extension stick helps in measuring.
With that setup, McCormick’s formula is this (for a right-handed player):
– For the driver, the left foot should be 7 inches from the ball and the right foot 18 inches away.
– For the 4 iron, the left foot should be 10 inches from the ball and the right foot 12 inches away.
– For the 8 iron, the left foot should be 10 inches from the ball and the right foot 10.5 inches away.
– For the lob wedge, the left foot should be 10 inches from the ball and the right foot 8.5 inches away.
Good things. Now, are measurements universal? No, of course not; players are different. But McCormick’s spread stick setup can be used to create your own formula.
Let’s continue the conversation about ball position. Last December, GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury wrote a story titled “A Foolproof Way to Understand Your Ball Position for Every Club” and you can read that story by clicking hereor scrolling down.
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Bad ball position is one of the easiest ways to get yourself on the wrong track on the course.
I know this from experience: for some reason, I tend to naturally play the ball too far into my position. The first time I was alerted to this issue, I was shocked. Moving the ball consciously up did wonders for the quality of my shot without making any difference to my swing.
That’s why I was interested in asking Top 100 Teacher Kellie Stenzel for her best advice on how to create a foolproof ball placement system that can work all the way to the bag.
“Everybody’s different,” Stenzel said. “So I think the easiest way is to take a practice swing with whatever club you’re hitting and see where the club hits the ground.”
A golfer’s pivot and weight transfer can vary, depending on the player, Stenzel said, which is why it’s so helpful to pay attention to your practice swing.
“If your club wants to hit the ground in the middle of your stance in the practice swing, your ball position should be slightly ahead of center,” Stenzel said.
Another way to decide where to put the ball is by paying attention to your mistakes.
“If you’re hitting it fat, you might be hitting the ground where the ball should be,” Stenzel said. “Try moving the ball where it’s hitting the ground, back or more to the center.”
This method is also useful when you encounter an uneven lie, Stenzel said.
“If you have an uphill lie and you take a practice swing, you might see a split a little behind center for a right-handed golfer, and if that’s the case, move the ball back,” she said. “Put the ball in the position where the practice swing tells you.”
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