Set up position advice

[closer]

Hello,

I was wondering if you guys could answer some questions for me about the setup position for a golf shot.

1) How much weight do you put on your back foot? I read that it was suppose to be 70% on your back and 30% on your front. Then I read something else that said that you should be changing how much weight is on your foot depending on the club in your hand i.e 70/30 for driver/woods, 60/40 for 3/4/5/6 50/50 for your 7/8/9 irons and then 60% on your front foot for wedges. Which is correct?

2) I know you are suppose to change the ball position in your stance depending on your club. The longer the club the more in the front of your stance the ball should be. I've been playing my 8/9 in the middle, wedges slightly back of middle, and all my longer clubs up in my stance Is this right? Should any ball be setup behind the middle of my stance?

3) This is the thing I've been having the most problems with. The grip of the club is set ahead of the club face because the shaft comes in at an angle. I saw a video or read that your hands and the shaft should aim at your belt buckle. Since the shaft is ahead of the club face, when I set up with a ball near the front of my stance I have to do two things to get the shaft aimed back at my belt buckle. Either move the trailing edge closer to the ground lofting the club or close the club face at address. Both of these things are pretty bad.

So my question here is, where exactly should my hands be at address?

I watched a video of tiger hitting and his hands are way up and it looks like they are above the ball or even past it.

Here is a picture of tiger with I think a wedge in his hands.



Thanks for any help you can give me. I've been working on my swing/grip so much that I neglected my setup and its leading to wild inconsistencies in my play.

[thisnamedoesntfi]

Well for starters that picture of Tiger is at an angle so it looks like his hands are much further forward and the ball much further back than is actually the case.

This is such a complicated thing to discuss, and I am loathe to offer any advice on ball position and weight distribution without seeing you swing. All I will say is that I aim to have my swing bottom out in line with my core, which means I play most of my shots with the ball close to the center of my stance only moving it forward really for my woods. I move the ball back and forward from the center with different clubs to change my ball flight.

[MightyA6]

I think I might have a word in this...

1. I have it 50/50 all the time, but I shall check this up, and I'm a 31 handicapper so 50/50 might be way of.

2. What I have realized is that the reason to have a PW further to the back foot than the 3-iron is because that's how you do to get the clubhead flat on the ground, if you have your PW further to the front foot, its head wont be flat on the ground.

So, when I setup with my clubs, I put down the club behind the ball and tilts it until it's in the;
1. Right direction, duh
2. Right angle, so that the clubhead is flat on the surface.

Then I setup so that my front arm (left in my case) is in a straight line with the club's shaft. This results in that I Have to put the ball further to my right foot too maintain both a right angle, right direction and right setup. Else I get a pretty ****** up stance.

This might be wrong but since I realized this, I've been playing better then ever before.

3. I think the belt buckle thing is just a general guideline for most clubs that someone has told you, and that it really isn't always true. I can't see how you can get the drivers shaft to cross your belt buckle. (Except if you move your belt buckle)

Answer to the question:
As said in "2", I think that the right hand address should be in a direction so that your front arm is working as a straight extension to the shaft.

[TripleH68]

1) I think your weight should be close to 50/50 for full shots. I will say that on drivers I may move to 60/40. On short pitch/flop shots 40/60.

2) and 3) Look at this. It is not as exaggerated as you may think. setup ball position.

[MightyA6]

[ QUOTE ]
1) I think your weight should be close to 50/50 for full shots. I will say that on drivers I may move to 60/40. On short pitch/flop shots 40/60.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 50/50 is very logical I guess, but may I ask you why you're putting the weight at 60/40 at drives?
To get more back and hit the ball "higher"?

[JTrout]

[ QUOTE ]
1) How much weight do you put on your back foot? I read that it was suppose to be 70% on your back and 30% on your front. Then I read something else that said that you should be changing how much weight is on your foot depending on the club in your hand i.e 70/30 for driver/woods, 60/40 for 3/4/5/6 50/50 for your 7/8/9 irons and then 60% on your front foot for wedges. Which is correct?



[/ QUOTE ]

As a general rule, 50-50.
You can start with up to 70% on your back foot with a Driver.
3wd through 8 iron- keep it very close to 50-50.

With the wedges, more weight on the front foot promotes the downward angle of attack that you need.
70% on the front foot with the wedges seems about right.
The worse the lie, the more weight should be on the front foot.

[ QUOTE ]
2) I know you are suppose to change the ball position in your stance depending on your club. The longer the club the more in the front of your stance the ball should be. I've been playing my 8/9 in the middle, wedges slightly back of middle, and all my longer clubs up in my stance Is this right? Should any ball be setup behind the middle of my stance?



[/ QUOTE ]

Different players vary this by different amounts, but I would recommend to you to try not to vary this greatly.
Often it helps to think of ball position based on something other than your stance.
The logo on your shirt (or halfway between your left armpit and your chest center) is about right for most shots.
Slightly back (chest center) for wedges.
Slightly forward ( left armpit) for woods.

There are many different ways to play golf, but the vast majority of great players do not have the ball back of center on normal (full)golf shots.

[ QUOTE ]
3) This is the thing I've been having the most problems with. The grip of the club is set ahead of the club face because the shaft comes in at an angle. I saw a video or read that your hands and the shaft should aim at your belt buckle. Since the shaft is ahead of the club face, when I set up with a ball near the front of my stance I have to do two things to get the shaft aimed back at my belt buckle. Either move the trailing edge closer to the ground lofting the club or close the club face at address. Both of these things are pretty bad.

So my question here is, where exactly should my hands be at address?



[/ QUOTE ]

You are right, the shaft of the club is designed to come into the head at an angle, but to varying degrees based on the club.
The wedge angle is much greater than the 2 iron or Driver.
When confused by this, simply set the club flat on the ground and square the leading edge to the target. That's the way the club should look at address. Take your proper setup around the proper club position.
Your hands should be in the same position on every shot.
For me it is just left of the zipper on my pants.
The butt end of the club points just left of my navel.

[K-Slay]

I'm 50/50 with my weight through out. This was actually a focus point in my last lesson a week or two ago. Keeping my weight 50/50 at adress and on the take away, then turning hard. I did see a Stewart Cink thing though where he said he's definetly loaded up on his back leg at the top of his back swing, so it's a swing to swing thing.

The only club I play up in my stance a little is my driver, everything else is right in the middle of my stance. This too is a swing to swing thing and I like it the same everytime because the bottom of my swing doesn't change depending on my club.

[TripleH68]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1) I think your weight should be close to 50/50 for full shots. I will say that on drivers I may move to 60/40. On short pitch/flop shots 40/60.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 50/50 is very logical I guess, but may I ask you why you're putting the weight at 60/40 at drives?
To get more back and hit the ball "higher"?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can only tell you how I 'feel' with the driver. I widen my stance a little and putting extra weight on the right side at setup helps me make a turn. It keeps me from swaying.

I don't think about hitting the ball higher with a driver. The position of the ball forward in my stance takes care of that.