Tip #32: Take the Right Position

Alignment is the most important factor in determining the path of your shots, but ball position is unquestionably second on the list. I recommend keeping things simple and using the same ball position for virtually all shots.

This is in conflict with players and teachers who say the shorter the club, the farther back you should play the ball. I disagree with that. If you keep the ball in the same spot for every club, you're going to create one of the most important assets a golfer can have -- consistency.

For the vast majority of his full swings, Norman positions the ball just behind his left heel.

When you move the ball back for the shorter clubs, you're basically changing the loft of the club. If, for instance, you play the 7-iron a half-inch farther back than you do the 6-iron, then what you're doing is taking some of the loft off the 7-iron. In effect, the 7-iron becomes a short 6-iron. Changing ball position changes the point in your swing at which you make contact with the ball. As far as I'm concerned, it's hard enough to worry about one impact point without having to keep track of a dozen of them.

For the vast majority of my full swings, I position the ball at a point just in back of my left heel. Through years of trial and error, I've learned that this is the position that works best for me. Letting the ball move around in your stance is a sure way to high scores.

Early in my career there was a year in which I was having some trouble with my game, and I couldn't figure out my problem. My swing felt fine, but my shots were spraying all over the place. My countryman and good friend, Bruce Devlin, who knows my swing well, was doing television commentary at one tournament and spotted my error right away.

Early in my career there was a year in which I was having some trouble with my game, and I couldn't figure out my problem. My swing felt fine, but my shots were spraying all over the place. My countryman and good friend, Bruce Devlin, who knows my swing well, was doing television commentary at one tournament and spotted my error right away.

He saw that I had allowed my ball position to drift about an inch forward, so that I was playing everything off my left instep. After he told me I went directly to the practice tee. I had it completely straightened out 20 shots later. The next day I made eight birdies. That started the finest period of my career, and in the following 13 months I won 10 events worldwide.

Ever since that experience I've kept close tabs on my ball position. I now check it every day with a method that allows me to monitor my alignment and my ball position at the same time.

Changing ball position changes the point in your swing at which you make contact with the ball.

I have a "picture" I look for at address, when I look down through my hands to the club and ball. I know I'm in correct alignment and my ball position is in its proper place when I see the back of the thumb pad of my left hand cover the instep of my left foot.

When I don't see this picture, I check my alignment and ball position to determine which of them is off. Once I have that thumb pad eclipsing my left instep, I'm back in the groove. And since I play virtually everything from a square stance and with the same ball position, this picture works, no matter what club I have in my hand.

Should you adopt this same position and this same ideal picture? Probably not. There is quite a range of acceptable ball positions. You could probably play the ball at least one ball-width in front of where I do and at least two ball-widths farther back. Ideally, however, your ball position should be at the very bottom of your swing arc, and that point is different with every physique.

A short, stout person has a relatively low center of gravity, a flattish swing, and a shallow, short arc. He'll tend to reach the bottom of his swing earlier. He should therefore use a rearward ball position, whereas a tall, lanky person with a higher center of gravity and a big wide arc will tend to need a more forward ball position, to compensate for the necessary lateral movement in his swing.

Beyond these considerations, a player with a lot of leg action will tend to play the ball forward and "go after it" in his forward swing, whereas a player who keeps a very steady swing center and gets most of his power from a big turn of the upper body, will play the ball back toward the center of his stance and "trap it."

My best advice is to find your ideal ball position just as I did -- by trial and error. Then memorize that "picture" that you see at address when you're playing well and be able to recreate it before you pull the trigger on any shot.

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