Distance from the Golf Ball Tip: How to Properly Address the Golf Ball Every Time

Ken Green, Golf Instructor at Aviara Golf Academy, explains how to properly address the golf ball no matter what golf club you are using. To discuss this golf tip with other golfers and share your own leave a comment below. We look forward to your feedback.

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Hi I'm Ken Green from the Aviara Golf Academy. Today I'm going to give you a little bit of help on trying to determine how far away you are from the ball at address. It's a common question I get, people always ask, "How far do I stand from the ball and how do I determine that?"

Well basically how you do that is going to be how you approach the ball and the length of the club and the angle of the club is going to determine is going to determine that for you.

As the clubs get longer, starting here with the pitching wedge, 6 iron, and a driver, as the clubs get longer, they progressively get flatter. So what's going to happen, as I bend forward, I am progressively going to get farther away from the ball. So if I have the same routine in the way I approach the ball the club will determine my distance from the ball.

So beginning with the pitching wedge, if I walk in and I hold the club and let my arms hang right in front of me and tilt forward, and setup to the ball, my hands are about a few inches away and they're just hanging straight down.

As I setup with a 6 iron, and I do the same thing, tilt forward, now you can see the club reaches farther out but my arms are hanging straight down, but this distance from my body is now increased slightly.

And as I get to the driver, standing the same way, holding the club in front of me, and tilting forward, now you can see that the driver is considerably farther away and the distance where my hands are relative to my body has also increased.

But as the clubs have gotten longer my arms are stilling hanging straight down from my shoulders, I'm not trying to reach farther with the driver or I'm not trying to tuck my arms closer to me with a wedge.

So if we get a good routine where we approach the ball each time, where my arms are hanging on the front of my chest, I tilt forward to the ground, and set my stance, now the club is going to determine how far I am from the ball, I'm going to be much more consistent with my address, which is going to allow me to be much more consistent with my swing and have much better results.

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© Copyright National University System 2012

[Ajaxspank]

Thanks Ken for a very useful pre-shot routine tip.

[nugolfacademy]

In addition, Ty, there is also shaft deflection, which is a slight bending of the shaft down because of the weight of the club head and centrifugal force. Thank you and I hope this makes sense.

[nugolfacademy]

You're very welcome, kimtom30, and thank you for the kind words.

[bbmarley]

hey thanks a lot for the video, definitely like this tip

[nugolfacademy]

Hello Ty. The toe of the club should actually be slightly up on all of the clubs at address. When the club is swinging at speed, the centrifugal force is pulling away from the center of the swing. This forces the hands away from the body. If you look at the tour players at address and at impact from a down the line view, you will see that their hands are a bit higher at impact than where they started.

[nugolfacademy]

Thank you for the kind words riverace7.

[nugolfacademy]

Hello sportsmc3. We most definitely want the sole flat on the ground through impact. Because of the factors described earlier, most players need the toe SLIGHTLY up at address. However, everyone is different. Most important is to be fit for your lie angles while hitting balls and not while just in set up or taking practice swings. An issue that comes up is when a player is fit for clubs with upright lies because of their swing, but then they start trying to address the ball with ...

[writercord]

Sir, does the same application for setting up apply to driver as well as irons....arms hanging  on chest bend and then knee bend?

[nugolfacademy]

... the sole flat on the ground. This can cause issues with grip and posture. Yes, you need to “swing your swing” but what if your swing hits the ball into the trees and houses? Or has many moving parts and inefficient motions that it is hard to time consistently through impact? Or doesn’t let you hit the shots you want to hit? Hit a small draw for more distance instead of a weak fade for instance. Arnold Palmer, Jim Furyk, Ricky Fowler, Kenny Perry, Tommy Gainy, Bubba Watson ...

[nugolfacademy]

My pleasure, b0bmarley3333, and thank you for the kind words.

[nugolfacademy]

... and Paul Azinger all have unique swings and have some visible idiosyncrasies. But they all have had those swings for many years and spent countless hours working on their game so they are able to time their motions through impact. Every one of them also has good fundamentals that go along with the idiosyncrasies in their motion. Solid grip, stable base, balanced body motion, good swing plane and path, and good sequencing forward through the ball.

[tycooper]

Question. It appears that for the irons, the sole is level with the ground, and I can imagine that the grooves on the face are perfectly horizontal. But with that driver, it looks to me that the toe is pointing a little up at address. Is that the case? I have the same driver, and the toe points up a little unless I choke up on the grip. I can't decide if it is ok for the toe to point up, or if it is better to choke up on the grip.

[thevelointhevale]

Shouldn't the distance between the hands and body remain constant regardless of club length and type if the address is performed the same for each club?

[LMusho]

Your arms did not seem to be hanging straight down with your driver in this illustration. My question is what about very short people like myself at only 5' 3"? Using this template the club's are at a very shallow angle for me. Feels like if I swing with my hands above my shoulder at the top of the backswing that I'm gonna hit the ground on my downswing.

[nugolfacademy]

Golfers that don’t play as much actually need their swings to be more efficient than the tour players.

[ChrisK]

I understand it now, but I still like the other way to address the ball better.

HELLO BALL!

[riverace]

The missing key for a consistent swing.

[chestermicek]

In plain English this inarticulate teacher is saying that if he lays the sole of his club properly on the ground, the club determines the distance from his zipper. However, even a rookie can see that the wedge is about a fist away from his zipper; while, the driver is about two fists away. He actually makes a fist, extends the thumb and the pinkie and measures the correct distance. This is an OK video.

[sportsmc]

I disagree. I am a straight ball hitter, so I like to have the toe level with the rest of the face. I imagine a pro golfer wants to hits fades or draws or whatever, so they may adjust how the bottom of the face tilts on the ground, especially with mid range irons like a 5 or 6. Also, I am not a pro instructor, so I don't have textbook form or vast experience golfing, but as Arnie says, swing your swing.