It’s Not Your Swing, but your ball position!

In the latest installment of Golf Tips, Coach Ted Oh addresses a common misconception in golf: the belief that swing issues are always to blame for poor shots. Sometimes, it's all about ball position.

Introduction

Roxy, an 11-year-old golf enthusiast, has been playing since she was two years old. Despite her impressive experience and skills, she struggles with hitting her nine iron. Her shots often end up on top of the ball, leading to clipping the ball or picking the ball, both of which are less-than-ideal results. In today's blog, Coach Ted provides guidance on how to help her and our blog readers to correct this issue. 

Identifying the issue

Coach Ted observes Roxy's swing and quickly identifies the issue: her ball position. She tends to sweep the ball rather than compressing it, a common problem caused by incorrect ball placement. In Roxy's case, her ball position for the nine iron is too far to the left.

Coach Ted explains that when you have a nine iron and the ball is positioned too far left, it's really hard to compress the ball properly. It's almost like hitting with a wood. This incorrect ball position forces Roxy to sweep the ball, leading to her topping the ball frequently.

To correct this, Coach Ted adjusts Roxy's ball position. Instead of having it too far left, he moves it to the center of her stance. This small change makes a significant difference.

As Roxy takes her new stance and swings, the improvements are immediate. The ball starts flying further and she's able to hit down on the ball more effectively. The key takeaway here is that the improvement wasn't due to a change in her swing mechanics, but rather the adjustment in her ball position.

What to focus on and how to improve

Coach Ted notes that many young golfers make the mistake of having the same ball position for every club, typically on the left side. However, different clubs require different ball positions. For shorter irons like the nine iron, the ball should be positioned more towards the center of the stance.

He advises using a ruler or a stick for alignment and ensuring the ball position is correct for each club. Coach Ted states that many people focus on alignment, but ball position is more important than anything.

By simply adjusting Roxy's ball position, she was able to hit more accurate and powerful shots without changing her swing. This lesson highlights an important aspect of golf that many overlook: sometimes, it's not your swing that's the problem, but your ball position.

Conclusion

So next time you're struggling with your shots, take a moment to check your ball position. A small adjustment might be all you need to see a big improvement in your game.