Titleist Tips: Consistent Ball Position

Ball position can move around a great deal in short period of time. As Titleist Staff Instructor Justin Parsons explains in this video, sometimes it’s purposeful - you might move the ball further back in your stance, for instance, to hit a lower trajectory shot - but sometime ball position can stray without your being aware of it. This is dangerous because to strike the ball cleanly, you want your ball to sit right above the natural low point of your swing arc. On an iron shot, if the ball is positioned forward of that low point, your club will strike the turf before you make contact with the ball, resulting in a fat shot. If the ball position is back behind the arc’s low point, the club is still on its downward path as you make contact. Often times, the lower portion of the clubface will contact the ball, not the center. The result is a thin shot. Though we may not be consciously aware that our ball position is off, we humans will do whatever it takes to hit the ball. This usually involves making a compensation in our swing in order to reach the ball, wherever it’s lying. This could be a cast of the club, early extension or a lateral slide, but no matter what the move, it’s an extra complication that is difficult to repeat and leads to inconsistencies. To safeguard against wandering ball position, Justin recommends establishing a baseline. By using an alignment rod and building a routine for establishing proper ball position, you’ll always have a way to self-correct if things get a little off-track.