The Set-Up, Hands location from Wedge to Driver

by Larry Boyle
(Huntsville Texas)

Are the hands set the same distance away from the body on all clubs-----axis perpendicular to alignment?

Secondly, on the parallel axis to alignment is their any sideways movement as one goes from wedge to driver in setup?

Louis Reply

The hands distance from the body will vary slightly with each club. This is quite obvious as the clubs get shorter.

A general rule here is that if you look at a good player from down the target line view, the club shaft extension should go through the players hips. This will mean that the hands and arms are on a good plane.

Secondly, as the clubs get shorter the ball position changes and moves further to the middle of the stance between the heels of the feet.

The hands always feel to be perpendicular to the ball or slightly ahead of the ball position.

There are two schools of thought here regarding ball position. Some instructors advocate the same ball position with every club, but I disagree with this because of the different lengths of the clubs in the set.

The ball position has to move back towards the middle of the feet with the shorter irons.

A wedge is played midway between your feet.

The driver ball position should just inside the left heel. However, with the longer shafts (46 inches) installed in drivers these days the tendency is to address the ball too far off the left foot.

This causes much inconsistency with T shots. The only way to remedy the problem is to either have your shaft shortened to 44 inches, or to grip the driver shorter by say 2 inches.

Length of shaft does not give you more distance unless you have very gifted, very quick hands, which most golfers do not have.

Thanks for your question!