Typical to the start of my golf season, I fail to align all my ducks. It takes a bit of time to align things in order to find that sweet spot I need to hit the ball properly consistently. During my round earlier in the week, I experience a failure in my shot setup which resulted in many strokes over par for the front nine. Yes, it was frustrating, but no it was not unexpected. I attribute my poor swing to many factors, however my setup was the main culprit.

During the front nine, I dug more holes than a gopher. I hit behind the ball so often that I thought I was digging a trench. It really was disappointing. After the fifth hole, I decided that I needed to make some adjustments to my set up because the problems I faced were typical for the start of every season. So, adjustments ensued.

Without going through all the details, the result was that my ball was too far forward in my stance with every club. This poor ball position (swing setup) resulted in more mishits than anything. Once I found the proper ball position for my swing, my game turned around. Of course there were other factors involved in my poor swing, however the main challenge was definitely in my setup.

Chris Ryan talks about the fundamentals of setup with respect to ball position that I worth watching:

At the end if the video, Ryan suggests that finding the proper ball position for our unique swing is very important. I agree with this statement because it proper ball position in our setup is different for everyone; this tidbit of advice rings so true. I experienced mishit after mishit due to poor ball position in my setup. It was not until I fixed this challenge that I could reduce/eliminate poor contact and mishits.

Understanding the fundamentals of our golf swing is very important. This knowledge includes our setup, specifically ball position. At the beginning of every season, I need to hit the range and work on this know weakness in my game. Unfortunately. I did not do that this year due to time restraints. Regardless of my woes, I recommend you take some time and work on your ball position using Ryan’s advice as a starting point. If you do, I think good things will happen to your game.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!