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How to get into the address position? I think too many players put their feet in place first, then set the club down behind the ball. Then they do a lot of jiggling around with their feet to get “squared away.” They very often never do.

Watch any pro, or good amateur, and you will see that he first puts the club head behind the ball, squares the bottom edge of the blade, or driver face to his target, then moves his feet into place. Usually it’s the right foot, then the left foot. Another method is, again, to put the club head in place first but keep your feet very close together. Then spread your feet to the separation distance dictated by the club you’re using.

Everything should work off the position of the club face, because this is the easiest object with which to establish a clearly seen line to the target. Much easier than a pair of pointed shoes. To repeat, because it is very important, the bottom edge of the blade is what should be squared away, not the top.

When you put your left foot in place, set it so you feel as though you have it a few inches, even a foot left of the target itself. It won’t be. It will almost every time be on a parallel line to your target. Drop the club down to touch the toes of both your feet, step back and check where it is aimed. It will invariably be right at your target. And generally speaking, if you are a little left, that is better than being closed.

Weight Distribution

As I will say in regard to putting, I don’t believe in the weight-on-the heels idea in the address position. I think it is rather unnatural and causes a general imbalance. The weight should be evenly distributed along the whole of both your feet, even a little toward the balls of the feet, if anything, for all conventional shots. You most certainly do not want the weight back on the right leg, either. If anything, favor the left side. You will see a lot of players who, in preparing to hit a shot, will kind of press down on their left leg or shift their weight to that side in an effort to assure that it will be predominantly on that side when they get to impact. Jack Nicklaus, if you watch closely, uses that kind of move as his forward press. He moves his whole body just a touch to the left just before he begins his back swing.

You might try that, but as Jack does and all golfers should, start from a basic situation of evenly distributed weight on both feet and legs.

To Reach or Not to Reach

How far should you stand from the ball? Byron Nelson once said that you couldn’t stand too close to it. Byron did crowd the ball by normal standards, but he was a tall man and a very upright swinger and “crowding the ball” seems natural for that kind of action. It should be noted, though, that Byron had occasional trouble with the shank, which can come from standing too close to the ball. You can also shank if you stand too far from it and in reaching out to make contact reach too far and catch the ball in the hosel.

For most golfers, the left hand should be about one hand’s distance from the left leg. The butt of that hand will be around six inches or so from the thigh. That’s for the driver. As the clubs you use get shorter, that distance closes until, with the wedge, you~ left hand is almost touching your body. The common tendency IS to stretch too much for the ball-reach out so your hands are as much as a foot or more away from your body. You will react to this in swinging the club by tipping your weight forward as you ~move into impact and thus break up your swing plane. Often, you 11 hit behind the ball and pop it up, particularly with the driver. Or, as I mentioned, you could shank.

Here again, in making modifications to suit your own comfort and sense of golf, you would be better off getting closer to the ball than reaching for it. No good golfer will stand too far from it.