The Importance of Setup

Hey all,

I've been frustrated of late on the links. For a decent player my distances were really suffering and I was back to slicing the ball off the planet. Poor contact and steering the shot rather than letting it go was the order of the day.

All because of my alignment. It seems.

With all this rubbish about "hitting down on the ball" I had gradually crept the ball backwards in my stance without realising it (with all clubs). I felt like my ball would start straight, or even to the right of where I was aiming, and then go further right. The clubface was never going to square without a flip as I was approaching too far from the inside. It was slappy, weak and horrible.

I had a dreadful round on Saturday. If I broke 30 points I was lucky.

Sunday's round started the same. +7 after 9 holes (not good for a 6 handicap!) and the same shots kept repeating themselves.

With all my shots still veering right off the tee I decided my score didn't matter any more and I'd go right back to the absolute basics.

I looked at my set up with fresh eyes and realised I was aiming right to begin with and this was caused by the ball being far too far back in my stance and wanting to "hit down on it". With the ball that far back, trying to be behind it at impact (especially with the long bats) was proving impossible. Cue weak banana's right.

So I squared myself up (felt very open!) and moved my first drive of the back nine on the 11th hole right forward so it felt like it was level with my left foot. It was actually more like off my big toe, but it felt very forward by comparison.

Then I just swung. KA followed by BOOM, springs to mind. Straight as an arrow and carried for miles. I measured it on the course guide and it came out to around 310 yards.

From then on my irons were more crisp, had much more flight to them and I didn't feel cramped up at impact. And I could actually release the clubhead through the shot.

I then moved to my putting and applied the same thing, as I was missing right all day. Sure enough the ball was back in the stance and I was putting along that foot line (which felt like a push). So I straightened up and felt like I was going to pull the putt. 13 Putts for the last 8 holes told me I was on the right track.

Then came the highlight of my on-course handy work! 18th tee. Driver in hand. Water and trees left, OOB right. I swung easy and the ball connected right on the squishy bit in the middle of the face taking off splitting the fairway. The ball almost went out of sight before it landed.

On a 396 yard par 4 I had around 50 yards left for my second. That's a 330ish drive and it felt like a mere pass at the ball. Following my disastrous +7 front 9, I'd shot level par on the back.

I was buzzing.

I suddenly realised why the top coaches are always on about the setup. It seems that it can affect your ball striking and putting something cronic. More-so than I'd appreciated until the proper setup turned 250 yard drives into 300+ ones.

So for those who are struggling, Don't ignore your setup.

And yes, this thread is designed to be both a help to others (hopefully), and a thoroughly ego-driven boast-fest about my gargantuan tee shots.

Sorry!

Peace.

__________________
Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Don't be sorry m8 - be very happy...........

Thanks mate.

Bloody extatic I'd call it! That 18th tee shot was 55 yards past one of my playing partners best of the day!

Chuffed I've figured something out, disappointed it took me so long.

Set up, and/or alignment is so important is the golf swing. Of course there are other parts of the swing that are important, but they all start with a proper set up. Those other swing parts can also ruin a good a good set up if not applied correctly. Knowing, and learning the proper basics is a great starting point when learning to golf. Those same basics will also be a great point of reference that a journeyman golfer can return to when a swing problem shows up. Myself I have to very aware of ball position. Too far forward, and my shoulders open up. Too far back and my shoulders close. GJS

Good post Neil and congrats with the big hits.

I keep the ball level with my left armpit for all clubs (when I remember ) I feel this is the natural point where the swing arc is at the optimum. It also gives me a good reference point for the rest of my setup.

Hi all,I agree with Brian set up off the tee should be forward so as to catch the ball on the up part of the swing. But don't dismiss hitting down on the ball for fairway and short game. Congratulations on your game, we all like to here good news stories like that.

Thanks Neil, that was a good story about your experience (and wowza success), and a great reminder for everyone.

There are few pros on the practice range, who do not lay down clubs while hitting shots.

As discussed in previous threads, there is a tendency for golfers to align themselves too closed to the target line, so they have to vigilant at all times.

In my set-up, I find a spot a few feet on the target line, which I want the ball to travel over, and square my clubface perpendicular to the line over that spot. Then i arrange my feet and body. No matter, that my eyes are telling me that it's not right, it is, so trust it.

Ted

Yeah that's a good way to do it, and how I ended up doing it on Sunday.

Whilst I agree with hitting down from a 6 iron downwards, 5 iron to fairway woods seem to go better for me when swept more i.e more forward in the stance. There's still a downwards blow with a divot for the 5 and maybe a little one for the 4, but beyond that, clipping the ball off the turf with a 3 iron and fairway woods tends to result in straighter, higher flying and penetrating shots for me.

With the short irons, and indeed it was with all my irons, the thought of "hitting down" saw my upper half trying to get over the ball rather than being preceded by the hips.

I can, in fact, still hit down on the ball with the clubface whilst feeling like (by comparison to hitting down on it) I'm trying to hit the ball up and stay behind it. I'm certainly not flipping the wrists to try and get the ball air-born, but staying more behind it with my upper body means I have to extend my arms and wrists down toward the ball to get that full extension after impact.

It really feels crisp.

__________________
Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Hi Neil,

In regard to hitting down, I do not consciously try to do that.

I play all my clubs fairly well up in the stance, as does Brian.

I figure that, if you make a proper move of the lower body to start the downswing, and do not fall back with the upper body as most recreational golfers do, but whilst keeping the head behind the ball, the strike should bottom out down and through the ball.

There is one other move that has made my ball striking more crisp, and enhances the downward and through strike. I have a thought about keeping my front shoulder moving levelly forward. It is not a severe motion and should not disrupt the natural swing flow or your body position (spine angle), but it helps to keep the shoulders level and rotating, rather than tilting.

Ted

An interesting thought Ted.

Funny how these "realisations" come in groups. Something else that helped me get out of the dreaded case of beating the ground was to do with the start of my downswing.

In an effort to hit the ball and ground, I wouldn't say that my downswing had become a tuggy lunge, but as my chief thought was to "hit down" I wasn't giving my hands the time and feeling of swinging down.

Whilst anatomically impossible, it certainly felt as though I was trying to get my hands back down toward the ball in a straight line, rather than allowing them to swing out away from my head slightly and then down.

Seems to work wonders for maintaining/increasing the lag in the early part of the dowswing, and help get that powerful sweeping action through the ball.

__________________
Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Sometimes I believe we over think this hitting down business.I just go through a slow methodical set up routine (same for every stroke)and aside from teeing off and chipping and pitching leave the ball in about the breast pocket position leaving my brain to work the finer points as I swing. Your brain knows you don't want to hit it fat or thin,leave it to do it's job.For what it's worth that's my theory and it works for me.
Regards Peter

Simple and effective GS.

I like it!

It's great reading this post as it describes my current game perfectly.

After my 3 month break i went from hitting 240 - 260m drives consistently with a slight draw or straight.. (whats that in your terms.... 260 - 290yards) to 220m drives with a massive slice or fade. it was downright frustrating.

Went out yesterday for a practice round playing 14 holes and the last couple of holes i started nailing it. took my older 10.5d closed face driver with me to see if that would be more consistent and on 1 drive i drove the ball 20m further than my 9.5d.

I went back down our 1 & 2 fairway as they are fairly open like a driving range to test out which driver got me more distance. My tests weren't perfect as i was using a different ball, however the contact made on both balls were flawless.

My 10.5d driver went a little lower in trajectory than my 9d, but went dead straight with <5m draw. My 9d driver with a slight fade and a higher trajectory went a whopping 33m further than my first drive and well into the trees on the other side of the dogleg.

Like neil said, i seamed to square myself up and hit through the ball better and resulted in getting my slight draw back into my game. My long drive though not on a straight fairway would have gone atleast 260m (290yards) with the slight fade i had behind it.

It's a terrible game when you forget how to hit a long ball... I play off 14 and have been shooting mid 80's consistently for the last 7 games after my come back.. If i can get my drives going straight i should be shooting in the 70's. Last game i shot 85 with two tripple bogies on par4's..

Hello All:

Neil, it is not uncommon for set-up faults to creep into anyone's game even a low handicap player such as yourself. I am constantly reminded of this as I read and re-read Jacks book "Golf My Way". He felt that the set-up was the most important part of his overall game. He worked on this endlessly and his results bear out the time spent on his meticulous preparation.

We see the best players in the world at tour stops with clubs or other alignment aids to constantly monitor this very vital step in their preshot routines.

Personally, I have fought the tendency to stand too wide in my set-up. While this feels like a very strong position to swing from, it has hampered my ability to rotate my torso propery, especially with the driver. When I experimented (out of pure frustration) with a slightly narrower stance I started hitting my drives more consistently straight away.

The bottom line is that we all can fall into bad positions setting up to hit shots. Many players start their warm up sessions by standing with their feet together to achieve balance and then widen the stance slightly as they continue to warm up finally reaching their proper stance width.

I know your post was more "aimed' toward ball position which is also crucial, but I thought I would throw in the stance width issue as an addendum. It all matters. We should not be afraid to experiment a little now and then especially when things are not going well. Often, the key can be found in the set-up.

Thanks for everones input.

Tim S

I've suffered from the same alignment problems even using the "spot on the target line technique".

Recently I've modified my routine by dropping that final look at the target, i.e. once I've squared the club face and got myself (more or less ) parallel then I pull the trigger.

The idea is that if my eyes can't tell my brain that my aim is off then my brain can't make the swing adjustments it thinks I need. So far it seems to be helping.