hands at address

hi all
ideally how far should the hands be ahead of the ball when using mid irons?

I play with mine just ahead of the ball, trying not to deloft the club. But the important thing is keeping them there at impact.

Hi,

With any club there is a natural angle of the shaft to the head (Lie), if you place the leading edge of the clubface square to the target with the sole flat on the ground the club shaft will form its designed angle, this is how you should hold the club. With a 7 iron in the centre of your stance the grip will be around your left thigh and a hands width in front of it.

Moving the shaft forward of this position will de-loft the club (Hood it) causing the ball to fly lower, back will increase loft sending it higher.

Hope this helps
Brian

thanks for the replies
i was asking in relation to a problem topping the ball.
i have realised that maybe my stance is too wide and the ball was too far forward!

Some other possibilities:

Straightening your legs and/or spine angle
Keeping your weight on your back foot in the downswing (Reverse C)
Lifting your right shoulder through impact.

Brian

hi brian
knee flex and spine angle are consistent and im concentrating on standing taller at address so cutting down chances on lifting out of the shot
thanks

if you are looking for somewhat of a standard address
address the ball like normal, then get into an impact position, I think Greg has a drill on this, then just move the hands back around 3 inches from the impact positon. you dont want address and impact positions to be the same.

IMO, at address, the hands should be just to the left of the zipper, somewhere along inside of left thigh, or nearby. Assuming the fairly typical ball position advice (middle of stance for short irons, moving forward as club gets longer) and typical stance advice (narrower with shorter clubs wider with longer clubs), this should give the proper shaft lean.

Ian, I think that if you take up the proper ball position, the club should automatically give you the right adress without any adjustment. I would make this assertion on the understanding that the rest of your setup is correct, i.e. width of stance, spine angle, etc. By leaving the sole of the club sit square to the ball, you should get a natural shaft angle and lie.
Cheers, Rob

I would agree, except that shaft lean is dependant on where you hold your hands at address. The club can be set square to the target line and with a flat lie angle at a variety of shaft lean angles. Only one shaft lean angle sets the club at it's natural loft. This may not be readily apparent to a beginner. The hand position can be intentionally or unintentionally placed to defloft or add loft while the club is still soled square and at level lie. Of course, shaft lean/loft at address is not nearly as important as at impact.

I believe most clubs are built with a bit of forward 'lean', so that when the sole of the club is flat and the loft is really the intended angle, then the shaft will lean forward some 5-8 degrees.

Hi Slater,

I think standing taller will encourage more topping, with mid irons I suggest your feet should be shoulder width apart. I still think you must be either falling onto your back foot on the downswing or straightening up.

Try these drills:

When at address get someone to hold a clubshaft on top of your head, take your swing and let them see if you are pushing the club upwards.

Push an umbrella into the ground just outside your right hip at address, take your swing and stop as soon after impact as possible, see if you are leaning into or away from the umbrella.

Cheers
Brian

Last whilst practising in the rain, I bared this thread in mind. I pushed my hands further forward,so they were more or less inside my left thigh. I am guilty sometimes of having the hands a little behind the ball. At address this gave me a similar feeling as when I use my Secret, although not anywhere near as extreme.

On my takeaway I maintained the angle in my right wrist that I had set address. Shots were straight with a goof flight and crisp (I was only using a sand wedge and 7 iron so as not having to have collect balls all over the place in the rain). One thing I noticed was that when I checked my club face position at the top of the swing it appeared more closed than normal. Does the club face close more in the swing when you push the hands forward at address?