Much of what makes a golf shot a good golf shot is in the set up. If you get everything right when setting up your shot, you increase your chances of making a great shot.
An important element of setting up is the position of the golf ball. If you are using the 9 iron for example and one hole you hit it 120 yards and on the next hole, when playing the exact same shot you hit it 130 yards, this could be due to a slight change in ball position.
The 10-yard difference in these shots could leave you either short or long of the green, meaning your ball is in trouble. It also means you cannot rely on the club to produce a consistent distance, even from a flat lie and this will reduce confidence when using the club.
When setting up your shot and finding the perfect ball position, much of it comes down to your sternum position and the swing arc.
Take the 9 iron as mentioned above, you should start with your feet together and this will see your sternum directly over the golf ball. Take a small step with your left foot and the same size step with your right foot. The ball position remains in the middle of the stance, directly in line with your sternum.
Having completed a good swing with the 9 iron, you should take a little divot just after the ball. If you do this every time you play a 9 iron shot, you should achieve consistant distances and this will allow you to play with confidence.
If you compare a mid-iron with a short-iron, you will notice the club length is longer and this means you must change your setup when using a mid-iron, in comparison to a long iron.
However, the starting position is the same and you should begin with your feet together, standing over the ball. This time, take the same small step with your left foot but a slightly bigger step with your right foot.
You should notice your sternum is now slightly behind the ball but because the club is longer, it will still bottom out just after the ball.
So, you can see there was no guess work in changing the ball position from a short to a mid-iron, you can ensure it is the same every time.
As you move up to the longer irons, the same setup applies but this time you will take a slightly bigger step to the right than you did with the mid-iron stance. This will place the ball in the ideal position for a long iron thanks to the increased length of the club.
The bigger step to the right with a long iron also provides more stability, which you will need when creating greater club head speed.
Using this technique with iron shots, should get the ball in the correct position and allow you to play consistent iron shots from the fairway.
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