Golf decisions
Golf Ball Position: Irons, Driver and a Repeatable Setup
Ball position describes where the ball sits along your stance in the target-line direction. Establish a repeatable reference before interpreting a shot or changing your swing.
Competitive Play · Updated October 24, 2026
A reference chart with room to adjust
Original teaching comparison
A reference chart with room to adjust- 1
Short iron · starting reference
Andrew Rice's published method places the ball near the middle of the stance for short irons.
Record both feet and the ball; do not infer impact or low point from address alone.
- 2
Mid iron · starting reference
His method moves the ball slightly forward of centre.
Forward means toward the lead foot, not automatically left for every player.
- 3
Driver · starting reference
His driver reference is inside the lead heel.
The tee, club and intended shot differ from an iron off the ground. Check the resulting contact and flight.
- 4
Stance-width check
Keep the ball and lead heel in place, then move the trail foot farther back along the stance.
The ball is now farther forward relative to the new stance midpoint even though its lead-heel relationship has not changed.
Original teaching comparison based on the named instructor's 2009 starting method, not a fitted chart or measured human demonstration. The accompanying overhead schematic illustrates the stance-width relationship only.
The short version
- Lead and trail refer to your playing direction, so the references work for either handedness.
- A wider stance changes the relationship between a heel reference and the stance centre.
- Treat an instructor's starting position as a reference to test, not a compulsory position for every golfer.
Why stance width changes the reference
Use two references, not a floating guess
Record where the ball is relative to your lead heel and to the midpoint between your feet. Those references are related but not identical. If you simply widen your stance by moving the trail foot, a ball that has not moved can appear more forward relative to the centre.
The overhead schematic makes that change visible without assigning a universal number of inches. Mirror lead and trail for a left-handed player. The target line remains the reference direction; standing closer to or farther from that line is a separate spacing question.
Start consistently before experimenting
Titleist instructor Justin Parsons' written explanation stresses a consistent baseline and noticing unintended drift. Rice's short-iron, mid-iron and driver references provide one understandable starting method. They do not establish that every iron, lie, body shape or intended flight needs the same address position.
Use the same club and a comparable lie while observing contact and flight. A face-on practice view can help you see setup drift, provided the camera is in the same place. A still address image does not prove where the club's low point occurred or why a shot was thin or heavy.
Change one relationship deliberately
Write down the baseline before moving the ball. Record the club, lie, stance width, ball reference and intended shot. If making a change with your coach, repeat the observation rather than combining it with an unexplained grip or posture change.
Keep an ordinary stock-shot reference separate from a deliberate low shot, uneven lie or specialised recovery. Those tasks can justify different choices. If the problem is reaching or crowding the handle, consult the spacing guide instead of moving the ball forward and back to solve a different issue. No original photos or coaching session were performed for this guide.
Follow the related task
Sources and scope
Written primary-source material checked October 24, 2026. Examples and diagrams are original educational illustrations. The linked instruction-video descriptions were read; their videos were not reviewed.
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Sources and review
- What it covers
- Source-based educational guide; fictional cases and conceptual diagrams are labeled. No hands-on player study, professional review or measured fitting is claimed. Written source text checked 2026-10-24.
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What this page cannot tell you
- The illustrations are hypothetical. No individual swing or fitting assessment, physical test or measured improvement is reported.