A setup that works for your fault vs doing the right thing(technically)

[turkish]

Got a bit of a dilemma... pretty hopeless with the driver- some days it's hot, some days absolutely torried (even the hot days there's usually one awful one in there). Casting hands, resulting in hitting down and heely strikes... slice city. I've had a lot of lessons and still struggle.

Seen a video recently of Louis oosthuizen saying put the ball a bit back in stance to promote draw.

So tonight i put the ball about 3 or 4 inches inside lead heel instead of right on it... so a 3 wood setup pretty much.... it was a bit of a revelation... strangely felt as if I could hit up more, a lot more middle strikes and felt as if I could swing in to out more... when I play the ball far up in my stance I feel as if at impact my trail shoulder has to stretch round resulting in all the poor conditions mentioned.

So a) do I stick with playing it further back and possibly further ingraining the faults but getting better contact and flight or b) stick with the lessons and keep working on the proper technical setup? It's been so long and I still haven't got consistent.

Does anybody else play with poor setup to get a better result?

 

[garyinderry]

[video=youtube;qZKoY8Tghaw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZKoY8Tghaw[/video]

It doesn't have to be way way forward. Not all pros set up exactly the same.

You are hitting it earlier in the arc. Easier to draw.

 

[Craigg]

Does anybody else play with poor setup to get a better result?

I have a slightly out to in path. Try as I may I can't cure it with any consistency. I use a strong left hand to slightly close the face at impact, thus hit it straight left. I just aim right. It get's me by and one day I might try to fix it again....but I'm not hopeful.

 

[jusme]

Not totally relevant to the point but it always amazes me how people interpret 'just inside the left heel'. The above video and many others on pro set up has always suggested to me that the ball is a little further back than you might expect. I have always played it further back (although I have never had a problem in getting a good angle of attack) and would not discourage you from doing the same thing if ti works.

That being said, taking into account your wider question - you can take a quick fix approach to correcting something, as I do, or you can take the longer and probably more fruitful approach of lessons and hundreds of hours of practice. It depends on your goals, attitude and time/money available as to which you should do

 

[Huwey12]

I play the ball further back and it's made my drives straighter
I think it's all down to flexibility, the more flexible you are the further forward you can tee the ball in my case
Just go with what's best for you, even the pros have little quirks

 

[the_coach]

if on course trying to get around and limit the damage then often times folks will have to go with what gives shot results that are in someways workable

if stuff is problematic and remains consistently problematic whatever that norm set-up is that feels comfortable but comfortable only because it's a repeated behavior - for results to change overtime for the better - the comfortable norm compensation/s at set-up will have to change

the biggest issue see time over time with folks driver set-up that cause major issues (besides grip hold)
is a ball position thats a ways too far back
a ball that's teed a ways to low
& real important a head position that's a ways too near to inline with the ball position with very little or no secondary spine tilt

- whilst doing all this not so good set-up stuff may well indeed limit the damage for folks out in play and lead to repeating this kinda set-up - it will continue over time if repeated to prevent improvements in the results with the driver

often times folks get misled by the ball position they see with various elite golfers because the only markers they are really looking at is the distance the ball is to the lead heel - while this can be a marker to some extent it's not real either the best or only one to use as markers to get set-up in a good place

re-checkout the vid posted here of Rory Mac as an example where the ball position looks back in the stance by someways to what folks believe

but this time if you re-checkout this ball position & instead of the relation to lead heel

- look at the ball position relative to the lead shoulder/armpit

(thinking at the same time how the body rotation will work within the motion to deliver the club head both on an upwards AoA with also importantly the club head as far away as possible from the shoulder with a straight lead arm as the shoulder rotates upwards & back on the arc of motion)

& also check with the secondary spine tilt axis and the head position

you should be now able to see that the ball relative to the lead shoulder/armpit, body(head) position is still a ways forwards in the set-up
- it's just that given the dynamic speed of Rory's swing he needs to place the lead foot nearer to target (so pretty wide stance taken relative to shoulder width) in order to maintain balance given the speed he's moving the club

 

[garyinderry]

 

[the_coach]

View attachment 21861

would say G the lens position looks to be tad rightfield of center so not exactly straight square on viewpoint so ball relative to feet stance appears further back than it actually is

but anyways even with these images from this viewpoint drop a straight vertical from the lead shoulder armpit shirt crease, the ball is underneath

what 2d stills/video doesn't show up to good especially with an impact image like this is the hands appear to be more in front than they actually are in real 3d & this appearance of hands a fair bit in front also down where it's been shot from

so appears to be bunch of forwards shaft lean but the shaft is in 'moving flex' & about to shoot the clubhead both forwards & up as the lead shoulder here is in motion rotating up and back with head behind the ball moving a tad aways from target all of this is raising the hands handle upwards through as they also travel leftfield some back in on the arc

time lapse from this pre impact frame to actual impact is also fractional millisecs

but 3d analysis figures back up/quantify & identify that even here with the pre-impact still like this the AoA into ball at collision is still often times +/up & especially usually so with Rory

 

[garyinderry]

would say G the lens position looks to be tad rightfield of center so not exactly straight square on viewpoint so ball relative to feet stance appears further back than it actually is

but anyways even with these images from this viewpoint drop a straight vertical from the lead shoulder armpit shirt crease, the ball is underneath

what 2d stills/video doesn't show up to good especially with an impact image like this is the hands appear to be more in front than they actually are in real 3d & this appearance of hands a fair bit in front also down where it's been shot from

so appears to be bunch of forwards shaft lean but the shaft is in 'moving flex' & about to shoot the clubhead both forwards & up as the lead shoulder here is in motion rotating up and back with head behind the ball moving a tad aways from target all of this is raising the hands handle upwards through as they also travel leftfield some back in on the arc

time lapse from this pre impact frame to actual impact is also fractional millisecs

but 3d analysis figures back up/quantify & identify that even here with the pre-impact still like this the AoA into ball at collision is still often times +/up & especially usually so with Rory

Pretty sure I read an article from Rory saying he used to play the ball a bit back. he's moved it forward since working with trackman to get the high launch low spin.