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Hand Position

Quite the Chap demonstrates where your hands should be at set up. (...and where they should absolutely NOT be).

Ya know, there are a lot of videos out there that touch on where the golf ball should be in your stance.

With the driver it should be off your left heel (if you’re right handed).

The subsequent clubs move back into the middle of your stance once you get to the sand wedge and lob wedge.

However there aren’t many videos out there that talk about where your hands should be.

In today’s prescription I’ll show where your hands should be and more importantly NOT be at set up.

Your Prescription to a Better Game,
GolfersRX

23 Comments

  1. James Boland

    November 9, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    Love this guy. He does explain things in a simple way. Watch him as much as I can. Saw him in a film recently and picked him straight away. Good instructor.

    Regards,
    Jim

    Reply
    • David Murphy

      November 19, 2016 at 12:14 pm

      This is one of the single best points that I have never seen so effectively addressed in this simple and direct manner. I am looking forward to confirming either that I am doing this correctly already or more likely that I should work on adjusting my set-up and swing approach to make sure I am doing this correctly going forward.

      Reply
      • Barry

        September 19, 2017 at 2:32 pm

        Totally agree , its something I have never even thought about.
        Huge assist here Colby

        Reply
  2. Ron

    December 31, 2016 at 3:15 pm

    Is it the same place with the driver

    Reply
  3. Rob

    February 4, 2017 at 7:08 am

    Love this guy and his points and tips. The lightness and comedic delivery make it fun.

    Reply
  4. Ray Beisgen

    February 4, 2017 at 11:56 am

    This guy is the first I’ve ever run across that has explained where the hand position should be. I really like his style.

    Reply
  5. Jim Johnson

    March 13, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Does your dominate eye effect ball position? I am left eye dominate, play right handed (even though a natural lefty), should my ball position be further forward or more toward the center of my stance? Please explain.

    Reply
    • Keith @ GolfersRX

      March 15, 2017 at 7:43 am

      That’s a great question Jim.

      Here’s what Colby had to say….

      “It’s natural to think that if your dominant eye is opposite of your swing that you should have to make alterations but I don’t believe that you do. Just because you are left eye dominant with a right handed swing doesn’t change the mechanics of your swing. It may change your perception of your ball position but it shouldn’t change how you swing down into impact at all. “

      Reply
  6. Marshall Saxon

    March 19, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    As I watch your video, I can’t help but notice every time you “set” your hands forward your shoulders become open.

    Reply
  7. Rob

    March 21, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    Another great tip. I love his humor to go along with his teaching.

    Reply
  8. Ray

    April 17, 2017 at 9:01 am

    Sorry but Yes & No, he is partly correct. He is correct with regards to the hand position, For all clubs the hands should be right in your left crotch area for the right handed golfer. He is correct is saying the Driver ball position is right on your left heel, this will create pretty much a straight line with the driver shaft and your left arm and that’s what you want WITH ALL YOUR CLUBS for a standard shot. For the rest of the clubs 3-Wedge the ball position NEEDS to stay THE SAME, a few inches inside the left heel. It doesn’t matter which club your using, if your hands are just on the inside of your thigh and the ball is a few inches inside your heel you will always have your hands ahead of the ball, impacting the ball first and the ground after.

    Here’s the problem with moving the ball back in your stance even slightly with each club.
    – CONSISTENCY….If you move the ball back in your stance even slightly starting at the 3 iron you start to de-loft your clubs more and more as the ball moves back with each club because YOUR HANDS STAY IN THE SAME POSITION. A set of clubs are designed for distance consistency which is approximately 10 yards between each club. In the standard set each club has 4 degrees of loft difference and 1/2″ difference is length. For example PW is 48* and 35″, #9 is 44* and 35 1/2″, #8 40* and 36″. So if you start with the perfect hand and ball position with the 3 iron, and you move the ball back in your stance with each club, by the time you get to your PW you have de-lofted that PW from 48* down to 44*, your distances will be all over the place as well as your trajectory. If you want to know how to hit that LOW TRAJECTORY HIGH SPINNING golf shot that’s how you do it, all you have to do is move the ball back in your stance to hit that specialty shot, but we are not talking about specialty shots were talking about the normal standard basic golf shot.

    This perception that ball moves back in your stance is basically an optical illusion because what is really happening is that the stance is getting narrower by the right foot moving in as the clubs get shorter, so this makes it look like the ball moving back but the hands and ball have not moved with regards to the left heel and thigh…

    That’s ok if you disagree with me, but I think I’ll go with Jack Nicklaus on this one, here is an article in the Golf Digest written by Jack specifically on this topic;

    https://www.golfdigest.com/story/flick-nicklaus-ball-position

    – As you can see in the picture Jack’s hands are in the same position with the Driver-Long Iron-SW, right in the crotch area.
    – As you can see in the picture Jack’s Ball Position with the Long Iron and SW are in the EXACT same position, a few inches inside the left heel. It only LOOKS like the ball has moved back in his stance with the SW and that is because the stance has got narrower by the right foot moving in or closer to the left foot.

    My name is Ray Pearson, also known as raythecaddie, and I spent many years as a caddie on the PGA TOUR and have been around the top instructors in the world when they work on the basics with various tour players and this is the what they all teach.

    Reply
    • Jim Coccio

      February 5, 2018 at 3:02 am

      Thanks Ray. I am 72 years old and have followed Jack Nicklaus’ advice since I started playing at 21. Thanks for the tuneup.

      Reply
  9. Will

    May 24, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    Keep it simple is right. This is the best hand and ball position explanation ever. Thanks…

    Reply
  10. Steve

    May 25, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    I Love this guy he is great had a hard time finding this videso

    Reply
  11. Arthur Mulholland

    July 29, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    Great tips,I like the way that the tips are explained so that the average golfer can understand, these tips a great for the golfers with handicaps and also learners who are looking for fix’s.

    Reply
  12. Mel santos

    July 29, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    Simple as that ?

    Reply
  13. Bob

    September 13, 2017 at 8:23 pm

    Good set – now – where am I aiming, 1) in front of the ball ( if so, how far in front : 2 in?, 4 in?)
    2) at the ball ?
    3) behind the ball (how far?)
    Is the club head set directly behind the ball or a few inches farther back?

    Your answers are always great, I’m learning a lot

    Almost forgot, the questions are for irons & hybreds

    Reply
  14. B Reeve

    November 5, 2017 at 11:33 pm

    Your tips work for me every time sweet and simple, you. Hold my attention, many thanks .? Barry?

    Reply
  15. Mikael

    January 2, 2019 at 11:36 pm

    Really good site – love your golf cap….(where did you buy it?)

    Reply
    • Quite The Chap

      January 7, 2019 at 12:32 pm

      Hey Mikael, thanks! The cap is from Crisp Golf.

      Reply
  16. John Herzog

    July 5, 2019 at 3:00 pm

    Does having the hands in front apply if you’re teeing up the ball (par 3, etc.)? How about for the driver? thanks

    Reply
  17. Carl Christie

    November 7, 2019 at 11:58 am

    Hey “Quite” or is it “Chap”.

    I very much appreciate and enjoy your video tips and have found them extremely helpful: although they sometimes escape me after a few holes and I regress to previous bad habits.

    I am soon to be 81; am an 11.2 index golfer and proudly state that since 2015 have shot my age; [or under] 94 times. [50 times this year.]
    My hope is that I make it through this Ottawa, Ontario, Canada winter to the Spring of 2020 and make it to 100 games at or under my age.

    Please know that if your travels carry you to Canada’s capitol of Ottawa, that I would most eagerly invite you to a round at my home club; Hautes Plaines, just across the river in Gatineau, Quebec.

    Best regards
    Carl Christie

    Reply
    • Quite The Chap

      November 12, 2019 at 4:05 pm

      That’s very much appreciated Carl, thank you. Keep up the great golf!

      Reply

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