Setup

Symptoms in this group

Each one starts from something you can see for yourself. Open it to find what that shot can come from.

• I don't aim where I think I do

  The strike feels fine but the ball finishes offline, because your feet, shoulders or clubface point somewhere other than where you think they do.

• I never know where the ball should be in my stance

  The ball sits somewhere slightly different each time you set up, and the strike changes along with it.

• My grip is too strong or too weak

  Your hands sit turned too far one way on the handle, the face keeps arriving open or closed, and the ball misses to the same side shot after shot.

• I never know how high to tee the ball

  You guess the tee height, or it changes from hole to hole, so teed shots come off the crown, the top edge or the bottom grooves, and the miss changes with the height.

• Cramped over the ball, or reaching for it

  At address you feel crowded with no room for your arms, or stretched out reaching for the ball, and the strike marks drift toward the heel or the toe of the face.

• Gripping too tight and tense over the ball

  You hold the club so hard that your forearms are tight before it moves, or the handle twists in your hands at contact, and the swing comes out short, stiff and hard to repeat.

• Posture at address looks wrong

  Your address looks hunched, too tall or sat down into the knees, and contact swings between fat and thin because the body cannot hold that shape once the swing starts.

• My hands are too far ahead of or behind the ball at address

  Before the swing starts the handle sits well ahead of the clubhead, or level with it, or behind it, which changes the loft and the face aim you are starting from.

• My shoulders and head tilt the wrong way at address

  Seen face-on, your trail shoulder sits level with or higher than your lead shoulder, or your upper body leans a long way back, so the arc is out of place before the club moves.

• I don't know where my weight should be at address

  Before the club moves your weight is already loaded onto the trail foot, jammed onto the lead foot, or pushed out onto your toes or back onto your heels.

• My stance feels too wide or too narrow

  You wobble over the ball or lose your balance in the swing, or cannot turn from a base that feels too wide, and the strike wanders between fat and thin with it.