Stroke Saver: The Key To Scoring Is Consistency

Image: Consistency begins at setup. Placing the ball between my feet on every shot is a repeatable action.
You have probably heard this a thousand times before, but I’m going to say it again. The key to your best swing isn’t about the arc, the plane, the club you swing or anything else like that. The key to your best swing is repeatability. If you can take a 7 iron from your bag and swing the same swing 10 times in a row, you should be able to shoot in the 80’s without any problem. When you get to the point of being able to do this with all your odd numbered irons, you should be able to drop that number into the 70’s. When your whole bag follows, you need to go join the tour. Having a nice consistent swing will lead to everything else falling into place. Your game will become more about planning how to play a hole, rather than reacting to where your ball went. Consistency is the key.

Image: Driver ball position: When swinging from the tee, the right foot drops back, while the left foot stays in position.
With a consistent swing, your contact point will be the same across your clubs. My setup is rather simple now, and I keep it this way to make my swing as consistent as possible. I start with my feet together and the club face lined up to the target behind the ball. This establishes a base line for the ‘bottom’ of my swing. I then vary the ball position 3-4 inches depending on the club I am hitting, all the time only shifting my feet, not the ball location or the club head. If I am hitting a long 3 iron off the tee, I will move both feet equally out to about shoulder width. If I am hitting a wedge, I move my front foot forward to my front shoulder, but leave the back where it is. This puts the ball about 1-2 inches off my back toe with the club in a slight forward press. This forward press allows me to hit ‘down’ on the ball more and make cleaner contact with the higher lofted short irons and wedges.

Long iron position: Both feet move slightly out from the ball, with the right moving further back off the ball than the left moves forward.
Starting off with a repeatable setup makes a swing easier duplicate time after time. I constantly see people on the course or at the range trying to ‘move’ the ball position around based on the club they use. They have 13 different locations for 13 different clubs in their bags. This may seem like a great idea, but it almost requires them to have 13 different swings. I really have three settings: Driver: front foot even with left shoulder/back foot  out to stable position, Long Iron: front foot even with left shoulder/back foot out to stable and Short iron/wedge: front food even with left shoulder/back foot stays planted at setup point.

Short iron position: The right foot stays in place while the left foot moves forward to encourage a downward strike on the ball.
All three setups start at having my feet surround the ball and then moving. Placing my feet together with the ball centered on them guarantees me a consistent setup every time. if there is a particularly wet day, I might have to adjust how far my feet move slightly due to the ground being softer. If there is a windy day, I will shift the front foot further forward and leave the back foot planted to keep the ball lower. Everything is adjustable from the starting point, but a normal round doesn’t need much in the way of tweaking to be done right. Try this trick the next time you are at the range to see if you contact becomes more consistent.