One of the first things my golf coach taught me was where to position the ball in my stance for taking shots. To non-golfers, this might seem an unimportant part of the game, but all of us who play will realise there are significant differences between ball positions.

Standing side-on to the direction you’ll be aiming, there are two main elements to consider. The first is how far away the ball is from you if you drew a line directly away from your eyes (ie perpendicular to the direction of the shot). The second is the distance of the ball on the ground from each foot.

First things first. How far away from you should the ball be? Essentially, you want to position the ball on the ground at the exact distance from you that your club head will reach in your normal stance, at the point of impact on the ball in your swing.

That is to say, with you stood in your normal stance, legs apart, hold the club as normal and put the head of the club onto the ground, at the point where you would be in your swing when you strike the ball. The club will be at a right angle to the direction you wish the shot to go, with the club head at the right point for impact.

You’ll know that golf clubs come in different shaft lengths, so the distance of the club head from your body will obviously change for each club. For example, the driver has the longest shaft, so the club head and ball will be furthest away from you. Wedges are much shorter, so the ball will be on the ground much nearer to you.

Now you want to find out where to put the ball in relation to being nearer to your left or right foot. Currently, the ball will be in the middle of your stance, a club’s length in front of you at the right distance for making a swing.

With the ball in this position, make an imaginary line through the ball in the direction of the shot, with the line extending along the line both ways from the ball. (ie from the ball along the line in the direction of the shot, and also going beyond the ball away from the direction of the shot).

Along this line, the ball will be placed at different points for different types of shot. For the driver, woods and long irons, the ball should be placed nearer to your front foot (left if you’re a right hander). For the shorter irons and pitching clubs, the ball should be placed in the middle, equidistant between your two feet.

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