Should the left arm and the shaft line up?

Should the left arm and the shaft line up?

After htting several shots right I tried this with my wedge the other day.

Ball opposite right toe, shaft leaning forward and butt pointing to my left thigh (rather than privates), with the effect that the club felt a bit unnaturally closed and hooded even though the lines on the face were aligned square.

With this set up my shots had a much lower trajectory and right to left drawspin. Was getting crisp divots too with the leading edge taking dirt, which I saw as a positive thing.

Should I do this with all clubs? I don't know whether it is a shot I should adapt if I want to hit it lower or whether it is actually a good default setup to have.

Would be interested to hear from TheLyth, John Pettitt and Sanders Longdrive as three of our resident experts. Certainly John you advocate the lower shot that aims for the top of the flag in order to better judge distance, and Ivan you have said in a previous thread the swing is a lot about geometry and body angles.

It sounds like you are trying something similar to the "K" setup - if you google Golf Monthly's Mr X "K" setup you may find the articles they sometimes publish.

Stuart, you will have certainly closed down the loft of the club with this setup and the ball flight will be considerable lower. I do use this method, on occasion, but usually when I need to keep the ball under tree branches.

It is ball position that dictates trajectory, all other things being equal.

As we all know, though, different days need different thoughts and what works today will not work tomorrow, that is the beauty of this game as we constantly have to battle for the ultimate method, which just does not exist because we are not built like iron byron.

Nice Ivan, my kind of language (and not welsh). Not enough emphasis is given to a braced left side (RH golfer) Momentum is always faster around a fixed post, How often do we see players hitting drivers (and irons) with their left heel off the ground at impact . Get them to throw a ball a long way and their left foot would be planted automically (like that word was'nt expecting to use that todayhttp://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.gif" title="surprise" width="20" />)

Stu, that's how i play all my iron shots ball position more middle to front . The reason it's helping you is from your address poisition your club take away has become steeper as you putting more weight on your left side. This will bring you on a steeper attack route hence why your taking ball first with a nice divot. I suspect also your  ball position is not as far back as you think ( optical illusion) more central to the bottom of the swing arc. Your probably now hittiing the correct trajectory for the club as opposed to previous high shots with your hands futher back you were possibly adding positive loft to your strikes.

Keep up with the good work.

John, surely not just ball position that affects trajectory? I would say it is actually more the amount of follow through and the angle of the clubface at address (and hence impact)?

If you re-read my post, Stuart, I did say all other things being equal. Of course follow through will also dictate trajectory but that would infer that you are playing shots other than full ones and therefore cannot be included in the query you put forward.

Here is a video example Stu....

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-avoid-bad-golf-set-up-causes-pull-shots-334169/

Stuart, when I had a lesson on driving my club pro told me that the shaft of my driver should be pointing towards my belly button.

This means that if the golf ball is opposite my left heel then there must be a slight bend where my hands meet the club grip.

Having played golf today I was taking note of what you said.  At no time would I have said that the club shaft and my left arm make a straight line.  There was always a slight bend at my wrist.

Russ