Your stance, grip, posture, as well as your clubface and ball’s position before you start to swing are called as setup or address position in golf.
A good setup ensures a good starting position and also determines your swing mechanics, including consistency and distance.
Check out some commonly diagnosed swing faults in golf setup, and see what causes them, as well as fixes including drills and exercises.
Find your miss, then read across to the setup traits that cause it — every one of them visible before the club ever moves.
| Shape | Ball flight | Setup suspects |
|---|---|---|
| Playable shapes | ||
| Straight Starts on line, stays on line. |
Square faceNeutral gripGood posture
|
|
| Draw Starts right, curves back to target. |
Slightly closed shouldersNeutral-to-strong grip
|
|
| Fade Starts left, curves back to target. |
Slightly open shouldersNeutral-to-weak grip
|
|
| Common misses | ||
| Pull Starts left, stays left. |
Open shouldersBall too far forwardStanding too close
|
|
| Pull hook Starts left, curves further left. |
Strong gripClosed faceBall too far forward
|
|
| Pull slice Starts left, curves hard right. |
Open shouldersSpine leaning at targetWeight on toes
|
|
| Push Starts right, stays right. |
Closed shouldersBall too far backWeight on heels
|
|
| Push hook Starts right, curves hard left. |
Closed stanceStrong gripBall too far back
|
|
| Push slice Starts right, curves further right. |
Weak gripOpen faceStanding too far away
|
|
Dashed line is your target. The ball starts at the bottom.
In a closed stance, a golfer places their front (lead) foot closer to the target line than their back (trail) foot, making their body aim slightly left of the target (for right-handed players).
This stance promotes a right-to-left ball flight, or an in-to-out swing path, which can be useful for playing a draw, correcting a slice, or adding loft to your shot.
Having a stance that is too wide or narrow, a posture that is too bent or too upright, or ball position being too far back or forward hints at a poor setup.
These faults often cause poor contact, bad ball flight, and inconsistent shots.
GolfWiz AI app scans your swing and instantly detects setup mistakes like poor posture, wrong stance width, or incorrect ball position. It then shows you exactly what to fix and how with AI-assisted drills. Download GolfWiz AI for a free swing analysis.
Build a swing you can trust and hit it longer with GolfWiz.
