which is it hand or ball?

[golfquest]

ON short shots chipping or pitching, I have read both of the following set ups. "keep the ball between the elbow and the wrist'. 'keep the hand between the ball and the elbow'. A bit difficult to do both at the same time It does seem to me that keeping the hand between the ball and the elbow the shaft would be leaning backwards or the ball must be way forward in stance.... Please clarify or help me in my misunderstanding.

[pluthb]

Form a line from your shoulder down through the club and place the ball anywhere in your stance. You'll notice you'll have more loft as you move the ball from back to forward in your stance. Rock your shoulders and allow the club to do the work.

There is no one correct ball position but as a general rule, the worse your lie the farther back in your stance the ball should go (this is for the short game only!)

[tincup2004]

ON short shots chipping or pitching, I have read both of the following set ups. "keep the ball between the elbow and the wrist'. 'keep the hand between the ball and the elbow'. A bit difficult to do both at the same time It does seem to me that keeping the hand between the ball and the elbow the shaft would be leaning backwards or the ball must be way forward in stance.... Please clarify or help me in my misunderstanding.

Are you referring to 10-3-C ? There's a perfect picture in the book demonstrating the set up you describe. If you dont have the book then try placing your right hand on your right hip with elbow flared out. Now move your hand to in front of your right hip with the elbow still flared out. This should be the backstroke position of 10-3-C Push stroke. If you draw a line from the elbow,down the foream, to the hand, to the ball, you can see how it is possible to "keep the hand between the ball and the elbow".

[vj]

Golfquest,

Where does all this come from? Keeping the hands between the elbow and ball will create a bent left wrist. Keeping the ball between the hands and the elbow will create a flat left wrist.

It is advisable to always have a FLW when chipping or pitching. THis would keep the the "ball between the hands and the elbow." From here you can utilize the cut shot or the lob shot for the higher, softer shots or the right arm push stroke (hitting chip) for the lower trajectory shots.

While you will see tour players "flipping" which is losing the FLW during high pitches, it is not advisable unless you need lots of compression loss for the shot at hand. If keeping the hands between the ball and the elbow is practiced enough around the greens I can gaurantee it will create a loss of compression in your full swing. So keep the "flip" in your back pocket and practice the cut shot and the lob keeping the FLW.

You gotta love golf.