[okie]

I may be missing something but I would say if the ball is five inches back of your left shoulder then it may be too far "back in your stance." I think it is about 6 inches from the left shoulder to your nose, so if you are at 5 inches and you have a centered head the ball is pretty much in the middle of your stance. I have found that if the ball is too far back of low point I have the tendency of creating a more realistic (but tragic) low point with a bending left wrist...the kiss of death! I have developed a rule with regards to ball position. I do not place the ball further back than what is required for a realistic length of divot. For example placing the ball way back in your stance, in reality up plane, say 10 inches back of low point suggests a divot similar in length! Not all clubs are designed to excavate! So, I have found my straightaway ball postion for example with a lob wedge exactly off the tip of my nose, 6 inches up plane from lowpoint. This is still a work in progress and is most frustrating because if your ball postion is off then your geometry is going to be off, neccessitating fancy corrective hinge action (angled to vertical usually!) If you are popping them up you are catching it too high on the club that has a lowered center of gravity, so move it down plane, but be sure to go down and out like before! Knowing full well that I will not take a proper divot I still hit down on my driver... heck I hit down on EVERYTHING! The thrust is still down for a grass as well as an air divot. So keep the good mechanic (down) and perhaps improve your geometry a bit (ball postion.)