Should My Hands Be Behind the Ball When Using a Driver?

The short version: Your hands will naturally look behind the ball at address with a driver — that’s just ball position, not something to force. Don’t pull the handle back to create more of that look. Instead, keep the grip near the center of your body with soft arms; let forward ball position do the rest.

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Sometimes, your hand position with the driver might look off even when it is correct. The reason is the driver’s forward ball position, not simply that the ball is teed up.

Place the ball near your lead heel as a starting point and check your setup from the front. The grip stays close to the center of your body which makes your hands look like they are behind the ball. If you are used to seeing the handle a bit forward with an iron, you might think you need to fix this, but you don’t.

This is where problems can start. Some players pull the handle back toward their back pocket, putting their hands too far behind. Others push their hands forward, making the driver look like a 7-iron. Both actions can change the shaft and clubface before you even swing.

Your hands might end up behind the teed ball but that should happen naturally because of where the ball is placed. You do not need to push your hands back on purpose.

Build the setup in the right order

Begin by picking your target and then set the clubface to the ball. Aim the clubface along your intended start line and place the ball near your lead heel as a starting point. Set your feet last so your stance matches the ball position, instead of letting the ball move back toward the middle.

Next, bend at your hips and let your arms hang naturally from your shoulders. You should not need to reach for the grip, lift your shoulders or press your elbows in. When you grab the club, the end of the grip should point near your zipper or belt buckle. Some golfers might be a bit forward of that depending on arm length, posture and driver length.

The way the club sits on the ground can also be misleading. If you try to press the whole sole flat, it might lift your hands and change how the clubface looks. MyGolfSpy’s guide to setting up with a driver explains why having the toe slightly up is often normal.

Once you have set everything up, do not move the handle. From the front, the ball should appear ahead of your hands. That is exactly what you want.

Check it from face-on and down the line

A face-on view answers the first question. Is the grip end near the center of your body while the ball is near the lead heel? If so, the hands will appear behind the ball.

The down-the-line view shows whether your arms have room. Look at the space between the grip and your thighs. Your hands need to begin the backswing without brushing your legs but they should not be stretched so far away that your weight moves toward your toes.

You can test this without hitting a shot. Set up with your driver, take your back hand off and let it hang. Put it back on the grip. If you can do this without turning your shoulder toward the ball or pulling your elbow behind you, you are probably standing the right distance from the ball. If not, adjust how far you stand before changing the handle position.

Do not copy your iron impact position

Golfers who hit good iron shots often like seeing the handle ahead of the ball. That picture fits many iron shots because solid contact normally occurs before the club reaches its lowest point. With a driver, the ball is teed and played farther forward which allows the club to arrive level or moving upward. Some good drivers strike slightly down so ball flight and contact still matter.

This does not mean your hands should stay behind the ball at impact. The setup and the moment you hit the ball are different. Don’t use an iron-style forward press with your driver just because it feels familiar. MyGolfSpy explains why drivers and irons work differently.

If your driver launches well, starts where you expect and hits the center of the clubface, you do not need to copy someone else’s hand position.

Hit five drives without babysitting the handle

After the face-on and trail-hand checks, I stop talking about setup. I’ll spray the face with some foot spray, pick a target and have the golfer hit five drives at normal speed. No finagling of the grip between balls. I want to see where the club returns once the player is thinking about the shot again.

The first shot might go right. The next might hit the heel. That does not mean your hand position is wrong. By the fourth or fifth ball, the marks on the clubface usually tell us more than just one off shot can.

If most of the marks are near the center, there is no need to worry about hand position. If the ball keeps starting right, I check the clubface and swing path before changing the grip. If there are several heel marks, I look at how close the golfer stands and whether they pulled the handle in.

If the marks are low on the clubface, the issue could be something else. Tee height, strike location, delivered loft and attack angle deserve a look before hand position gets blamed. MyGolfSpy’s breakdown of why a driver spins too much is a useful next step if you are seeing low contact and excess spin.

Then I spray the golfer’s driver clubface again. If the same unwanted mark shows up, we have something to fix. If it doesn’t, I leave the setup alone and don’t change anything because of one bad shot.