If your iron contact feels like a coin flip — sometimes crisp, sometimes chunked, sometimes thin — there's a good chance ball position is the variable you've been ignoring. Most golfers set up by feel, and feel drifts. That drift shows up as strokes on the scorecard.
Shawn Koch has a fast, visual fix for it.
The drill
Shawn Koch — Golf Digest #7 Best Teacher in Georgia (2024–25), Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers to Watch (2023–2024), Georgia Section PGA Teacher of the Year (2016), and Director of Instruction at Atlanta Athletic Club — uses the pathpal to take the guesswork out of ball position entirely.
See the full drill at pathpalgolf.com/pages/pathpal-golf-ball-position-and-low-point-drill.
The setup is straightforward:
- Place the white pathpal rod at your lead heel
- Place the blue rod at your ball position
- See the exact relationship between the two — visually, every rep
- Swing down and forward, driving toward the white rod (your low point)
That white rod isn't just a heel marker. It represents your swing's low point — the bottom of your arc. By training your swing to work toward it, you're ingraining ball-first contact without having to think about mechanics mid-swing.
Watch the drill
Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=YrgUwFg-MYg
Why it works
The training aid builds the habit; the habit travels with you.
Ball position determines where in your swing arc you make contact. Too far forward and the club is ascending — thin. Too far back and it hasn't reached low point yet — fat or heavy. The only way to make this consistent is to anchor ball position to a fixed reference point, and Shawn uses the lead heel as that anchor.
What makes this drill particularly powerful is its portability. With enough reps using the pathpal on the range, you internalize the heel-to-ball relationship so deeply that you can replicate it on the course by eye.
Who this is for
- ✓ Golfers struggling with alternating fat and thin iron shots
- ✓ Players who feel like their ball position "drifts" without noticing
- ✓ Anyone trying to build a more repeatable pre-shot routine
- ✓ Golfers working on hitting down and through the ball consistently
Try it
Drop both rods before your next iron practice session. Hit 20 balls focusing purely on working toward that white rod through impact. Let the pathpal show you exactly what your low point looks like — and where your ball is relative to it.
Full drill breakdown: pathpalgolf.com/pages/pathpal-golf-ball-position-and-low-point-drill
- Set the white rod at your lead heel
- Set the blue rod at your ball position
- Take your address — see the visual relationship between the two rods
- Swing down and forward, driving toward the white rod through impact
- Hit 20 balls focusing only on working toward that low point marker
- On the course: reproduce the lead heel–to–ball visual without any aid
Related drills
Ball position and low point control connect naturally to a wider area of improvement. These drills from the pathpal library work well alongside this one:
"Ball-First" Impact Control Drill — Eric Barlow
Uses a ground rod as a physical low point marker — instantly shows whether your club is bottoming out before or after the ball on every swing.
The Constant Ball Position Drill — Chris Foley
A PGA Master Professional's two-rod slot system for locking in 7-iron ball position rep after rep — makes practice feedback reliable and eliminates setup variables from swing analysis.
The Setup Consistency Drill — Janean Murphy
LPGA Global Teacher of the Year Janean Murphy uses pathpal channels to anchor both lead foot and ball position simultaneously — a standing template for a repeatable, consistent setup every shot.
Browse the full drill library: pathpalgolf.com/pages/all-drills
About Shawn Koch
Shawn Koch is the Director of Instruction at the R.T. Jones, Jr. Instruction Center at Atlanta Athletic Club. He is a Golf Digest #7 Best Teacher in Georgia (2024–25), Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers to Watch (2023–2024), Georgia Section PGA Teacher of the Year (2016), and Georgia PGA Player Development Award recipient (2022), with over 20 years of elite instruction experience.
Instagram · shawnkochgolf.com · pathpal on Instagram
Frequently asked questions
How do I set up the pathpal for Shawn Koch's ball position drill?
Use a two-rod setup: place the white pathpal rod at your lead (left) heel — this also marks your swing's approximate low point — and place the blue rod where the golf ball is positioned. Together they create a clear visual reference for the heel-to-ball relationship. The goal is to swing down and forward through impact, driving toward the white rod on every swing.
What is "low point" in the golf swing and why does it matter for iron contact?
Low point is the bottom of your swing arc — where the clubhead stops descending and begins to rise. For iron shots, you want the ball positioned just before low point so the club is still descending at contact, producing crisp, ball-first striking. Shawn's drill makes low point tangible by marking it with the white pathpal rod, giving you a physical target to swing toward rather than an abstract concept.
Why do I hit some shots fat and some thin with the same club?
Inconsistent contact usually traces back to inconsistent ball position. When the ball drifts too far forward, the club is already ascending at impact — thin shot. Too far back, and you're catching the turf first — fat shot. By anchoring ball position to a fixed reference (your lead heel), this drill eliminates that guesswork and makes low point predictable rep after rep.
Can I use this drill on the course without a training aid?
Yes — that's exactly the point. Shawn emphasizes that the pathpal builds a consistent habit you can transfer to the course. After enough reps with the rods in place, you internalize the lead heel–to–ball relationship. On the course, use your lead heel as the reference point for ball position on every shot — no equipment needed.
Why is the lead heel a better ball position reference than the center of the stance?
The center of your stance moves every time your feet do — change stance width, change club, and the "center" shifts. Your lead heel stays fixed relative to your body regardless of stance width, foot flare, or club selection. Using the lead heel as your anchor means ball position stays consistent even when the rest of your setup changes.
Ready to stop guessing your ball position?
pathpal gives you the visual references and physical feedback to build consistent ball position — and the habits that travel with you to the course.
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