Originally Posted by Bignose

I don't think you can make such a broad statement. It depends a lot on your swing. Hogan played every single ball about one ball length off of his left heel toward the center of the stance. From driver to wedge.

Now, of course, the width of his stance was significantly wider for the driver than it was for the wedge, so even though his setup for the wedge shots was still definitively forward of center, it wasn't nearly as forward of center as that for a driver shot. But, nevertheless, the point is that Hogan played every single shot with the ball forward of center and I don't think that he struggled "quite a bit".

There are other teachers who advocate just off the left heel for all shots today, too. Butch Harmon is one. I think that Leadbetter does as well. (I'm not quite sure, but I know that a few of the big-name teachers prefer this setup.) There are just as many teachers who advocate putting the ball in the middle of your stance for every single shot except the driver. Yes, from 3 wood down to wedge. And, then most like to see the ball drift from center for the shortest clubs to front heel for the longest. You can find a book/teacher/someone who will advocate almost any scheme you can come up with.

I think that each person should figure out what is best for them. With the added complexity that to really start to learn to control the ball flight, you'll probably want to learn how to hit all you clubs from any position. Moving the ball forward in the stance does tend to cause the shots to go higher, and moving the ball backward in the stance tends to make the shots go lower. It can be useful to learn how to hit a low-flying 3 wood (like under a tree, or to keep it low in the wind) or how to hit a very high 4 iron (like if you have to go over a tree). It is also how you can hit high-flying draws and low-flying fades... usually the pattern is low-flying draws and high-flying fades because the club face has less loft when closed and more loft when opened. But, if you can learn to hit not just the curve of the ball you want, but also the height of the ball, then you're really going to open a lot of scoring opportunities.