Adapting your stance to your physique

In my travels around the country, I have noticed that most women golfers who play 95 or above don't know how to address the ball properly. It is extremely important, for instance, to adjust one's stance to one's particular physique.

The sizable, rather buxom woman should not play the ball from the middle of her stance. She cannot get to it there. She should play the ball just back of the left instep.

Most tall women, instead of crouching by bending the knees, fall back on their heels. This throws them too far away from the ball.

Women of relatively trim proportions should play the ball between the center of the stance and the left heel. A trim woman can stand closer to the ball and get more of an upright arc to her swing than a heavier-set woman—and she should work for this. Nearly all women golfers swing too flat.

Even if you are a fairly accomplished woman golfer with a youthful figure, the only times you should think of playing the ball back of center are when you have a very bad lie and the ball has to be punched or when you have to play a very low shot with room for lots of run.

LOUISE SUGGS, Sea Island, Ga.

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NEXT WEEK: Dick Mayer on positioning yourself for breaking putts