Better players (not me) and pros (def not me) seem acutely aware of how they are striking the ball. I've always struggled with inconsistent ball striking, when my timing is on I typically deliver the leading edge right at the base of the turf behind the ball leading to a clean shot and a shallow divot, but often if I'm not quite on I'll take some ground before the ball resulting in a slightly fat strike and general inconsistency. I'm also sensitive to poor (tighter) lies. I hit it better off a soft fluffy lie.

After watching a few videos about strike consistency (suggested by a mate) I came to the conclusion that I don't control my lowpoint anywhere near well enough and that as a byproduct I almost certainly needed to move my ball position back so that I catch the ball on the descending path.

I took this thought to the range a few days ago. I started in the practice nets hitting about 40-50 balls first with wedges and moving down to 4 iron. As the ball position was now further back the instinct is that you're aiming too far right. My body naturally started compensating for this and I felt like a started turning my body through the ball to square up the clubface.* This felt great in the nets and really felt like I was compressing the ball. However the nets don't give feedback on ball flight or divot patterns so I moved to the range next. To my surprise on the range I started hitting some of the flushest irons I'd ever hit. The divot started after the ball and were much deeper than I would typically take. The results I found were game changing in my opinion and I'll be trying to ingrain these changes over the coming weeks to hopefully conclude that it wasn't a complete fluke range session.

This whole concept probably sounds obvious to most good players but if there's anyone out there that struggles with the problems I mentioned above I implore you to play with your ball position and think about where your low point is then adjust. Move the ball back and think about turning hard through the ball. Also start with small half shots first to get the feeling in the nets. Don't even worry about the direction to start with. Then work your way up to full shots and tweak your alignment, you might also find what I did in that your body starts turning better naturally.