Raycasting a "tractor beam" in a football game

I'm making a football (soccer) game and I'm trying to use a raycast from the players feet to the ball. I want it to recognise the ball at a set distance from the player and drag the ball closer to the player's feet, then set a spring joint. I have this code so far, but this sets the spring joint to the balls current position and I don't know how to make it come closer!

Thanks for your help!

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class rayCast : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public Collider coll;
     private bool springWaiting = true;
     
     // Update is called once per frame
     private void Update () {
     
         RaycastHit hit;
         if (Physics.Raycast (transform.position, transform.forward, out hit, 0.5f)) 
         {
             if (hit.collider.gameObject.tag == "ball")
             {
                 if (springWaiting == true) //if spring is not active
                 {
                 var springJoint = gameObject.AddComponent<SpringJoint> ();
                 springJoint.connectedBody = coll.attachedRigidbody;
                 
                 springJoint.maxDistance = 0f;
                 springJoint.damper = 0;
                 springJoint.spring = 1000000;
                 }
                 springWaiting = false;
             }
         }
     }
 }