How does width of stance affect your golf swing? Typically, a golf stance that is too narrow may lead to an unbalanced or unstable swing – especially when playing a full shot. On the other hand, a stance that is too wide can cause restriction of the hips, which may cause unwanted inefficiencies in your swing.
How wide should your stance be when playing golf?
Most golf instructors say the width of your stance will depend on the club you are hitting. For driver, your feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width. For irons and wedges, they should be shoulder width apart. For pitching and chipping, your stance should be slightly narrower than shoulder width.
How does your stance affect your golf game?
The golf stance can affect a few parts of your game. It can affect the speed of the club, your ability to turn and swing through the ball, and your balance as well. These factors are going to make or break your day on the golf course.
What is the best stance for your golf swing?
As such, it is best reserved for smaller clubs or for smaller swings and is best avoided for long clubs and wide swings. In contrast to a wide stance a narrow stance will make it easier for your hips to rotate, or at least it should make it more comfortable to do so.
How does a narrow stance affect your swing?
With a narrow stance, your swing is going to be more compact, and therefore the club will wrap around your body in a much quicker and easier way. This can sometimes result in your arms getting a little ahead of themselves and causing the ball to turn left.
What happens if your stance is too narrow?
What happens if you set up too wide?
Should you put your feet in the correct position before starting the club back?
Is it bad to take your ballstriking to new heights?
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How wide should your stance be for a golf swing?
For your starting position, your legs should be shoulder width apart. If you are using a middle iron, this is your stance. Widen your stance for longer clubs such as drivers or woods. For short irons or wedges, bring your stance in by an inch or two.
Is it better to have a wide or narrow golf stance?
The widest stance should be taken with your driver, while the narrowest stance should be for putting and chipping. Because not all golfers look the same or have the same height and shoulder width, the stance may be different for each of us.
Does a wider stance help in golf?
A stance just wider than your shoulders: Gives you a stable platform over which you can turn your upper body. Encourages your hips to stay level throughout the swing; the left hip is likely to drop when your stance is too narrow, causing mis-hit shots.
Why do I hit the golf ball better with a narrow stance?
Narrowing your stance will allow for a better rotation in the back swing, which in turn will allow you to get your arms more around your body at the top, this will give you more chance of approaching the ball with a path to the right.
Why is a wide stance more stable?
Wider stances permit larger excursions of the body's center of mass (CoM) before reaching the limits of the base of support. Also, changing stance width impacts the physics governing LB motion. For example, a unit of LB torque applied about a hip joint is more effective in accelerating the LB in wide vs.
What happens if ball is too far forward in stance?
Ball position; it's one of the oldest fundamentals in golf. If it's too far forward, it may be causing you to hit thin or fat shots and miss shots to the left. If it's too far back, you could be hitting tops, chunks, and missing the ball to the right.
What happens when you stand too close to golf ball?
What Can Happen If You Stand Too Close To The Golf Ball? Standing too close to the golf ball will result in a posture that's too upright, which could result in inconsistent shots and no control over the ball. Standing too close to the ball can result in slices and shanks, which are very common among average players.
What is the best stance in golf?
5:549:43Guide to a Proper Golf Stance (Golf Setup Position) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd this is what we see with the best players. They start with a little bit more weight on theirMoreAnd this is what we see with the best players. They start with a little bit more weight on their lead foot. So when they're set in here. They've got a little bit more what we call weight pressure
What is the best golf swing for seniors?
2:157:08The Best Swing For Senior Golfers | Simple & Repeatable - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI want to feel like my right shoulder is under promoting more of a draw. And i'm going to feel likeMoreI want to feel like my right shoulder is under promoting more of a draw. And i'm going to feel like the palm of my right hand is more under the grip there too again getting under this club.
What does swaying in the golf swing cause?
Swaying in the backswing also leads to balance issues. So, for people who sway a lot in their backswing, they also often struggle to maintain the correct balance all the way through their swing.
What does an open stance in golf do?
Putting with an open stance makes alignment much easier, and it allows you to have a better line to your target. Some golfers will not only set up with an open stance, but they will also look at the hole while they are putting. This method of putting has become quite popular through the years, and it is very effective.
How does ball position affect ball flight?
It's important to know how ball position impacts your golf ball's distance, direction, and height. The farther back a ball is in your stance, the lower the ball flight, higher the spin, and more difficult it'll be to square the face.
How important is ball position in golf?
Golf ball position is one aspect that affects the direction the ball travels. Moving the position of the ball forward or backward, even just a little bit, will result in a noticeable change in the flight and direction of the ball.
How does a wider stance affect your swing?
Adopting a wider stance lowers your center of gravity slightly, allowing you to become more stable on your feet as you address the club on the ground and as you execute your swing.
How to assume a wider stance?
Wide Stance. In order to assume a wider stance you will need to position your feet further away from each other that you normally would. Specifically, a good wide stance sees the outside of your shoulders line up with the inside of your feet.
What is a very narrow stance?
Very Narrow Stance. Certain types of shots require a narrower stance still. In order to adopt a very narrow stance you will need to position your feet so that the width of your shoulder dwarfs the distance between them.
What effect does lowering the center of gravity have on a driver?
Another effect of lowering your center of gravity is that it tends to lower the bottom of the swing arc. This in turn can lead to greater odds of hitting fat shots – where the club penetrates the ground before making impact with the ball.
Why should shoulders line up with feet?
Because this is the default athletic position in golf in can be used for most ‘normal’ shots. Erring away from that position is done in order to achieve specific objectives or ...
What does narrowing your stance do?
Narrowing your stance will lead to a higher center of gravity, at least compared to a normal and wide stance. This adjustment will lead you to feel less stable on your feet than you would otherwise. As such, it is best reserved for smaller clubs or for smaller swings and is best avoided for long clubs and wide swings.
How to adopt a narrow stance?
Narrow Stance. In order to adopt a narrow stance you will need to position yourself so that width of your shoulders matches that of your feet. Specifically , you will want to see the outside of your shoulders line up with the outside of your feet.
What happens if your stance is too narrow?
Conversely, if your stance is too narrow, your lower body becomes way too active — good for the dance floor but not when you’re looking to catch shots solid on the course. An overactive lower body throws off your timing and balance.
What happens if you set up too wide?
Here’s what happens: If you set up too wide at address, you’re going to have a doozy of a time opening your hips through impact and transferring your weight to your lead side , especially if you’re not as flexible or athletic as you used to be.
Should you put your feet in the correct position before starting the club back?
It should never happen in the first place, because let’s be honest: Setting your feet in the correct position before you start the club back is probably the easiest thing you can do in this game. After 30 years of teaching, I’m still amazed how most recreational golfers choose to ignore fundamentals such as stance width.
Is it bad to take your ballstriking to new heights?
Another mistake you can easily avoid while taking your ballstriking to new heights is bad stance width. Keep reading to get it right. Making your stance too narrow or too wide at setup can force all sorts of difficult-to-time compensations later in your swing, some of which can become repetitive and take years to undo.
Is it better to have a wide or narrow stance in golf?
Having a stance that is the correct width for each club will provide optimal results than a stance that is too wide, or too narrow. For this reason, wider is not necessarily ‘better’. A stance that is too wide may restrict rotation, just as a too narrow stance may leave you unbalanced.
How wide should my stance be in golf?
No club is the same when it comes to the width of your stance. It’s important to adjust your set-up position to cater for this. Below, I’ll elaborate further on the correct stance for every club.
What happens if my golf stance is too wide?
A stance that is too wide will likely have a negative impact on your golf swing as it will restrict your hip turn, both in the backswing and downswing.
How does width of stance affect your golf swing?
Typically, a golf stance that is too narrow may lead to an unbalanced or unstable swing – especially when playing a full shot. On the other hand, a stance that is too wide can cause restriction of the hips, which may cause unwanted inefficiencies in your swing.
Final message
When it comes to the width of your stance in the golf swing, it’s important not to overcomplicate things.
Rotation is Impaired
Proper weight transfer is one of the most important aspects of the golf swing.
Try It and See
Stand up and see for yourself. When you put your feet very close together, you'll see that it's easy to pivot your hips from side to side because you can transfer your weight effortlessly from one foot to the other.
Check Your Right Shoe
Looking at the swing from down the line, if you're stance is too wide you will typically be pushing off your right side in an effort to get your weight back to the left.
How does stance affect golf?
The golf stance can affect a few parts of your game. It can affect the speed of the club, your ability to turn and swing through the ball, and your balance as well. These factors are going to make or break your day on the golf course.
Why is a wide stance important in golf?
The biggest benefit of the wide golf stance is the stability . When you have a wide base, your lower body is going to be well planted into the ground, and you will have a stable base of support to get the speed that you need.
What does it mean when your golf stance is narrow?
Something you will notice about golfers with a narrow stance is that they tend to stand a bit more upright when they address the golf ball. Something about the feet being closer together can sometimes bring players a bit closer to the ball and increase their spine angle.
What is a narrow stance in golf?
A narrow golf stance is typically one that is slightly more narrow than shoulder width. The standard golf stance is about shoulder width apart with your feet; narrow stance golfers will have their feet even closer than this.
Why is a narrow stance better?
The main benefit of the narrow golf stance is that a golfer can have a much better rotation. Since your feet are not all that far apart, you can turn your body back and through the ball quite a bit easier . This type of rotation can also help some golfers start to hit the ball quite a bit straighter.
What are the disadvantages of wide stance golf?
The main disadvantage of the wide golf stance is going to be in the short game. It is nearly impossible to hit a small chip shot with finesse if your feet are more than shoulder width apart. The stance allows for too much power and too wide of an arc and that will not be necessary.
Why do you have to widen your stance when hooking a golf ball?
This is because with your feet being closer together, you will have an easier time wrapping the club around your body. For a golfer that slices the ball, the narrow stance is a great fix. However, if you happen to hook your golf ball, you will want to widen the stance just a bit.
What shoulder is the golf ball on?
But the position of the ball is primarily determined off your left shoulder. So let's talk about your golf stance width for a second. If you're setting up to the ball and you have a really wide stance, you're going to feel really stable and really anchored to the ground.
What does it mean to release a golf club?
That's the opposite of a release. Think about what it means to release something. It means to let go. So if you're wanting to release the golf club to allow it to speed up independent of you, that means your right hand has got to essentially almost come off.
What does it mean when your left arm is holding on?
So the left arm is being told where to go in terms of the bottom of the swing arc from the position of that left shoulder, because that's where your arm's attached to your body, of course.
What happens when you pick up a hybrid golf club?
When you pick up a different golf club, your requirements don't change. You don't all of a sudden need for your head to move all over the place because you picked up your hybrid. Doesn't make any sense at all. You're still going to hit down on those longer golf clubs. So unless you're picking up a driver, every single club in your golf bag, ...
Should your golf stance be narrower?
So for instance, if you have a pitching wedge in your hand, your golf stance should be narrower than if you have a three iron in your hand. So let's look at that for a second and let's just think about what golf stance width ...
Can you change the golf ball position in a golf swing?
If you want to hit the ball lower or whatever, there's obviously changes that work. But for a fundamentally sound basic golf swing, the golf ball position doesn't change and your golf stance width never changes in the swing. Audio Player.
Can you bottom out a golf club too early?
You can certainly make your club bottom out much too early and hit the golf ball fat or much too late by doing stuff with your arms, wrists, hands, so on. But of course, in an ideal world, we want our arms and hands to more or less be passive clamps on the club.
What happens if your stance is too narrow?
Conversely, if your stance is too narrow, your lower body becomes way too active — good for the dance floor but not when you’re looking to catch shots solid on the course. An overactive lower body throws off your timing and balance.
What happens if you set up too wide?
Here’s what happens: If you set up too wide at address, you’re going to have a doozy of a time opening your hips through impact and transferring your weight to your lead side , especially if you’re not as flexible or athletic as you used to be.
Should you put your feet in the correct position before starting the club back?
It should never happen in the first place, because let’s be honest: Setting your feet in the correct position before you start the club back is probably the easiest thing you can do in this game. After 30 years of teaching, I’m still amazed how most recreational golfers choose to ignore fundamentals such as stance width.
Is it bad to take your ballstriking to new heights?
Another mistake you can easily avoid while taking your ballstriking to new heights is bad stance width. Keep reading to get it right. Making your stance too narrow or too wide at setup can force all sorts of difficult-to-time compensations later in your swing, some of which can become repetitive and take years to undo.
