How far apart should your feet be in a golf stance?
The most common and accurate description of how far apart the feet must be is shoulder-width apart. When your feet are shoulder-width apart, your body will have the proper mix of rotational ability and balance. These two factors are most significantly affected by how wide your golf stance is.
What is the proper foot placement for a beginner golfer?
Flexibility and body movement determine the appropriate foot placement for each player. Position the ball in the center of your stance. The ball will move toward the front foot approximately 3-4 inches from the center of your stance. The longer clubs in your bag should be positioned approximately 4-6 inches forward of center in your stance.
Does the stance change with the length of your golf clubs?
The stance gets wider with the longer golf clubs (widest with the driver) The ball position is mostly in the middle of the stance, but as you move to hybrids, woods, and drivers, it will move towards your front foot. Alignment and your alignment routine should stay the same regardless of the club that you have in your hand
How far are you from the golf ball with each club?
Exactly how far you are from the golf ball is determined by the club you’re using. The driver has the longest shaft of any club, so you’re naturally farther away from the ball with the driver than you are with a sand wedge, which has a much shorter shaft.
How far should feet be apart from driver?
shoulder-width apart4. Width of stance: Your feet should be shoulder-width apart. 5. Weight distribution: You want 50 percent of your weight on your front foot and 50 percent of your weight on your back foot.
How wide should your stance be?
1:043:14Golf Stance - How Wide Should Your Feet Be at Address (Driver, Irons ...YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThe outside width of your shoulders. And then pinch the club. And that should be the inside width ofMoreThe outside width of your shoulders. And then pinch the club. And that should be the inside width of your feet.
Is my golf stance too wide?
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. You can check for this by seeing how your right foot looks at follow through.
How far should your feet be from the golf ball?
How Far Should You Stand From A Golf Ball? The ideal distance you should stand from the golf ball is one where the butt of the club is pointing at your belt buckle and is about 6 inches away from your thighs. This should be the same for all clubs in the bag.
What happens if your golf stance is too narrow?
What Happens If Your Stance Is Too Narrow? If your stance is too narrow, you may tend to hit the ball to the left. 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.
How wide should stance be for irons?
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.
Can a wide stance cause a slice?
A stance too wide will restrict lower body motion and inhibit weight transfer. This can cause the upper body to become overly active resulting in a slice or pulled shots, like you can see in the image above.
Why do I hit the golf ball better with my feet together?
Swinging with your feet together forces your weight into a more stable spot, similar to the one-footed putting drill we wrote about recently, improves the bottom of their arc, and only results in a slight loss of distance. “90 percent of players would be better playing with their feet together.
Where should an 8 iron be in your stance?
5:5110:20Ball Position for Irons - Long vs Short Irons (GOLF SETUP) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBasically in the center of my stance.MoreBasically in the center of my stance.
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.
How close should your hands be to your body in a golf swing?
The hands-to-body distance varies depending on the club you are hitting. A good rule of thumb is to have the hands a palm's width from the body for short and middle irons (4 to 6 inches) and a palm's length—from the bottom of the wrist to the tip of your middle finger—for long irons and woods.
Is a narrow golf stance better?
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.
Where should an 8 iron be in your stance?
5:5110:20Ball Position for Irons - Long vs Short Irons (GOLF SETUP) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBasically in the center of my stance.MoreBasically in the center of my stance.
What is a wide stance in golf?
In a wide stance, your feet will be furthest apart from each other while still allowing for a full golf swing to be performed comfortably. In that setup, the inside of your feet line up with the outside of your shoulders. Using a wide stance allows for the greatest stability and is normally reserved for shots made using a driver, ...
How to position yourself for a narrow setup?
You position yourself for such a setup by moving your feet close to one another, almost to the point where they touch each other. Adopting a very narrow setup is normally associated with very delicate shots that are produced using limited swings. Examples for these are short chips a few feet removed from the green.
Why do you use a wide stance?
Using a wide stance allows for the greatest stability and is normally reserved for shots made using a driver , where the clubhead is furthest away from your body. Down on the scale you’ll find the normal stance next. That setup calls for your feet to be as far apart as your shoulders are wide.
Can you flare your feet?
Indeed, you can choose to flare your feet (or foot) in what amounts to rotating them outwardly. There are four options available. The first one sees no foot flaring at all. In this instance, your feet will be parallel to each other and they will cross the target line at a 90 degree angle. Or in other words, the line from your heel to your toes ...
Turning the hips correctly in the golf swing
One of the most common mistakes amateur or mid handicap golfers make is sliding, rather than turning.
Knee Flex: How much is enough?
Much like rotation of the hips, a lack of knee flex can be a symptom of poor flexibility, pain or general tightness in the hips and joints.
Weight shift: Making the right move
When making a swing in golf, weight should shift into the back foot and right side of the body during the back swing. In order to avoid swaying, the weight should be focused more towards the inside of the right foot.
How do pros use their legs in the golf swing?
While all of the information above is important for a good all-round golf swing for anyone at any level, the pros often add more explosive elements to their shots through increased leg action.
Final message
The legs are pivotal to the golf swing, with three key elements necessary to strike it with the power an accuracy of a single-figure handicapper. They are:
How to get into proper golf posture?
The best way to get yourself into the proper posture is to stand tall, holding the golf club out in front of you.
When hitting a golf shot with an iron or wedge, should the ball be on the inside of your front foot?
When you hit a golf shot with an iron or a wedge, you need for there to be a descending blow.
Why do people have their feet touching when hitting wedge shots?
Many people will have their feet almost touching when they are hitting certain wedge shots around the green. Having some flexibility in the width of your feet while taking your golf stance is quite important . 2. Posture. Having great posture can lead to other positives in your golf swing like swing plane and balance.
What is the stance of a wedge shot?
The stance for a wedge shot is much more narrow, and the ball may appear closer to the back foot, but it should still be close to the middle of the stance. 4. Balance and Weight Distribution. An essential part of a proper golf stance is making sure that your body weight is distributed correctly.
Why is posture important in golf?
The most important thing about posture is to ensure you have the proper spine angle and that your arms can hang freely.
Why do you put weight in the center of your golf ball?
Having the weight in the center will help your stance to stay more in control, and it will cause a lot less leaning forwards and backward as you get into the impact position. When you set up to hit a golf ball, it is ok to have just a little more weight on the right leg (for right-handers).
What happens when your feet are shoulder width apart?
When your feet are shoulder-width apart, your body will have the proper mix of rotational ability and balance. These two factors are most significantly affected by how wide your golf stance is. When your feet are more than shoulder width apart, you will have a lot more balance, but it is difficult to rotate and transfer weight properly.
Where should the 6-iron be on the golf ball?
This is what helps you create the ideal angle of attack. Now hold the top of the 6-iron next to your left shoulder and let it hang naturally down. It should be in line with the middle of your left foot.
How to swing a golf wedge?
With a wedge in hand, take your normal stance. Now hold the top of the wedge next to your left shoulder and let it hang naturally down . It should be in line with the outside of your left foot. The same goes if you drop the club down from your right shoulder towards your right foot.
How to play a 6 iron?
This is what helps you create the ideal angle of attack. Now hold the top of the 6-iron next to your left shoulder and let it hang naturally down. It should be in line with the middle of your left foot. The same goes if you drop the club down from your right shoulder towards your right foot.
Is the width of a stance the same for every club in the bag?
The width of your stance is not the same for every club in the bag. That’s the first and in many ways, most important element to understand here. The basic rule is the longer the club, the wider your stance needs to be.
Why is my stance width important in golf?
Your stance width needs to allow you to get on your left side at impact to rotate freely and avoid injuries. You don’t see a lot of injuries happening during the golf backswing because there’s not as much force and speed happening. But the downswing can cause issues such as back problems, hip problems, and knee problems.
Which side of the golf swing is the most important?
The most important part of the golf swing is getting perfectly stacked on the left side at impact so that you can rotate freely. This is where some of the highest forces in the golf swing occur on your body, on this left side coming in the downswing and into impact. And so this is where a lot of injuries occur.
How to determine proper stance width?
Determining the proper golf stance width is one of those things in golf instruction that there’s a lot of conflicting information on. You've certainly heard all of these before from various golf instructors: Stand really wide so you can be really stable. Stand really narrow so you can rotate better. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart like ...
How to be more stable in sports?
Stand really wide so you can be really stable. Stand really narrow so you can rotate better. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart like you do in other sports. All these recommendations are misinformation even though the intentions may be good.
Can you see the center of your hips?
Obviously you can’t see the center of your hips very well. The knees are pretty easy, but you can kind of figure out where the center of your hips are based on feeling your hip bones and moving an inch and a half or so inside. Here is neutral joint alignment for me.
Golf Ball Positions for Drivers, Woods, Irons, and Wedges
With higher-lofted clubs, you’ll position the ball toward the center of your stance, working your way forward and to your left heel if you’re driving with a right-handed grip.
Golf Ball Positions for the Driver
We’ll start with the big hitter and the club for which the ball should be most forward in the stance — the driver.
Golf Ball Positions for Woods and Hybrids
The golf ball position should gradually move back from the front foot from the driver to the putter.
Golf Ball Positions for Irons
By now, you understand that generally, the ball goes further back in the stance from driver to woods to irons.
Golf Ball Positions for Wedges
For wedges, golf ball positions should be the furthest back, approaching between half and two-thirds of the way back in the stance.
Tips for Stance and How It Relates to Ball Positioning and Your Shot
Your stance and ball positioning go hand in hand for creating magnificent shots.
Can My Stance Cause Me To Top the Golf Ball?
The swing arc is usually why beginner players end up topping the ball. Changing the ball’s position to the centerline is the easiest way to fix the problem.
How far should your feet be to hit a golf ball?
Position your feet close together (approximately 6-8 inches) and turn them 45 degrees toward the target. The majority of your weight is positioned on the front foot while the ball is positioned off the inside of the back foot.
How to hit a draw in golf?
Feet Position for a Draw. If you need to hit a draw set up with a closed stance. Position your feet, knees, hips and shoulders right of the target line.
How to fade a golf ball?
Swing the club down the line and the ball should start straight. Promote a fade by positioning your feet, knees, hips and shoulders left of the target. This is known as an open stance.
How far should a golf ball be from the front foot?
Position the ball in the center of your stance. The ball will move toward the front foot approximately 3-4 inches from the center of your stance. The longer clubs in your bag should be positioned approximately 4-6 inches forward of center in your stance. The ball is positioned directly off the inside of the left foot.
How to make a 90 degree angle?
Start off with your feet shoulder width and point your toes toward the target line. Next, allow the left toe to flare out approximately 30 degrees to the left. The toes on the right foot are normally square and point directly at the target line creating a 90 degree angle.
What is the role of feet in golf?
Feet. , Set Up Position. The golf swing works with a cause and effect relationship. Therefore, the golf setup and feet position play an important role in how you swing the club. The position of your feet is a basic fundamental that has an enormous impact on the golf swing. If you set up to narrow of a stance, it will be nearly impossible ...
Why is stability important in golf?
Stability is necessary to maintain balance throughout the rotational movements of the swing. Therefore, as each club gets longer, allow your feet to get slightly wider to support the rotational movement and wider arc of the swing. Some players prefer to turn their front foot slightly open to the target line. Chip Set Up.
Where to put a golf club on the ground?
Place the butt of the club on the tip of your thumb. That space -- from the top of your thumb to your belt buckle -- represents how far your body should be from the end of the club. From that position you can simply place the club on the ground behind the ball to achieve the proper stance.
How to know how close to stand to the ball?
Guideline. "Golf Digest" offers a simple solution for determining how close to stand to the ball. It all begins with taking a good stance at address. Place your feet shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly flexed and a natural bend at your hips. This places you in a balanced, athletic position.
How does standing from the ball affect your swing?
How far you stand from the golf ball at address will affect your swing. Standing too far away can force you to reach out with the club, with your arms completely straight and your elbows locked -- ruining any chance of a nice, easy swing.
Who said he rarely sees anyone stand too close to the ball?
Tom Watson, one of golf's all-time greats, told "Golf Digest" that he rarely sees anyone stand too close to the ball. Two other golf legends, Byron Nelson and Johnny Miller, have made similar statements, according to Watson.
