what is widening stance in golf

Full Answer

Is it better to have a wide or narrow stance in golf?

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.

Is a wide golf stance good?

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.

How does width of stance affect golf swing?

0:191:35Golf Stance Width - 60 Sec Golf Tips - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIf you stand too wide you're going to have to shift your hips all over the place which is going toMoreIf you stand too wide you're going to have to shift your hips all over the place which is going to move your head you stand too narrow you're not to have a stable enough base.

What is a wider stance?

wide stance (plural wide stances) (slang, euphemistic, sometimes humorous) homosexuality (as an attribute of a person)

What happens if your golf 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.

How wide should stance be with driver?

With the driver, the longest club in the bag, you should aim for a stance width similar to the width of your shoulders. In general, the stronger you are, i.e. the wider your shoulders, the harder you will probably hit a golf ball.

How wide should stance be with irons?

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.

What is the best stance for driving a golf ball?

1:209:40Proper Golf Stance for Driver vs Irons - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBasically shoulder width apart is a good guideline. For almost all golfers. So go back to theMoreBasically shoulder width apart is a good guideline. For almost all golfers. So go back to the process. Here feet together ball in the center. Little separate separates from about shoulder width apart.

How wide should your feet be in a golf swing?

Your feet need to be shoulder width apart, with the weight on the balls of the feet. This will help provide good stability. Stand too narrow and you'll fall over - or subconsciously swing less to stay balanced. Stand too wide, and your body won't be as free to strike the ball powerfully.

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.

How do I widen my car stance?

8 Simple Ways to Make Your Car Look WiderAdd Wider Wheels. Wider wheels is the number one way to make your car look wider. ... Add Wheels with Less Offset. ... Add Fender Flares/ Over-Fenders. ... Bend the Fenders Outward. ... Add Aero Pieces. ... Buy a wide body kit. ... Lower the car. ... Add a Wide Racing Stripe.

What is wide stance in golf?

Wide Stance Equals Rotational Swing. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of golf swings – those that derive the majority of their power from lateral movement, and those that get most of their power from rotation. When you use a wide stance, you are committing to the rotational form of power creation.

Why is a wide stance important in golf?

A wide stance is a big help in terms of remaining balanced during the golf swing, which will always be one of the key ingredients in proper technique. As a result of that balance, you should start to feel great about your swing after just a little bit of practice time on the range.

What is the difference between a wide stance and a narrow stance?

With a wide stance, you will have a stable base that you allow you to swing aggressively without falling off balance. A narrow stance may feel more comfortable, but keeping your feet in close together doesn't provide you much in the way of stability – especially with the longer clubs.

How to make your swing stance wider?

If you decide to use a wider stance, you will also need to make sure that the rest of your swing technique lines up with your new address position.

How to make a full swing in golf?

Start your backswing, stopping at the 10:00 position. On the downswing, stop the club at 2:00 – in other words, well short of a normal follow-through. Once you're making consistently solid contact, move on to making full swings. Widen Stance to Add Power and Accuracy.

How to hit a shot with a driver?

With your driver in hand, take your normal stance and address the ball as if you were going to hit a shot. However, before you start your swing, stand up out of your posture while keeping your feet in place. Look down and examine the width of your stance.

What does it mean when your feet are too close together?

Standing with your feet too close together – meaning anything less than shoulder width apart for the driver – limits the arc of your swing and creates an overly steep path to the ball. This can cause popped-up drives and other assorted mishits.

Why Does a Wider Stance Help in Golf?

The swing is the movement performed with the club to play the ball off the green. The swing is personal, and everyone has to find their own type and try making small changes over time through practice.

How to Improve Your Golf Stance?

You can do a simple exercise to improve your stance. Repeat a set of squats 10 minutes a day for the strengthening of your lower body. There are different ways to do this exercise, alternating the series so as not to get bored every day with the same movement:

Does A Wider Stance Help In Golf Conclusion

We hope the information above has answered your question, does a wider stance help in golf? A wider stance is always better than a narrow one, especially when you’re playing with drivers or irons, where the aim is to make a powerful shot at achieving more distance.

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.

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 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 is a narrow stance better for junior golfers?

Some juniors do better with a slightly wider stance because they can feel more balanced and in control. Women seem to have an easier time turning and creating a better tempo when the stance is narrow.

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 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.

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.

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 ...

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.

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.

How does a wide stance help in golf?

Wide stance can reduce lateral movement. A wide stance can reduce swaying, or lateral movement, by keeping the golfer more centred. This can help to achieve better rotation during the golf swing. Too much lateral movement during the swing tends to make proper rotation and hip motion very difficult.

What is the correct stance in golf?

As with most things in golf, the correct stance will depend on your swing tendencies and body flexibility/limitations. Don’t be afraid to experiment with stance width to find out what works for you. You may find a narrow stance helps you turn better. But you may find a wide stance helps your balance.

Why is a wide stance important?

A wide stance can benefit golfers who have problems with balance and particularly those with a large amount of lateral movement during the swing. If you are someone that struggles with balance, be sure to check the width of your stance and feel free to experiment with a wider stance.

Why is a narrow stance better than a wide stance?

Better weight shift (particularly in downswing & followthrough) Whilst a wide stance can help to keep you centred and improve balance, it can make it much more difficult to turn.

How to improve ball striking with all clubs?

Narrow stance can improve ball striking with all clubs. Unless you are a very skilled golfer, you could probably improve your body rotation. All the best ball strikers have excellent rotation through impact. This prevents the clubhead from passing the hands and leads to consistent contact.

What is Bubba Watson's stance?

Look at the image below where his stance is less than shoulder width wide, even with a mid iron. Bubba Watson’s narrow iron stance.

What is the best way to strike a golf ball?

Narrow stance for better ball striking. A narrow stance can help your ball striking throughout the bag. Typically it can make the biggest difference with the longer clubs, since this is where you normally take a wide stance. Narrow stance can improve ball striking with all clubs.

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.

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 ...

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 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.

jamie

Should it be measured from the heals? My teacher always checked everything from the heals because the toes are misleading...if one or both are flared.

firstbatch

Seems like a W.O.O.D. tip...works only one day. I do not follow your correlation that a wider stance would lead to a shallowing of the swing plane. My focus on stance width is on the heels and most certainly changes a bit based upon club and shot. But generally the heels stay squarely under the the hip socket and toes are flared.

blink3665

I am in the opposite boat. My instructor narrowed my stance. I always had a wide stance because I wanted a sturdy base to swing from. It turns out that my wide stance was restricting my hips and I wasn't able to power through the shot. My lower body woudl stop rotating prematurely. Different strokes (swings) for different folks!

butch33611

I tried this today at the range and had the same results as you did. more solid contact and felt much more in control of my swing.I'm interested in trying this during an actual round. thank you for posting your find.

tgss

I think you are on to something as after I watched Rocco Mediate and Jimmy Ballard on the Golf Channel Acadamy (its on You Tube), I tried a wider more athletic stance and shot a 74. I also minimized my grip pressure and tried relaxing the arm muscles and this really helped me flush so many more shots.

russc1597187869

Width of stance should be measured from the heels and is partially dependent on the width of your shoulders.One of the goals of the correct stance is to setup and maintain a STABLE base throughout the swing.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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 do you play the ball with a wedge in your hand?

The ball moves towards the front foot as clubs change. Generally speaking, with a wedge in your hand, you will play the ball right in the middle of your stance.