How close should your feet be?

[slugger]

I'm confused.

The pro i've been getting lessons off said i should keep my feet the same distance apart for each and every shot.

The pro i had the fortune of playing with in a pro-am earlier in the week said that i should concentrate on narrowing my stance as i go down towards the wedges to bring more control into my short game.

The pro i've been getting lessons from is relatively young but is playing on the European Challenge Tour. The pro i played with earlier in the week has about 20 years more experience, currently plays on the tartan tour and that's all i know.

They are both very very good golfers and both appear to know what they are talking about.

Who's correct?

 

[KeefG]

I was taught off my pro that I should have a wide stance for my driver, gradually getting narrower through the long & middle irons to a quite narrow stance for the short irons & wedges.

To be honest, if I had the same wide stance with my wedge as I do with my driver it would just feel plain wrong!!

 

[bobmac]

I was taught off my pro that I should have a wide stance for my driver, gradually getting narrower through the long & middle irons to a quite narrow stance for the short irons & wedges.

To be honest, if I had the same wide stance with my wedge as I do with my driver it would just feel plain wrong!!

Perfick

 

[KeefG]

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.....I posted something that was correct!

I'm now a bona fide expert and shall be lurking in this board more often lol

 

[JustOne]

Who's correct?

Well it depends whether you are 'old skool' or new.

I try to play every club with the same width stance and every ball in the same position, 2 inches inside my left heel. In theory the only thing that changes is that the ball moves a fraction further away as the clubs get longer.
This means that my body KNOWS where the ball is going to be everytime and I just make my normal swing.

As soon as you are shaping shots, eg: hitting into the wind, trying to hook round trees, chipping or playing bunker shots etc, then you have to adjust ball position, grip, stance, alignment, weight shift etc regardless of how you normally set up or position the ball.

A pro (who I trust) told me "why have 14 different ball positions combined with 14 different stance widths - too many variables. Just put the ball in the same place everytime and hit it". It works for me and has made my ballstriking much more consistant.

As I've heard from this forum - there are many ways to skin a cat so ultimately it's down to you which you opt for. I'd rather go with upcoming advice than something 20 years old.... didn't they have hickory shafts back then? <wink>

As an aside: I don't think narrowing your stance towards your wedges is going to make you any more stable...on the contrary, probably less stable. If you're chipping of course then you can put your feet together if you want, open your stance and clip them off the turf....but that's when you are very close around the green, not 120 yards away trying to hit a full gapwedge.

With your driver you can opt for a wider stance. Widening your stance will restrict your weight transfer - but that's alright with a driver as it's OK to lean BACK when hitting your driver (if you want).

 

[The23rdman]

It also kinda depends a little on the type of swing you have. If you're a more core driven rotary swinger you'll tend to have a wider stance than a classic 2 planer who's driving with the lower body more.

 

[bobmac]

I'm not saying anymore

 

[slugger]

neither am i!!! now more confused than before!!!!

i think i'll just go to the range and experiment and see how i get on.

 

[JustOne]

neither am i!!! now more confused than before!!!!

i think i'll just go to the range and experiment and see how i get on.

Well you could hit your 3-iron off your front foot with a wide stance and the ball further away from you making sure you get right through it so as not to block it, your 7-iron from the middle of your stance and a medium distance ball position, and your wedge from your back foot, ball close to your toes, trying not to get too far ahead of it, shut down the face and narrow your stance and resist the urge to fat it, thin it or shank it.

OR

Try playing every ball with the same stance and ball position (a couple of inches left of center) and hit them nicely.

Simples

 

[KeefG]

Try playing every ball with the same stance and ball position (a couple of inches left of center) and hit them nicely.

Simples

Surely that is going to affect, probably quite severely, the flight of a lot of clubs, specifically the driver which I would imagine would lose at least a couple of degrees of loft due to not striking the ball on the up. And also the wedges are going to be far too lofted when played from that position as they will be played on the up and not when driving down onto them?

I'm no pro, but that advice sounds like cack to me