Would this make sense....

Been struggling with my driver lately. Hitting shots right, and way right. And playing with guys I'm normally right out there with, or past them, I was now 20-30 yds behind them. To me it felt like I was getting my weight forward on the follow through (I was hanging back). So I decided to try something yesterday for a few rounds.

I narrowed my stance to shoulder width apart (my driver stance is usually wider than shoulder width) and just swung real easy. Whamo!!!! I was back to launching the ball. Would the narrower stance cause me to improve my weight shift? And would it help with coming at the ball more from the inside? I think with the wider stance it was real easy to stay hanging back on my right leg.


Any thoughts?

Geoff I agree fully with the narrower stance. It deifinitely makes your more balanced and the wider stance may restrict weight shift. I was at the PC and I noticed that most of the pros were set-up with very ordinary shoulder width or less stance for the driver. The only time i could see the wider stance being beneficial is for some one with overactive hips. The other thing I noticed is that the pros swing within themselves.

It is so d@mn easy to get out of sync with the swing. Stance gets a bit too wide, start swinging too hard and suddenly nothing comes into the ball in sync. This is one reason why the pros are fanatical about setup. As soon as you get slightly out of wack with something the cascade effect can be debilitating. Having a solid consistent setup is half the battle (some say more).

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Originally Posted by Geoff Johnston

Been struggling with my driver lately. Hitting shots right, and way right. And playing with guys I'm normally right out there with, or past them, I was now 20-30 yds behind them. To me it felt like I was getting my weight forward on the follow through (I was hanging back). So I decided to try something yesterday for a few rounds.

I narrowed my stance to shoulder width apart (my driver stance is usually wider than shoulder width) and just swung real easy. Whamo!!!! I was back to launching the ball. Would the narrower stance cause me to improve my weight shift? And would it help with coming at the ball more from the inside? I think with the wider stance it was real easy to stay hanging back on my right leg.


Any thoughts?

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You are absolutely correct sir. The wider stance is a bit more stable and powerful, however it makes it more difficult to transfer your weight and can cause you to hang back on your rear leg.
The other thing it can cause is inconsistent ball position. If you play the ball inside your right heel, that heel is a lot more forward from the centre of your body if you are playing a wider stance. So in effect, your ball is well ahead of centre, causing you to hang on to the club a bit more and often producing weak fades and the occasional wild slice :-)
Happens to me all the time... I start driving well, am playing well, full of confidence, then all of a sudden I am wild and weak with the driver. Almost every time it turns out that in my lust to hit the ball further I have gradually widened my stance.

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Originally Posted by 1972Apex

You are absolutely correct sir. The wider stance is a bit more stable and powerful, however it makes it more difficult to transfer your weight and can cause you to hang back on your rear leg.
The other thing it can cause is inconsistent ball position. If you play the ball inside your right heel, that heel is a lot more forward from the centre of your body if you are playing a wider stance. So in effect, your ball is well ahead of centre, causing you to hang on to the club a bit more and often producing weak fades and the occasional wild slice :-)
Happens to me all the time... I start driving well, am playing well, full of confidence, then all of a sudden I am wild and weak with the driver. Almost every time it turns out that in my lust to hit the ball further I have gradually widened my stance.

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Sounds pretty much like what I was going through. I'll keep you posted on my improvement.

I tried this out yesterday...Oddly enough on the range it worked great...low boring ball flight with a smidgeon of draw...On the course however I found I couldn't execute it...other than on the first tee...

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Originally Posted by Geoff Johnston

I narrowed my stance to shoulder width apart (my driver stance is usually wider than shoulder width) and just swung real easy. Whamo!!!! I was back to launching the ball. Would the narrower stance cause me to improve my weight shift? And would it help with coming at the ball more from the inside? I think with the wider stance it was real easy to stay hanging back on my right leg. Any thoughts?

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The reason for your improvement has nothing to do with the width of your stance, but this, obvious statement, "and just swung real easy." In comparing notes with others who were at the PC, two things stood out about the pros' swings. (1) smooth tempo (2) balance. Now that you are swinging smoothly your swing is in proper sequence and in proper balance. Visualize VJ's tempo; it's the best example to follow.

Another truth is that it is a lot easier to consciously shift the weight, if one feels that this is important, with a wide stance and it is easier to stay in balance. Narrow stances more easily cause reverse pivoting and/or hanging back on the right side coming through. Also, ball position should be related to torso, not the feet, for consistency. So many myths.

Lastly, few can argue that Ben Hogan, Moe Norman and George Knudson, were three of the greatest ball strikers ever, and they ALL had WIDE stances. Maybe there was a reason. The wide stance makes it easier to stablize the lower body as the downswing begins, a move necessary for power and accuracy. Of course, those who believe that the lower body is a huge power source, should use a very narrow stance and spin their hips coming down, a wonderful recipe for inconsistency.

What do the teaching gurus suggest you do when it is very windy? If this is good when it's windy it would be even better when it is calm.