In my earlier article I talked about foot alignment and being square to the target. I mentioned the 3 basic stances, but focused on the square stance. In this article I will discuss the open and closed stance in detail, explaining when and how to use them. Also, we must not forget how important our shoulder alignment and the role they play in a golf swing.
The shoulders play the same role as our feet in aligning the ball to the target. If alignment between our feet and shoulders are different, we will never be able to get the ball to the target. Being square to the target (parallel to target line) allows us to aim straight at the target.
The target line is like the scope of a rifle. An imaginary line you draw through the ball towards the target is the target line (ball flight). Think off a rifle, if the barrel is point at the target, but the cross hairs are miss-aligned to the barrel, you'll never hit the target. They both have to point at the target to get the bullet to go straight. It's the same cause and effect between your feet and shoulders.
The square stance is the alignment we use 99.9% of the time. This is the only alignment that will allow you to hit a straight shot. However, there is a time when we need to adjust our stance for the lay of the land or a desired shot shape. These are the open and closed stances.
For the average golfer an open or closed stance is helpful when the ball is above or below your feet.
An open stance is when you take your left foot (right-handed golfer), from parallel and bring it back 1-2 inches. When the ball is above your feet (on a up-slope lie) the shot shape is a natural draw/hook shot shape. To control the flight of your ball and allow a straighter shot, take an open stance, to compensate for the lie. This gives you more control and the ability to aim at the target without guessing on how much of a draw/hook the lie will give you.
A closed stance is just the opposite. It is when you bring back your right foot from parallel and the ball is below your feet. A downhill lie will cause the ball to fade/slice to the right, this will again compensate for the lie.
It gets a little confusing to the average golfer, to meet these compensating stances, because it goes against the basics. When you first take your stance take a square stance to target. Then dropping your foot (only), while keeping your shoulders square to the target is how it works.
To further compensate we aim a little left or right of the target, depending on the lie. But we still aim and how do we aim, by being square to the target.
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