The best stance includes some width and slight bend in the knees when driving. One that is wide enough to give you an athletic, powerful stance. Typically, it is wider than shoulder width with a slight bend in the legs, but not too wide to keep you from becoming unathletic and not able to move.
It happened to me during my round of golf yesterday, I started to hit a bad hook with the driver.
Was I getting too quick?
Were my hips flying open?
Was my stance and setup just a bit off?
We have all been there in golf. I had played some solid golf over the past month and now all of a sudden I am struggling with a hook with the driver.
Back to the basics and my understanding of the ball flight laws. I first started with my stance to make sure it is the proper width. After the round I headed to my golf simulator in my garage and found it was one issue:
- My hips were getting ahead of the rest of the shot causing me to get stuck.
However, there is always a cause. As I continued to work on my golf simulator I discovered it was an issue with my stance. My stance had become too narrow and my hips were pushing too far forward.
This cause my mind to know my hands were way behind and I closed it aggressively with my hands to prevent the block shot to the right, resulting in a hook shot to the left.
The problem goes back to the stance.
Golf Stance When Driving
There are some keys to the golf stance that we review below. Here are our top 5 tips!
Below we will take you through our 5 tips to the Golf Stance When Driving:
- Have Proper Stance Width
- Slightly Bend the Knees
- Keep Your Head behind the ball
- Follow These Online Instructors
- Try Different Stances
We also provide a BONUS Tip and Two Examples of the Driver Swing from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory.
Tip #1: Have the Proper Stance Width
For most golfers a basic stance in the golf swing will the best option. You want to have your feet beyond shoulder width in a powerful, wider stance that allows you to make an aggressive turn through the ball without your hips getting too far forward.
The wider stance helps stabilize the body and allows you to move your hands and arms quickly and fast through the swing.
You see the majority of the speed in your golf swing comes from your hands and your arms. Here Is a quick test to prove that. Do these two steps to test your swing speed:
- Take and swing an alignment stick as fast as you can just moving your hands and arms.
- Now take an alignment stick don’t move your arms and hands and only use your body.
Once you do this it becomes rather clear where the speed is coming from. Now, we want our stance width to be the right width to allow the arms and hands to whip through the hitting area and create the maximum speed.
If your stance gets too narrow, especially with the driver, you could lose consistency not only in the contact of the ball, but the curvature of the ball.
We want to be able to control our contact and the curve of the ball, while having enough distance to play the course we are that day. Check out the three fundamentals of the golf swing in Tip #5!
Tip #2: Slightly Bend the Knees
The traditional teaching for much of the past 30 years has been to have a bend in the knees with a straight back. I am here to tell you that this could cause you to be unathletic.
I would recommend having only a slight bend int he knees with a little bit of a rounded back. This allows you to become athletic in the backswing and involved your legs for some added power. We know that the hands and arms create a lot of the speed, the body and the legs control about 10% of the speed.
Arms and hands equal 90%, body and legs the extra 10%.
We want the stance in golf to include a more athletic, less rigid setup.
Here is an excellent video by George Gankas on the proper setup:
In the George Gankas promoted setup, the golfer is standing up more with a slightly rounded back and extends slightly in the backswing so the golfer can engage the ground ont he downswing to maximize speed in the golf swing.
Tip #3: Keep Your Head Behind the Ball
In the golf stance when driving it is essential that we setup with the head slightly behind the ball and make sure the head stays behind the ball throughout the swing.
You have to be careful not to over tilt back towards your back foot in the setup, but a slight angled bend to the right or your back leg allows the head to remain behind the ball.
We have learned from Bobby Lopez that going “offsides’ in the downswing leads to many inconsistencies and issues with the ball striking and the ability to control the curve of the ball.
Have that athletic look at address and then stay somewhat stable in the golf swing with your head behind the ball.
Check out Bobby Lopez and Importance of staying “Onsides”
Tip #4: Follow These Online Instructors
Want a system to follow for your entire golf swing?
The wonderful part about being a student of the golf game in today’s world is the access to the best instructors around. I would highly recommend checking out these instructors listed below.
Not only will they provide guidance on the golf stance when driving, but they all have systems that are easy to understand with plenty of guidance from the instructors when help is needed.
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
What is the best way to swing a golf club – Excellent Post here on great golf instructors
Tip #5: Try Different Stances
Did you know that there have been some great golfers like Lee Trevino that played with an open stance or Arnold Palmer who played with a closed stance.
Or Sam Snead who aimed well to the right and hit a pull draw. The point being is that your golf stance when driving doesn’t have to be perfectly aligned with everything you are doing.
In fact, I would recommend trying out the open stance in golf. Here are 5 tips to help you with the open stance in golf.
Some of the advantages include the ability to get your hips through the ball and allow the club to fall into the slot. Too many golfers get jammed up and slide their hips forward instead of clearing.
By starting with an open stance, it allows you to pre set some rotation and allow the hips to get open enough to allow you to unleash the club through the hitting zone.
Or maybe check out Jim Venetos if you really want something alternative because you play best from a closed stance or your weight way forward. There are many different ways to get to your full potential and a lot of it starts with experimenting.
If you ever feel awkward about your swing, check out our post on the Weirdest Golf Swings of all time. Your swing might start to feel normal after seeing these swings.
In all of our experimentation with the golf swing, we come back to the three fundamentals of the golf swing. While many people often default right ot the stance, grip, and alignment, we believe the 3 fundamentals are actually not those items, but instead the three found below:
The Stack and Tilt Instructors said it best when they described what they believed were the fundamentals of golf. They explained it somewhat similar to this:
- Fundamental #1: The golfer’s ability to control the bottom of the golf swing. The best golfers will hit the ground in the intended spot, close to 100% of the time.
- Fundamental #2: The golfer’s ability to control the curve of the golf ball. The best golfers are able to start the ball to the right or left of the target line and have the ball curve towards the target without the ball over curving past the target.
- Fundamental #3: The golfer’s ability to have enough power to play the golf course. This means they are able to hit the ball far enough to play the course in regulation.
You can reach your full potential with different golf stances and setups. Don’t be scared to fully study all and experiment when you get the chance with each one to see what is best for your game.
You might learn something from one setup that you can apply to the other. Utilize the three fundamentals above to assess where you are at with your game currently and then do a post assessment after you try out one or more of these approaches/methods to the golf swing!
BONUS TIP
Do you wish you could correct your swing and bad shots even while on the golf course?
Have you ever considered the ball flight laws in the game of golf?
I believe every golfer should have this basic understand of the ball flight laws!
Why? If you understand the ball flight laws you can start to become your own swing instructor and make corrections on the range or the course by reading the flight of your golf ball.
Too often golfers turn to the video of their swing when everything you need to know can be read off of your ball flight.
Did you know that your ball flight can tell you the following:
- Where your club face was at impact.
- If your swing path was left or right of the club face.
Once you know these two items you can make the corrections by checking out our 2nd Tip on understanding what swing thoughts can help you get the proper matchups.
So let’s dive into the ball flight laws:
- Generally speaking, the golf ball will start where the club face is aiming.
- The golf ball will then curve away from the swing path.
There are two different lines that we must understand. The target line and the start line. The best golfers start the ball left or right of the target line and then curve the ball back towards the target.
Let’s go over some examples to help you better understand the ball flight laws.
Example A:
Let’s say that the club face is 3 degrees right of the target line and the swing path is 5 degrees right of the target line. What will the ball do?
Answer:
The ball will start right of the target line and draw back towards the target. This is known as a push draw.
Example B:
Let’s say the club face is 3 degrees right of the target line, same as in example A, but the swing path is only 1 degree right of the target line. What will the ball do?
Answer:
The ball will start to the right of the target line and will fade to the right. Keep in mind that the ball will curve away from the swing path. In this example, both the club face and the swing path are to the right and the ball will curve away from the path.
Example C:
Let’s say the club face is 3 degrees to the left of the target line and the swing path is 5 degrees left of the target line. What will the ball do?
Answer:
The ball will start to the left and curve to the right. This would be a pull fade or pull slice. Keep in mind that even though the face is closed to the target line, it is open to the swing path and the ball will curve away from the swing path.
Example D:
Let’s say the club face is 3 degrees to the left and the swing path is only 1 degree to the left. What will the ball do?
Answer:
The ball will start left and curve left. This shot would look like a pull draw.
Hopefully, these examples help you understand the club face and swing path correlation and how they match up. Once you understand these ball flight laws, it will help you read your own shots and possibly make in round adjustments.
Examples of Golf Stance in Driving
Here are two examples of powerful swings in the game of golf. Maybe the most dominant golfer to ever play the game in Tiger Woods and maybe the best driver of the golf ball ever in Rory McIlroy. Check out there swings below and replicate their setup to start.
Tiger Woods – Driver Swing:
Rory McIlory – Driver Swing:
Final Thoughts
Get out there and experiment. Keep the three fundamentals in mind along with the ball flight laws. The understanding and of these concepts will allow you to reach your full potential.
Keep in mind that golf is a journey! Embrace the journey, have fun and the challenge that comes with trying to get better.
We have spelled out our recipe to playing better golf and it starts with taking action today. Check out our Action Steps below:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.
