Vary Your Golf Stances Depending On What Shot You Are Trying To Hit

Golf stances can vary slightly depending on what club you are hitting and what shot you are trying to play. A basic stance with a full swing iron should be about shoulder width apart. You want to have your feet in line or parallel with your target line on a basic golf shot. Misalignment with your feet in your golf stance can promote hitting the golf ball off line either to the right or left of your target.

A closed golf stance refers to having your left foot slightly ahead of your right. This can be used in the driver swing and will promote hitting more of a draw golf shot. An open stance is where your left foot is pulled back a bit behind your right foot. An open golf stance is helpful for short game shots, particularly chips and pitches.

When you are trying to work the golf ball from left to right, a slightly open stance can help this. Opening your stance will allow the club to swing more from out to in thus putting left to right sidespin on the golf ball. A closed stance will do the opposite. Closing the stance by putting the left foot forward helps you swing the golf club on more of an in to out path which will put right to left spin on the ball.

Greenside bunker shots require an open stance as well as an open clubface. If your target line out of a sand bunker is 12 o'clock, your feet should be open along the line of 11 o'clock. You'll hit better sand shots with out to in swing path. You want your club to swing slightly across the ball as you come through the sand which will help to get the ball out of the bunker.

When you are hitting your driver, it's helpful to make your stance slightly wider than shoulder width. Since the driver is a longer club, you'll have a wider swing arc with it. A wider stance will help give you a more solid and stable base to swing and coil around in your golf swing.

On shorter shots with chipping and pitching, having a narrower stance can help you. You want to minimize lower body movement with short shots so a narrow stance will allow this. There won't be much weight shift with chipping either. An open stance with chip shots will help you get through the ball easier at impact and put a touch of cut spin on the ball so it can stop quicker on the green.