Flaring of the feet at address

[MikeLowry5]

I see people doing it, some advocate it, but why?

What physically does it do? Does it allow you to do more or less of something (i.e. swaying, hip turn, etc)?

Advantages? Disadvantages?

[mdl]

I've wondered about this too. I keep my feet pretty much perpendicular to the target line, maybe my front foot is flared a few degrees, but never the 30˚ you see advocated a lot. When I try flaring the front feet generally I feel it it encourages me to lose my spine tilt and over-rotate my hips and especially my shoulders, leading to an OTT move and a pull or slice. Of course, that could just be because of other swing faults I have, but I've wondered what the reason behind the front foot flare is.

[Leftygolfer]

I flare my front foot maybe 20 degrees or so. The reason?? I've heard it presets your hips a little open so you don't have to turn as hard to have them open at impact. Its not something I think to much about now. It is just confortable to me. I honestly think it has very little impact on the effectiveness of my move and just something I picked up years ago from Pelz's Short game bible when I was working on my wedges and it stuck.

[TourSpoon]

The front foot out allows you to turn through just a bit easier than if it is square. I just started flaring the back foot out a smidge to allow a better hip turn, which helps the overall turn. When you get a little older or you are not that flexible it can assist in getting to the correct position.

[mdl]

So as a guy who's very flexible for a guy, should this basically not matter one way or the other until I'm older and getting stiff?

[MikeLowry5]

I am a big believer in having evidence or reason to why you think a certain way. This goes for your beliefs in politics, religion, etc as well as golf. So when it comes to the swing I always like to wonder why I do something or to figure out why a top instructor says this is the best way to swing.

For me I notice that my stance tends to be more balanced and I stay off my toes when my feet are flared. Additionally, it does feel like it helps make a good rotation in both the back swing and the actual swing.

Take note that I write feel as I have not seen a video comparison between perpendicular feet and flared feet Mike :)

[iacas]

Flared feet help to turn your knees out and to allow your hips to turn more effectively in the backswing and to push your knee (and thus hip) forward on the downswing.

[TourSpoon]

So as a guy who's very flexible for a guy, should this basically not matter one way or the other until I'm older and getting stiff?

Well, I found that by not flaring the back foot, I was inadvertently restricting my turn...if it is not a problem then don't fix it...some people can get away with the back foot square...I would still flare the front though to help you get through the ball.

[keiko]

A former teacher of mine, phil ritson, used to term it "duck feet" He advocated flaring both feet. The front foot flare is to allow better follow through and the rear foot flare is to allow better shoulder turn. I still do this although minimally.

I see people doing it, some advocate it, but why?

[WUTiger]

I used to flare both feet, but now flare just the front foot. I have the back foot square - it lessens chance I will overswing on backswing.