Open Driving Stance

[Topper]

I've struggled making consistent contact with driver with many topped or thin shots.  I've opened my stance slightly pulling my lead foot a about 6" behind me but otherwise setup normally.  I don't make a big back swing (I can't really anyway due to back issues) but it seems that having my hips already set a little open allows me to get my weight forward easier with better extension on my follow through.

I'm not a big hitter but was 3 yards short of a drive-able par 4 yesterday which put me at about 260 yards on the drive.  Very long for me but I was probably averaging around 225 yards given that I don't always hit the center of the club face.  Except for the occasional miss-hit, my ball flight path was straight, draw, and push draw.  I'm good with those.

Time will tell but it seems dropping the lead foot about 6" combined with a controlled back swing and keeping tension out of my grip and arms has made a big difference.  Does this make sense?  It seems amazing to me that a modest adjustment in my lead foot could have such a big impact. However, I'm sure that it's not a PGA-approved stance.

[carpediem4300]

you have probably had your feet aiming at the your target, meaning your ball line to target has been way right, thus when you swing at target you get topped/thinned/slices

now you have moved your left foot back your feet are most likely pointing left of target, but means your ball target line is correct, so both your feet line and ball line run parralel to your swing path and the target line.

I had this issue for years, as soon as i dropped my lead foot it went away, turns out when my mate told me of my aim it was well off

[Gresh24]

I have done the same thing and am hitting my drives much straighter and farther.  It looks a little unorthodox, but it works.

[Topper]

I guess that makes sense.  I did tend to miss right when I made solid contact before opening my stance.  And again, the right side misses were almost always pushes.  I've never really had much of a slice with the driver.

Last weekend, I went back to a square (I think) stance and focused on swinging with minimal tension and getting my weight forward on the follow through. I wanted to see how I would drive the ball when I returned to a more orthodox stance.  Unfortunately, I spent very little time on the fairway and ended up hitting a record number of trees trying to advance the ball from bad positions.  I contemplated taking one club out of my bag and replacing it with a chainsaw.

This week I went back to an open stance and driving consistency improved almost immediately.  I like being in the fairway and avoiding penalties from out-of-bounds or lost balls.  It has literally been an almost automatic drop of 10-15 strokes off my score.  I still miss-hit, but it's a lot less frustrating when it's not every time.  I'm going to stick with the open stance for a while and see what happens over time.  I just wanted to see if others have adopted a similar solution with their driver stance.

[Gresh24]

Yeah, I feel like I'm not really fixing anything, but it's working.  It helps me get through the ball and hit it straight.  I've actually got into a groove with my driver for the first time because of this stance.

[mdl]

I did this for a while too.  In the end I wanted to figure out how to control my swing path and weight and whatnot with a square stance, but playing the open stance on the driver for a while was a helpful step towards that for me.  Take it to the range and try going back and forth between the two and feel out exactly why the open stance works and the square one doesn't.

Notice that if you're still hitting some push draws with your stance 6" open you're coming WAY in-to-out with your swing path relative to your foot line at least. One thing I've found that helped me move back from hitting with such an open stance was to remember that on the driver setup your front shoulder is not only a bit higher than the back but your shoulder line should also be slightly open to the target line.  My hips are even a tiny bit open to the target line at setup I believe.  Setting up that way helps me ingrain that feeling that I need to clear enough not to block or have to jerk through at the last minute, which lead to pushes and slices.  It also lets you still FEEL like you're taking a swing with a HUGE in-to-out path, but since you set up with open shoulders, the path becomes just a standard draw path rather than a push draw with 6" open stance swing path.

[The Recreational Golfer]

I tried the Lee Trevino setup and swing last winter and spring. It worked really well, especially with a driver, but was pretty hard on my back, so I gave it up.