Closed Stance Advice

[Berty42]

Hey everybody,

i started golfing around 6 years ago, and have always preferred and felt most comfortable with a closed stance. I am a 9 handicap. I recently tried going to a more open stance because of the benefits I've read about an open stance. Since switching, my play has struggled. I hit hooks and pulls from an open stance. With my closed stance I hit the ball straogjt and where i want. I can even work the ball both ways. Should I just stop over thinking and stick with what works for me?

[David in FL]

1 minute ago, Berty42 said:

Hey everybody,

i started golfing around 6 years ago, and have always preferred and felt most comfortable with a closed stance. I am a 9 handicap. I recently tried going to a more open stance because of the benefits I've read about an open stance. Since switching, my play has struggled. I hit hooks and pulls from an open stance. With my closed stance I hit the ball straogjt and where i want. I can even work the ball both ways. Should I just stop over thinking and stick with what works for me?

Are you working with an instructor who you trust, and working towards a longer term improvement goal?  Or are you really just messing around on your own, and really just want to enjoy the game?

If the former, I'd say stick with the plan you and your instructor are working on.  If the latter, I'd just stick with what has worked for you in the past, and play golf and have fun!

[Berty42]

4 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Are you working with an instructor who you trust, and working towards a longer term improvement goal?  Or are you really just messing around on your own, and really just want to enjoy the game?

If the former, I'd say stick with the plan you and your instructor are working on.  If the latter, I'd just stick with what has worked for you in the past, and play golf and have fun!

I have never taken lessons. I've heard mixed reviews. Some friends loved them, some hated them. I just golf for fun, I'll never play any competitive golf other than golf leagues and scrambles. I love scrambles! I just love to golf. 

[zipazoid]

Without seeing your swing, my guess would be you have an overactive lower body which the closed stance keeps in check - hard to over-fire the hips & legs through the ball from a closed stance. So it's a compensation move for another flaw in your swing, and they cancel each other out, thus straight shots. 

So you can either get with a pro & work on a square stance & proper lower body movement thru the ball....or groove what you got. 

I will relate a story of when I was in my early 20's - up until that point I had gotten pretty decent at the game, 4 or 5 handicap. But I had an interlocking too-strong grip, and I was always fighting a hook, especially under pressure. A number of pros told me that I simply will not get better until I addressed my grip, that I had gotten as far as I was going to get with a flawed grip. So I changed to an overlap grip & sucked for a couple of years. But then, they were right. I was able to become much more of a shotmaker with the more neutral grip.

So, in your instance, it could be two steps back before moving forward. Are you willing to do that?

Edited June 9, 2017 by zipazoid

[David in FL]

27 minutes ago, zipazoid said:

Without seeing your swing, my guess would be you have an overactive lower body which the closed stance keeps in check - hard to over-fire the hips & legs through the ball from a closed stance. So it's a compensation move for another flaw in your swing, and they cancel each other out, thus straight shots. 

So you can either get with a pro & work on a square stance & proper lower body movement thru the ball....or groove what you got. 

I will relate a story of when I was in my early 20's - up until that point I had gotten pretty decent at the game, 4 or 5 handicap. But I had an interlocking too-strong grip, and I was always fighting a hook, especially under pressure. A number of pros told me that I simply will not get better until I addressed my grip, that I had gotten as far as I was going to get with a flawed grip. So I changed to an overlap grip & sucked for a couple of years. But then, they were right. I was able to become much more of a shotmaker with the more neutral grip.

So, in your instance, it could be two steps back before moving forward. Are you willing to do that?

Just out of curiosity, how much lower in handicap than the prior 4-5 did you ultimately get to, after having withstood "sucking for a couple of years"...?

[saevel25]

It's hard to say with out seeing your swing on video. 

It might be interesting to see you hit a ball with an open versus a closed stance from the DTL view. Have you set up a My Swing thread yet? 

[zipazoid]

56 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Just out of curiosity, how much lower in handicap than the prior 4-5 did you ultimately get to, after having withstood "sucking for a couple of years"...?

I was close to scratch, maybe a 2 at worse. The previous handicap was prob more in the 7-8 range...breaking 80 was considered a success. Afterwards, I broke par a few times & would routinely shoot 75 or better. But the main thing is, I just hit the ball so much better & was able to eliminate the right side (I'm a lefty - hook goes right) of any hole. 

[Berty42]

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

It's hard to say with out seeing your swing on video. 

It might be interesting to see you hit a ball with an open versus a closed stance from the DTL view. Have you set up a My Swing thread yet? 

I haven't set one up. I'm fairly new to the forum. Is that something I should try?

[Berty42]

3 hours ago, zipazoid said:

Without seeing your swing, my guess would be you have an overactive lower body which the closed stance keeps in check - hard to over-fire the hips & legs through the ball from a closed stance. So it's a compensation move for another flaw in your swing, and they cancel each other out, thus straight shots. 

So you can either get with a pro & work on a square stance & proper lower body movement thru the ball....or groove what you got. 

I will relate a story of when I was in my early 20's - up until that point I had gotten pretty decent at the game, 4 or 5 handicap. But I had an interlocking too-strong grip, and I was always fighting a hook, especially under pressure. A number of pros told me that I simply will not get better until I addressed my grip, that I had gotten as far as I was going to get with a flawed grip. So I changed to an overlap grip & sucked for a couple of years. But then, they were right. I was able to become much more of a shotmaker with the more neutral grip.

So, in your instance, it could be two steps back before moving forward. Are you willing to do that?

When you say too strong grip, do you mean both hands turned a little to the right? I have experimented with and overlap grip with some success. It feels like my hands work s little more in unison rather than letting the right hand do most of the work. 

[zipazoid]

19 minutes ago, Berty42 said:

When you say too strong grip, do you mean both hands turned a little to the right? I have experimented with and overlap grip with some success. It feels like my hands work s little more in unison rather than letting the right hand do most of the work. 

Correct. Grip the club in the fingers, not the palms. 

[zipazoid]

A picture might help -