After the grip, how we stand up to the ball is the next most important fundamental. Most people do not realize how poor posture and alignment can immediately affect the golf swing.

For instance, if you stand up too upright, you will likely take the club too low and too far to the inside on your takeaway. If you are too hunched over, you will likely take the too far outside and too steeply.

In both cases, you immediately go off the swing plane and you will have to re-route the club at some point. If you are not successful in doing that, you will hit the ball inconsistently.

The keys to a proper stance are as follows:

1. Your feet, knees, hips, arms, shoulders and eyes should all be aligned parallel to your target line.

2. You should find yourself in an athletic stance….
a. feet shoulder width apart
b. knees slightly bent and turned inward toward each other
c. bent slightly at the waist…usually about 25 to 30 degrees. The longer the club in your hand, the less bend there will be.
d. arms hang down directly under the shoulders so that the hands are not too far or too close to the body when holding the club
e. back straight
f. chin is not tucked into the chest, but up a little bit
g. weight evenly distributed between each foot
h. weight should be just behind the balls of the feet…not on toes and not on heels

3. Your ball position will vary depending upon the club in your hands. Most shots played with a wedge through a 5 or 6 iron will be played in the middle of your stance. The longer the club, the more forward we place the ball in our stance, assuming a flat lie.

4. Your hands for most shots should be even with the golf ball. This will allow the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders to be directly in front of you. We do not want this triangle angled too far forward, with a strong forward press of the hands as this will take loft off of the club. We do not want this triangle tilted backward, as this will add loft to the club.

5. The right shoulder will be tilted slightly lower than the left simply because the right hand (if you are a right-handed player) is below the left hand on the club. However, we do not want more of a tilt than needed.

Face-on view of golf stance. Notice how I keep the triangle formed by my arms and shoulders right in front of my body. In this case, I am holding a 7 iron and I have positioned the ball in the middle of my stance. As you proceed through your clubs to the longer clubs with less loft, you will move the ball more forward in your stance as shown.

This is the down the line view of the stance. While remaining comfortable, you should try to keep your back as straight as possible. Your feet, knees, hips, shoulders and eyes should all be lined up parallel to your target line. Your hands should hang directly under your shoulders with short to mid irons. With longer clubs, you will stand a little taller and your hands will be a little further away from your body.

Your weight should be distributed evenly between both feet, and it should be centered just behind the balls of the feet. That pretty much covers stance and posture.

As you notice, there is a lot of detail involved in developing a proper stance. Well, that is certainly not by
accident. Watch the pros, especially those with the great swings like Tiger, Louis Ouisthiuzen, Justin Thomas, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, etc, and you will notice how they stand over the ball in similar positions.

In the video below I discuss the setup further.