The Progression
Phase One: 5-8 Weeks
250 balls a day getting used to set-up. Create your unique Open Stance set-up routine and get used to the visual (Target) as you intend to hit your ball straight at your target with perfect contact.
Phase Two: 5-8 weeks
250 balls a day making set-up adjustments to optimize impact precision and directional control. Grip, foot orientation, hips and shoulder orientation, and ball position are in the frame. No one chooses the wrong path. Create patterns before adopting or discarding any idea.
Phase Three: 5-8 weeks
250 balls a day demanding your set-up elements are exactly repeated, and that your contact, start line, intended shot, and their necessary motion are physiologically precise.
My own progression with only a video camera and 1,500 balls a day (Five Teaching Baskets) came in one month once my club was on plane. I had a wicked across-the-line set to expel first, which alone took a month. However, after two months, I was on my way to creating any shot I wanted, so my goal became counting the number of mishits I had each day. Then how many shots fell outside of my tolerances.
At first it was too many to keep count. When I walked away from playing four months later, in August 2002 to take a club pro job, I was down to five or less of both. Don’t ask why I chose not to play. I’m just an idiot.
My target area was either AT a post on the range, or one degree to either side of it. That is three feet at 100 yards and six feet at two hundred. I never enjoyed anything as much as hitting practice balls for those Spring and Summer months.
What I learned about swinging my golf club allows me to practice less and maintain perfect impact and shot-shaping ability to this day. With practice to regain balance, I can reclaim precision very quickly. You can, too.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
Everyone Improves With An Open Stance!
Everyone improves with an Open Stance! Over the years, I’ve noticed the direct correlation between choice of set up and success. Furthermore, I am witness with my students that choosing an Open Stance results in, without exception, improved ball-striking.
I used 2020 to show my students how set-up triggers our adaptive instincts and athleticism. Of course, only from an Open Stance are our most efficient solutions created. We have, nonetheless, seen many people dabble without doing any intentional thing with their set-up.
We don’t concern ourselves with doubters and stealers who like to use ephemeral facts to support their own conclusions. Let ‘em struggle, I say. My dedicated students are discovering truth about athleticism.
We know everyone is wired perfectly to adapt most efficiently to set-up. It’s just that closed set-ups don’t allow the variety of shots an Open Stance allows. Additionally, our Open Stance allows distance AND precision, which a closed stance precludes.
2020 has been a fine, fun, and fortress-building endeavor for myself and the Open Stance Academy. On top of the tremendous improvement each of my applicants has achieved, they have discovered that achievement is the foundation of happiness. Listen to Moe Norman talk about golf beside the fire – 17:00.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
Lag In A Golf Swing Is The Expression Of Submission To Technique
Lag in a golf swing is the expression of our submission to technique. Not every golfer can do it. Usually, people who equate distance with backswing length are some of the shortest hitters. It’s not because they lack speed, but solid contact. Again, usually, contact is a path issue.
Our belief that “a turn” is the key to distance makes us do some silly things. For example, we flare out our back foot, swing our arms up, cup our leading wrist, etc. For some reason, in an effort to gain a backswing that has nothing to do with speed production… we destroy our swing.
Lag is evidence of efficiency. Efficiency is economy of motion. Not surprisingly, both effects are an outcome of an Open Stance. Moreover, if you’ve read my book, you know how these things fit into a more perfect hole (sic).
I was watching Moe Norman videos, and stumbled onto Graves’ Moe videos. He and another Moe profiteer were talking about Moe’s sand-game prowess, saying Moe used his Sandy Andy sand wedge so he didn’t have to open his stance. I took special notice, so I scrolled back the video.
Graves and friend said Moe wasn’t comfortable opening his stance. I watched three minutes later and ten minutes later that Moe arranged himself drastically open on EVERY sand shot he hit. Not coincidentally, the two opportunists recommended focusing on the “Motion” in Moe’s swing. Strange, huh?
Lag is a change in plane. Therefore, Graves’ “One-Plane-Swing” is a distinction without a difference. We only have one plane to obey to hit a golf ball, and we need only meet our plane at impact. Furthermore, we can employ the goofiest move on earth to get to impact and be no different than Magic Moe’s “Unique” swing. With enough practice, ANY motion will work From ANY set-up orientation.
However, efficient swings mean less stress on our body to generate powerful, repeatable motion. Certain movement stresses our body and must, therefore, thrown into the failure-ridden, golf-swing-idea dumpster. For example, stressing our hips by torquing into impact to generate power, and posting on our front knee and hip are first among our most egregious stressors.
I fear I’ve rambled away from Lag, but suffice it to say lag requires a trailing elbow inside the trailing hip prior to impact. The next time you get a chance, watch this video. I’ll give Todd some views.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/create-lag/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/moe-norman-quietly-pursued-answers/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/first-ill-show-you-are-athletic/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/second-youre-a-genius/
Our Shoulders Hook Our Golf Ball, Not Our Hands
Our shoulders hook our golf ball, not our hands. How many times have you heard that? Not many, if any. Attention is always focused on what the club or our hands are doing, which distracts from the underlying causality… our set up. Therefore, allow me to explain the chain to your growing brain.
Where does the plane point?
“The plane” points at our interpreted target, regardless of our foot, hips, and shoulders orientation. Of course, that does not mean we OBEY the plane with our movement. Most don’t. Hence, the only common function left for golf instruction publications to address is our clubface and hands, because we all have to hold the club to swing it…. and our club usually has a clubface.
If you’ve ready my book, The Open Stance and Three Short Game Lessons, you know shoulder rotation matters. Shoulder rotation matters because it either guides our club path or disconnects from our club path. However, disconnection is our interest here. Therefore, how does our shoulder/path disconnection work at impact to hook our ball? Let’s start with the most common axioms for snappers.
“I got quick from the top.” “I didn’t finish my backswing.” “I cast the club.” That last axiom is my favorite, because it is common among absolute novices. Most importantly, all of these are either false or athletic incidentals. From whom did we learn to deceive ourselves about our golf swing chain of causality? There is a reason we swing badly, and set-up is always the reason. When our swing is required to correct a set-up flaw – IT WILL FAIL. So… the hook.
When our shoulders open and close too fast to control, we are standing more upright. We stand more upright when the ball is above our feet or we stand too close to the ball. We stand too close to the ball as a self-protective instinct when we are nervous. We are only trying to get our leading shoulder far enough away from our ball to make solid impact. However, in doing so, we have to shallow the steepening of open shoulders at impact. We do it in a split second.
We stand up to shallow our plane, which shifts our path inside-out to our shoulder position. But, our arms and hands are now independent contractors. WE are USING our hands and arms to CORRECT our mistake at set-up. But, it’s impossible. Our brain tells our arms and hands to keep the club face open, but our leading arm rotates with the direction of our shoulders. Our hands flip our club out toward the target, but its too late. Horizontal shoulder rotation has claimed its prize – the dreaded snap-hook.
Why do we stand too close to our ball or find ourselves too close to the ball at impact? Balance could be one answer. We are either keeping our balance or losing our balance, right? Let’s assume we are in balance. What set-up situation allows our swing to be in balance yet promote a leading shoulder bias that is too close to our ball at impact? A closed set-up, of course.
Why do we tend to set up closed? Because our leading shoulder is the only visual reference point between our eyes and the target. The offset between eyes and shoulder (due to neck length) skew our perceptions under stress. We can unscrew ourselves if we practice an Open Stance set-up routine and philosophy. Of course, I’m not suggesting we cannot hit bad shots from an Open Stance. I AM saying we hit far fewer with the same amount of discipline and practice as when we set up square or closed.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/displacing-every-golfers-darker-impulses-with-an-open-stance/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/open-shaping-lower/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/open-stance-moves-us-further-from-our-ball-at-impact/
Why Is The Chip And Run Recommended ? Think Of Your Best Answer, And I’ll Tell You Next Week.
Why is the chip and run recommended? Think of your best answer, and I’ll tell you next week. In the meantime, consider the motivation for not hearing the answer over the last fifty years. It was there – ready for absorption – and yet it was withheld. Who benefitted? For shame, golf instruction industry. For shame.
Okay, here we go…. The chip and run is our lowest, club head-speed option for moving our golf ball the required distance in the air. Make note of which body parts we use to move our club for any MPH point on the speed dial. We use rotation, arms, and wrists for maximum speed shots. So, what do we use to move the club head more slowly. Rather, what muscles/body parts are NOT needed to move slowly?
Our hands and wrists are closest to our ball and contain our smallest, swinging muscles. We certainly don’t need small muscle groups to swing slower. Wrists are last to be added in generating speed, so wrists are the first subtracted when minimizing speed.
Our arms are next. You may think we need our arms to hinge and move for chip-and-run shots, but we don’t. Yes, arms are attached to our hands and wrists. However, arms too, contain muscles too easily affected by nerves and are without mass sufficient to reliably deliver predictable speed and resist impact without our, standout, slow-speed, predictable-delivery body part – our torso.
Only our torso rotation is needed to hit low-speed, chip-and-run shots. Our biggest, mobile chipping muscles are in our torso. Moreover, we create impact-resistance by connecting our hands, wrists, arms, and our torso into force far greater than even a long-grass lie can provide. Exceptional lies do occur. But exceptional lies usually require speed uncommon in chip-and-run shots.
If you observe PGA and LPGA players, all their chip-and-run shots are shoulder/rotation-driven. Thank you for reading.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
Is Your Positioning Impeding Your Progress?
Is your positioning impeding your progress? Let me ask you…. Have you ever see someone rehearse the perfect backswing, then completely disregard that movement in their actual shot? If so, you saw their rehearsed positioning impede their progress. When we concentrate on the position instead of how to get there, we direct our attention to the wrong intention.
By focusing on your positioning, your brain’s logical side fools you into believing the movement takes care of itself. It doesn’t. In fact, I can guarantee the golfer who focuses on their positioning will progress slower than the golfer who focuses their movement. Golfers who focus on movement progress slower than golfers focused on their intended golf shot. And movers progress more slowly than golfers focused on their set-up.
Rehearsal positions replace athletic instinct more times than not. Unless you are a top amateur or professional, don’t waste time kidding yourself into believing your performance includes perfect positions. I’ve seen many, many golf professionals obsess over their set move only to watch no change occur. And, I’m talking over the course of YEARS.
Our eyes see a position, but cannot see our own movement. Our mind and body must unite to feel movement using feedback and intention. Such is our journey to self-improvement. So, I’ll give you my recommendation….
Hit more golf balls with your focus on your target and your orientation to it. If you set up to do no harm to your golf swing, then no harm will come. If hitting the ball off-center or off-line becomes bothersome enough to you, you will set your golf club in a way that creates the desired result. It’s science (R. Burgundy). Best of all – you get to cure yourself. If you get impatient, reach out.
Best Wishes,
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/our-stance-ball-position-and-adaptation/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/how-our-feet-can-change-our-ball-position/
Our Frame May Change, But The Plane Does Not
Our frame may change, but the plane does not. Every useful golf swing touches the plane at impact. Even if we barely graze the ball with the toe of our club, the plane is in charge. Once we realize that WE have to cooperate with our PLANE, setting up to our golf ball takes on a new meaning.
Readers frequently ask why how an Open Stance can guarantee better impact and longer shots. I tell them, because an Open Stance makes cooperating efficiently with our target plane easier. All of the most-repeatable swing structures and thus, movement, emerge within the Open Stance – target plane dance.
The structure in couples dancing has the man providing the frame, and the woman creating the flow. The Open Stance is our “Man”. Our motion is our “Lady”. Done well, its a thing of beauty. It responds to any terrain tune and wind waltz with aplomb.
Done badly, we can ALWAYS blame the “Man”. When we neglect precision in our set-up frame for our golf swing flow, we throw a monkey-wrench into our proceedings. William, Rocco, and most everyone who contacts me has their “Man” down pat. Kudos, folks!
If we neglect our frame, we lose our control group – that which can never change – that which all others are measured against. Of course, the easiest way to ensure a religious adherence to set-up precision is to develop a ceremony of your own to make getting set easier. Your routine will provide the music for your frame and flow.
Best Wishes,
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/the-correct-imbalances/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/feed-your-brain/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/swing-plane/
The Open Stance, Shaping Your Shot, and Lower Scores
The Open Stance, shaping your shot, and lower scores is the progression. Intention, philosophy, and feedback is the vehicle. And athleticism, instinct, and repetition are the passengers. Will is the driver.
Golfers seem quick to forget that it took time to lose their swings. Over the course of months or years, our swing is like a Macy’s Balloon – ready to exploit the least attentive tetherer. One session of distraction leads to more of the same. Then it’s chaos.
Deliberation at address separates elite golfers from the rest. This is an absolute truth. Professionals have a religious ceremony at address that carries them into their swing. You’ve heard about how important having “a routine” is. It’s not for nothing.
We get hung up on motion as if movement is all a golf swing is. That is bass-ackward thinking. Our set-up CAUSES movement as specific as our attention to our set-up. Therefore, we need PATTERNS to interpret in order to refine our result. Moreover, there is NO WAY to develop a constructive practice regimen WITHOUT isolating and understanding how to interpret shot patterns.
However, if we expend our mental resources adhering to an INTENTIONAL set-up philosophy we will, at a minimum, be able to define our patterns. Then, we’ll find out, unless we like them, how to remediate any adverse results. Our result is lower scores and an ability to shape our shots.
The world of golf needs to stop listening to motion-brokers, and get focus on the set-up sages. The days of subjectivity, creating clients, distracting from knowledge, and smoke-and-mirrors are over. Only those contributing to real knowledge will pass now. It’s not my fault that I am the only one now. But, take heart. There will be more.
Open your stance, and play golf.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/in-a-world-of-motion-sensors-one-idea-stands-out-open-stance/ https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/percentage-golf-with-an-open-stance/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/moving-the-same-way-at-a-golf-ball-is-impossible/
How Will Golf Survive Without The PGA Tour?
How will golf survive without the PGA Tour? How can people enjoy golf without hearing about rankings and money winning!? What will we do without the latest golf news about the ABC, Elite-Only Invitational at The International Inaccessible Golf Club? Oh my God! How will we survive!?
I think we’ll survive by enjoying the game instead of the glamour, the walk instead of the talk, and the self instead of the social. The door just opened to an alternative golfing reality – one where we are allowed to dream a smaller dream… a reachable reality.
Imagine slowly opening your trunk, slowly lifting your bag out while listening to the clack of club heads as they negotiate their potential in your round. Now, imagine walking very slowly to the practice tee… the puttin’ green.. the first tee. Imagine having the golf course to yourself at 10:00am, and enjoying a morning walk down the first fairway with a banana and a coke.
How great would it be to methodically set your bag down, positioning your coke and nanner out of harm’s way, looking back to see no one on the tee, then up into a clear blue sky? Mull over your club choice and make it. Imagine Lee the Flea as you set up Open. Then move with the grace of Jones as you flush down through your ball.
That’s golf.
Open your stance, and play.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/open-stance-stock-market-similarities/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/moe-norman-quietly-pursued-answers/
https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/anyone-write-about-open-stance-cure/