One of my students – Jay, from San Diego, okayed my posting of how he is cultivating commitment.

“Hey John,
I was reading from the book I love ‘Comfortable with Uncertainty’ by Pema Chodron. Meditation Number 87 is entitled Commitment. These passages had me reflecting on my experience with OSG.
” You can hear the dharma from many different places, but you are uncommitted until you encounter a particularway that rings true in your heart and you decide to follow it.In order to go deeper, there has to be a wholehearted commitment.You begin the warrior’s journey when you choose one path and stick to it.”
These words are so true when I think about all the differentswing temptations that confront all golfers. I am committed to the OSG warrior’s journey.
Jay”

Golfers around the world,

These are the connections I want to make to the larger world of potentiality. Jay hit on exactly that which is required of us to achieve our goals. We have to see a path (Need), choose (Intention), walk it (Religion), evaluate (Anthropology), test our path (Psychology), and tweak it in the ether (Astrology to Mathematics). We have to find our own way to cultivate commitment to our unique goals.

Our goal doesn’t change. We change. Inspiration, discipline, focused work, and experimentation on a theme yield marvelous results in all areas of a life pursuing a goal. The added benefit of it all is engagement, which I leads to achievement. And, finally – happiness.

The Open Stance is not my invention. My websites and writings about what really makes it better is. It just so happens that I’m the only golf professional on Earth who knows why. Soon, you’ll hear of others. Word is getting out. Pay close attention to prominent players on the PGA Tour who struggle. You’ll notice a common solution.

John Wright – Founder

The Open Stance Academy

Add Intention To Your Practice

Practice Making The Right Sound at Impact

Our Stance, Ball Position, and AdaptatIon Form Our Practice

1,500 hours of lessons in 2020, and the verdict is in. Golfers who employ an Open Stance improve without help. I can’t say it any plainer than that. My members and online students use me as a reference rather than a Sherpa. I carry the information they are using, but they always choose the correct path.

Teaching, as an industry, will now turn away from clever word-play of charlatan-Rex to ‘the profound’ going forward. Fortunately, I have that market cornered. Freedom is what my teaching is all about. Freedom from other voices, freedom from fixes, freedom from failure are all part of Open Stance golf.

In fifty years, golfers will look back at the past 100, and be glad they no longer chase a revolving description of what ails them and be salved by a slick salesman dressed as a golf instructor. Freedom. We have had the truth withheld from us in every discipline, on every level, and in every arena of life for longer than most have lived. Granted, golf is not the most pressing of life’s issues. But, how much longer could the ruse continue?

NO MORE! Truth will always find the light of day. Our struggles and suffering in life and golf WILL come to an end with others like myself pulling back the curtain on our heralded “Experts” and show their clothing is missing.

Now, it’s true I have broken my multi-month streak with a few days of minimal Lagavulin intake, but it gives ferocity to my veracity… or vice- versasity. By the way, I believe the Scots invented every good thing.

However, you need not trust me to do anything but speak absolute truth with regard to our golf swing. As an idealist, I could not speak of any other and live with myself. Therefore, when you Open your stance, don’t think of me. Think of Lee and Freddie C.

Trust yourself with your swing, your game, your decisions, and your process. From an Open Stance, you CANNOT FAIL to improve. Time will tell your story, so allow your improvement to begin with a trickle. Let it puddle into a silent cove of thought and response. Soon, your swing gathers into a stream of purpose and confidence, accelerating into the inevitable rapids of trial and error and, finally, settles into lipid pools of expanded shot-making skill, goal achievement, and happiness.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Everyone Improves With An Open Stance! Moe Norman Quietly Pursued The Answers Lee Trevino Recommends a Flatter Swing

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. 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/