Smashing Pumpkins provide educational fun. Smashing Pumpkins was also a popular rock group in the 90s. I had one of their albums. You know… the popular one. I have memories associated with it. It’s a time-piece, when a bit of grad school fun was had by all. However, we are talking about your impact and Halloween iconology.

Today, smashing pumpkins is smashing actual pumpkins. I have a photo and video. My academy team got together today to light up a Halloween gourd for clubface awareness practice after we warmed up in the holiday glow of our practice barn.

The boys missed for the first couple rounds. Then, they figured out their alignment and swing to keep their clubface square through impact. At that point I left them to their evisceration of Halloween’s rotting forgotten.

Take a page from our childish fun. See what your clubface is doing by setting your Halloween pumpkins on your target line, five feet in front of your tee, and rip away. People may think you’re out of your gourd, but you’ll learn how to carve just the right shape into any shot started straight. Don’t be scared. The seeds of improvement are waiting for you to liberate them.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

The consequences of our feet are a matter of conjecture. However, in order to put things in their proper perspective, we must first agree that consequence is a synonym for result. Our golf swing is a reaction to stimuli. Stimuli emerge from our situation, over which we have quite a bit of control.

In the following video I attempt, in spite of the cold, to explain the consequences of foot orientation at address. Specifically, I address how our leading foot orientation changes our ball position. I sacrificed my scapular exercise band by marking it for effect, so I hope you are REALLY helped by it.

Since our ball position changes no matter which foot influences positively or negatively, we WILL experience proportional consequences whether placed inconsistently, in error, or perfectly. Of course our trailing foot has the same effect as our leading foot when ball position is discussed.

The Effect of Foot Placement on The Golf Swing

How Our Feet Can Change Our Ball Position

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Natural-Bottom-11-13-13.pdf

Winter is what separates achievers from under-achievers. Here is my rationale…. What’s the difference between pros and amateurs from a quantitative perspective? Consistency. How is consistency expressed? Practice. When do pros practice and amateurs not? Winter. Why? Goals.

Our “off-season” magnifies our Intention. An off-season for a pro is measured in mental rest. For amateurs, off-season is a cold-temperature, physical rest issue.

As a kid, I would swing clubs and putt all Winter long. As a result, my brain was conditioned for action when snow melted, but not taxed with consequences. My eyes were seeing the line of my putts right off the bat. And, my left wrist position was comfortable for that first drive.

I have a Winter suggestion for you. If you have access to a launch monitor, work on smash factor – ball speed. If you don’t, work on positions and putting. Without technology, rewire your brain by moving with checklists and mirrors. Putt on the living room carpet – making a piano leg and contact your first priorities.

Now… why? Because, when we work on something without the feedback of consequence, our natural urge is to go test our work. We build anticipation into our golfing life, which is exciting and motivating.

If you ever had regard for your golf game or wondered how better players separates their game from your own, use your Winter wisely. Take a lesson or watch my YouTube Channel. Videos roll out in November.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXfgI_vzOz09L1uZrLUwew

Open your stance. Play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

More broken bodies lie in the wake of broken set-ups. Tiger has just undergone another surgery on his left knee. Thanks, Hank. Add Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, and Brooks Koepka, and we have a pattern. All four right-handed golfers have left knee surgeries on tap.

In my book, The Open Stance and Three Short Game Lessons, I told the world that Tiger’s knee issue is the result of a decidedly apbrupt posting move prior to impact. Apparently, the younger studs didn’t read up. They have employed broken set-ups. And now they have a problem.

Once a knee gives way, surgeries pile up. Careers end due to turf toe, for crying out loud. How much more uncertain are futures reliant upon walking five miles a day on a bum leg. In time, we recruit other body parts to make up for our damaged parts. In doing so, we degrade recruited ligaments, tendons, and bones by developing muscle imbalances to protect the original damage.

The Golf Channel just went over lead knee damage and diagnosis, so Tripp obviously read my stuff. So, let me say the following: PEOPLE! IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR BODILY HEALTH…

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

I Only Have One Question About an Open Stance, and Here It Is

Steepen Impact/Flatten Swing With an Open Stance

The World’s First Video on The Open Stance Set-Up

Golf’s fundamentals list seems to be growing. How can we have more absolute necessities for swinging our golf clubs without any change in the goal, human mind, or body arrangement? I thought of a couple possible explanations.

First, one thought is that as we become aware of our influence over our own mind, we naturally or unnaturally become convinced that what applies to us, must apply to everyone. Therefore, we feel fine about creating our own, proprietary set of rules we know we will never have to explain to anyone else. This is my safety argument.

My second thought is that as we evolve toward an impact-centered explanation, we forget that golf can be played imperfectly for as long as we like. We also forget where impact originates. Regardless of biomechanical expertise, once we stop liking imperfect golf, we have to slough off the proprietary ideas in favor of universal truth. Unfortunately, golf instruction and magazines perpetuate subjective fundamentals. You know my opinions, there.

So, what do we do? First, let’s agree not to include swing tips in fundamentals discussions. For example, I know how tempting it is to say that placing our trailing elbow inside our trailing hip, prior to impact, is a fundamental. Golfers also believe that posture is a fundamental, but neither are. With every individual golfer comes another posture example, mitigated by another swing example, to strike a ball – no matter how imperfectly.

You may be thinking, “How can a guy who teaches set-up say that posture is not a fundamental?” My explanation is easy. Posture is an instructional prescription without a definition. Furthermore, if one prescribed posture does not apply to every golfer, it applies to none. Therefore,, why teach something obviously irrelevant? Would you have me tell Bubba Watson to bend more at the waist? I think he’s done pretty well with his posture. Don’t you?

So, what are golf swing fundamentals? Fundamentals occur every time a golf ball is struck with maximum possible energy. Therefore, here is our list of golf swing fundamentals ….

1. Intend to strike our ball.
2.  Hold onto our golf club.
3. Move our club away from our target line on an inclined plane – inside the target line, back to the target line at impact, and inside the target line on the follow through. And, finally….
4. Maintain necessary balance and remain on our feet.

Specific motion, positions, and results are incidentals not rising to the level of absolute necessity. However, please feel free to disagree.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

The Open Stance and The Stock Market Have Many Similarities

How Our Feet Can Change Our Ball Position

Did Anyone Write About An Open Stance Cure Before John Wright?

Golf Digest’s October 19 issue reads more and more like my book every month. Their two lesson stalwarts are at it again – only Breed won’t read and Ledbetter copies my wording and ideas. Kudos! At least they’re smart enough to fill in famous copy with better verbiage. I take a bit of pride in changing our teaching vernacular in spite of the fact that terminology is misused all the time.

Michael Breed is cited as instructor for ‘Secret To a Draw’. (Breed) cited our ‘trail elbow’. Look back six years, and you’ll not see talk of “trailing” anything. (Mike) mentioned getting stuck without mentioning proper body sequence. You see? Golf Digest doesn’t want to help you. They want to keep your swing in varying degrees of brokenness while, simultaneously, increasing celebrity for ambitious types like Breeder.

Then, our father of instructional fiction, David Ledbetter, endorses their Short Game piece while using their impact descriptor, “Pop” (your ball). Again, look back six years, and “Pop” is not used to describe chipping impact. I agree, my observation is pretty granular. However, I believe their choices are symptomatic of instructional wordplay designed to harvest and yet misuse good ideas to cripple our golf education. Therefore, allow me to clarify both articles with ball flight laws and technique.

A draw, no matter our start line, is a ball – in flight, that falls toward our side of our target line. Now, what is our club doing at impact to create draws? For right-handed golfers, the clubhead is moving in a vector (path) right of our club face’s impact position. What do we do prior to impact to create a draw? We adapt to our set-up… short story.

Feet orientation, ball position, movement patterns, and athleticism all contribute to adaptive movement. People who don’t like modifying their swing to adapt to set-up changes generally choose to close their club face and aim right (righties). However, I like changing my swing while keeping my foot orientation constant (on a flat surface). My preference feeds an awareness of my club head throughout my swing. Obviously, my benefit is cultivating feel and better body sequencing.

In our other, written example, Led talked popping without talking technique. Perhaps he would instruct new swimmers on how to swim without covering why we cup our hands to pull then push ourselves through the water. Ball position alone can ruin our word-picture for impact. Forward positions require more trailing hand controls, and vice versa. Is he or are they finally leaving the curative measure to the individual golfer?

Not likely… otherwise, they would both have told you to ….

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright
The Open Stance Academy

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/golf-digest-is-at-it-again/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/here-we-go-again/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/is-golftec-talking-out-of-both-sides-of-their-mouth/

Human existence is all about converting energy into value. We trade our time and labor for love or money. We use fuel to shorten our walk and light our way. And, we set-up open to generate golf-swing efficiency and save our bodies for the other two endeavors. In any case, we don’t try to waste our place on line.

Game theory dictates that people try to destroy the game, and the value of the game goes up. Animal spirits kick in, efficiencies ensue, and value emerges.  Hence, we have our corollary to golf and the golf swing. So, what… all we have to do is become golf animals? Mmmaybe there’s a better way to say it.

For those who have read my stuff, you know I’ve argued that golf’s teaching industry has been trying to destroy golf swings and our golf games for decades. Their man, Kelley, took the physics out of instruction by repelling people with technical information. His work shifted instruction toward relativism in all aspects of striking a golf ball. Unfortunately for chasers, only with a working knowledge of Physics can we truly repair ourselves. Apparently, we were frightened from our path to healing.

Coincidentally, golf courses started getting longer. Longer courses were used to push people toward new, technological “remedies” developed to keep them engaged. Meanwhile, technological “advances” in equipment have destroyed golf course integrity, while directing animal spirits toward possession of land to develop as well as said technology.

Eventually, all this change served to facilitate a zero sum gain for golfers – within the game theory dynamic. We chased easier ideas around a game perfectly-designed to reward hard work. Our attention, wrangled by their promise of another new toy that will make golf easier,  was misplaced. Meanwhile, our national handicap did not change.

Then, one day, “technologically” compiled facts emerged that support conclusions drawn in their “growth of the game” narrative. Shadowy interests kept us engaged and moving toward their next promise of value. We stood witness to decades of golfers interested in whimsically chasing fixes, incomes, deals, clubs, carts, apparel, and social agenda within the halo of a game designed to build character. After all, intention, purpose, fidelity, modesty, and sportsmanship are values of golf. The rest is a waste of energy which we create for ourselves.

However, we are now at the end of our chase for golf swings. Our Open Stance philosophy is your pot of Gold at the end of your rainbow and your “Silver Lining” around instruction’s dark clouds. Setting up open is your shelter in the storm. Take the hint. Seeking safe shelter expresses our desire for self-improvement, or philosophical choice, with action.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Why Imbalances are Important in Creating Efficiency

Your Set-Up Can Feed Your Brain or Starve Your Brain

Concentrating On Set-Up Is Difficult At First, But Pays Off Big Time

Knowledge is not in the illustration, but the explanation. The illustration is valuable. Don’t get me wrong. However, it should not be seen as knowledge, because it is learned from observation and imagination. I’ve seen dozens of examples of instructors who parrot imagery. Hell, before my Open Stance revolution, I was one of them. I, like many, had no clue about the “Why” behind the What, Where, When, and How.

Illustration drove the “Teaching” industry for decades, and is still prevalent among old-schoolers. Additionally, tangential industries, like fitness, are suggesting they understand the “Why” behind their instruction while misusing terms like “Ballistic” movement to describe twisting… ridiculous. “Ballistic” is not a motion. It is an event. Joey D and Chris Como had me laughing at my TV. Thanks guys.

Illustrations makes books a faster read, though, don’t they? Illustrations are big in children’s books, too. In fact, illustrations are ALWAYS used to usurp our capacity for rational thought. They convey emotional and visual cues that are like catnip to the novice golfer. Every new-toy, golf-swing illustration makes novice golfers dart here and there – clinging sideways to the sofa chair, or ottoman to get a different angle on the visuals. They chase any string you put in front of them, because they have no faith in themselves to improve.

Consequently, my job is to herd those golfing cats into a corral of rationality, which is why my main message is “Open your stance, and play golf.” I’m offering a distillation of the illustrations that, at some point, confuse all less-experienced golfers. Therefore, let me say, that if you want to improve your own golf swing, you don’t need illustrations from anyone. My research and career has proven, if nothing else, that people are athletic and move toward efficiency in time.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

No Amount of Ambition Can Make Up For a Lack of Knowledge

Constantly Asking Why Identifies Knowledge

Our Pretending Is Ending

The physics of a flat downswing that an Open Stance engenders means our club face squares more easily into impact. Students are always amazed at how fast they can turn a slice or fade into a straight ball or a draw from an (impact-steepening) Open Stance. Every student I have understands the solution to their issue in five swings or less. Maybe their comprehension is in my explanation. However, I always tell them they would create the same solution given Open Stance time, and all I do is accelerate their process.

As I explained in my book, The Open Stance and Three Short Game Lessons, flattening our swing widens our swing. And, a wider swing creates tension in our large back and shoulder muscles. Our ensuing shoulder rotation past the ball moves our ball position backward by keeping our club above the ground relative to our stance. Furthermore, our necessary rotation holds our downswing, separation-tension until and through impact.

Power is our yield. Power comes from equal resistance of force plus velocity. Of course, density (Mass) resists greater force than fragility. Our swing-density is in our large muscles. The leading side of our back and deltoids contain our swing-mass resistance. Therefore, moving our most dense muscle groups into impact with radial velocity induced by rotation of fixed levers means power to our ball-striking.

To be frank, I didn’t have a plan for what I wanted to write when I signed in. I just knew I’d not written anything for a week and it was time. So, I revert to the left side of my brain and talk science. And, what better scientific discipline to use than our measurement-master – Physics.

Physics is always the measuring discipline of movement. But movement, explained with bio-physics, can be a less daunting study to undertake. Moreover,  moving to mitigate is how we live our lives. Everything we do and say offsets every choice we make.

From the time we wake until forever, our basic function is stasis, or equilibrium. Most golfers suffer under the idea that they can move efficiently without setting up to insure it. Whether Tiger or Big Tony, we CANNOT become efficient by moving MORE. Assuming athleticism, contact, and consistency are in effect, moving more means waste. Waste means recruiting our athleticism for “Oh S***” compensation rather than full-throttled maximization.

Having bloviated enough for one piece, let’s review. Opening your stance creates a flatter approach along your toe line. Flatter means wider. Wider means big-muscle stretch and rotational delay of release. Delayed release means resistance to impact. Resistance combined with velocity means power. So, where did our release go?

It went to vertical shoulder rotation. The end… have a nice day.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Is GolfTec Talking Out Of Both Sides Of Their Mouth?

String Theory and Our Golf Swing

The Open Stance Creates Great Ball-Strikers

The Open Stance Academy at Stoneleigh is my new address heading. When I gave one of my students a lesson here in June, I thought I had been transported to some fairy-tale village in a Walt Disney story. I was immediately in love with the place. Even now, I look out my window and feel a sense of peace here.

In graduate school, I took some architecture classes that emphasized a “Sense of Place”. They meant a place that melded perfectly with its surroundings. That is Stoneleigh.

The golf course cooperates perfectly with the surrounding property. Moreover, it demands that we obey its dictates or pay the consequences. At 6,750 yards, it seems gettable. However, it punishes doubt with impunity.

Each hole is unique and memorable. A month after playing that first round, I could easily remember every hole. Memorability is one criteria used to judge the greatest golf courses in the world. Stoneleigh is fantastic by that standard.

I’m partial, perhaps. But I won’t tell anyone I’ve written about her. Only those pursuing an Open Stance will know for now. However, in years to come, Stoneleigh will gain in reputation and prominence in Northern Virginia and the world for what it is… a special place.

The Open Stance Academy at Stoneleigh will conduct golf schools for Juniors and adults alike throughout the year. Our indoor, technology-centered, improvement lab will carry the hardy golfer through the Winter. We are currently conducting and competing in our first, annual, junior team championship. After only a month with a teaching academy, Stoneleigh’s eighteen junior golfers are competing against neighboring junior elite teams in “The Battle at Stoneleigh Farm”.

Join the crucible of golf at Stoneleigh, and you’ll be better for it.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy