To The Golfing Machine crowd, a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are the ball flights available to use. But they can’t use them all… maybe six, at most. To golfers setting up closed, they might be able to hit three of them. But to Open Stance philosophers, all nine are usable. Can you see the tree?
The 1, 2, & 3 that are the easiest for the golfer to hit because they are below the Plane. If a right-handed golfer sets up closed, these first three shots are their 4, 5, & 6. An actual 1, 2, & 3 does not even have an equivalent on their ball flight tree. They would have to hit a ‘-3, -2, & -1′ to achieve the first below-Plane branch of shots. A 4, 5, & 6 to them are actually a 7, 8, & 9 to the parallel set-up group. And their 7, 8, & 9 doesn’t have an equivalent either. They would have to hit a ’10, 11, & 12′ to hit the final triplet according to their feet alignment. Needless to say, the ball-striking required and awareness of clubface and path are difficult for them to assimilate repeatedly.
If a person sets up square, it’s all the same. The numbers don’t move around. However, having seen some top players’ numbers on ball-flight tree competency, I can tell you that the extremes are difficult to achieve because there is no bias to the square set-up, and the 7, 8, & 9 are the most difficult to hit for these folks because they don’t generate the lag to allow a push starting line.
But, If a person sets up open, their 7, 8, & 9 is an actual 4, 5, & 6, while actually hitting a push draw, push, and push fade due to leg drive and consequential lag. These shots are repeatable because they are above the plane. I’m withholding some details here as proprietary knowledge and literary license. Anyway, the 4, 5, & 6 for the golfer who sets up open is an actual 1, 2, & 3 on the ball-flight tree. Now to the piece de resistance…. Due to the lag option of the Open Stance swinger, they can remove lag to path their club easily to hit 1, 2, & 3. Since there is no actual equivalent on the tree, it is immaterial to measure except to say that you can do it.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy