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/