Watch out for Rabbits, Sheep, Boars this year… (and Tigers and Rats). The Chinese Year of the Pig is agreeable for lots of people. However, 2019 will especially favor Rabbits (Cat), Sheep (Goat), and Boars (Pig). Tigers and Rats also have a decent shot at achieving. Basically, any PGA Tour golfers born in odd numbered years will do well for the next sixteen months, but especially my big three.

Rabbits include Woods, Hadwin, Stanley, Day, Lowry, Burgoon, Hadley, Poulter, Malnati, Willett, and Streb. These guys will have to focus their nervous energy without over-taxing their bodies to do it. The best examples of the Lucky Rabbit are Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods, and Vijay Singh.

Boars include Leishman, Champ, S.W. Kim, Na, Hossler, Steele, Gay, and Blaum. These gents will have to have a good home life to feel free to achieve. The best examples of the friendly Boar are Gary Player, Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia, and David Duval.

Sheep include Howell III, Ancer, Glover, Gooch, Conners, Bozelli, An, and Werenski. These boys will have to outwork everyone else so they feel deserving at the big moments and foil their inclination to get run over. Best examples of the Sheep are Billy Casper and Fred Funk.

Tigers include Kizzire, Chappell, Niemann, S.J. Im, and Gore. They will have to fight off boredom in practice, which they do not like. Notice how few get to the top? They’d rather go fishing. The best examples of the dynamic Tiger have been Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Hal Sutton, and Bruce Lietzke.

Rats Johnson, Woodland, Kisner, List, Bradley, Aphibarnrat, Sharma, Wise, and Burns are happiest when they are staying busy. Their brains never shut down. These guys have to set specific goals with a scoring part of their game and reach them with their relentless practice. The best examples of the Industrious Rat are Hogan, Nelson, Snead, Miller, Fleisher, and DJ.

The last few years have been dominated by the hard working signs. Rats, Roosters (Spieth, Thomas, DeChambeau), Horses (Koepka, Reed, Watson, Kutcher), and Dogs (Rahm, Molinari) have owned the majors. However, the Pig doesn’t like confrontation, so those types will have a hard time getting over the hump.

I’ll always take the hard workers over the lazier animal signs. Therefore, we can look to who is trending. Anyone inside the top 100 and moving up is worth watching. Let’s see what happens.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Here we go again! The Open Stance (2012) and Three Short Game Lessons (2016) versus Golfweek (Jan/Feb 2019). Wouldn’t it be more wise to buy my book for $9.00 than spend $25 every year for a Golf et.al. magazine subscription? Most of their instructional content originates from my work anyway. I think you’d have fun using my book to find out how GD uses it.

In the latest issue, Dr. Bob Winters offered a two-page spread on becoming a great putter in three attitude changes. He subdivides one issue into three neuroses.

His bottom line is create an intention that leads to proficiency. However, he doesn’t use the word intention. He uses “an action plan”, “plan”, “create an appreciation”, and “mental blueprint”. Could word use be distracting or destructive. I think we already have our answer.

If these dazzle-merchants can hook an audience with flashy words, Dr. Drag and Professor Prod can pull you away from pursuing more central issues, which actually lead to improvement. Therefore, let me say to our periodical few, ‘catch phrases are running out, people! You’ll have to use fact-based definitions sooner or later, so you might as well start now.’

Obviously, Drag and Prod believe improvement is secondary to personality. I certainly don’t believe it. Why do you think my site is free? Yes, I charge for my books, but WAY less than several golf publications designed for consumerism. Maybe we are helpless to resist the pretty pictures and, therefore, continue on our Golf Mag. blender bender.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

In this post, I’ll be reviewing the Open Stance changes made in elements of set-up and golf swing. My comments assume you are using a consistent, open stance. I was going to expose the latest Golf Digest, again. But, that’s too easy. Besides, the adaptation to an Open Stance is so much more interesting.

Here is a list of elements to consider altering to adapt to your Open Stance.

Set-Up: Pre-wound backswing
Clubface square to your target
Grip orientation to facilitate Open philosophy
Shoulders parallel left of target, and closed to your hips
Hips closed to your feet
Feet open to your target line

Flattened Golf Swing
Ball position – move back in your stance along feet line
Leading foot square to feet line
Lower armswing facilitated by increase in torso tilt away from target, along feet line
Club shaft across feet line at the top of your swing and parallel to or at the target

Weight Distribution
Due to closed hips and shoulders, weight moves forward, which is why ball position may modulate from club to club without increasing your tilt from wedge to driver.
Your temptation will be to move toward the target in your downswing…. Don’t.
As I have always said and written: Move, in balance, to your forward heel through impact. If you cannot reach your ball initially, move closer at address.
Leg drive will compensate for thin misses by keeping your hips and shoulders closed a fraction longer in your downswing – allowing you to release your club into the ball.

Let me know.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Do we love David Ledbetter? Maybe we do. But, we can be sure Golf Digest loves Ledbetter, and uses Ledbetter’s gravitas to further their interests. Does David Ledbetter love truth? Maybe he does. Nonetheless, he certainly knows someone outside the established instruction hierarchy is its only purveyor. Here, in another example of the power of truth, Golf Digest takes yet another step closer to John Wright’s truth.

Page 16 shows a picture of David with his right elbow planted inside his trailing hip. Moreover, at the top of the page, there is a quote citing the import of the right elbow (no regard for lefties?). Additionally, the text alludes to practicing properly using the trailing elbow in a movement common to great ball-strikers.

And, which ball-strikers are mentioned in his piece? Lee Trevino, Calvin Pete, Jim Furyk, and Fred Couples. Why this selection of golfers, you ask? Because, the two who don’t set-up open have physical limitations or abilities that most symmetrical people don’t have. One has a handicap, and one has hyper-mobility in the hips.

Every Open Stance player has the move Ledbetter recommends. However, his job is to sell it to people who don’t set up open. In doing so, he and Golf Digest are guaranteeing broken swings.

You see how it’s done? They take two anomalies, advise an important structure but not the Open Stance, then cite two, Open Stance champions as indemnification. Accordingly, they can deny any intentional misdirection when their advice, inevitably, backfires. Plausible deniability is great thing for maintaining influence.

Ohhh, this was fun! Conspiracy theory is a hobby, I suppose. I also thought I’d have some more fun at the expense of Golf Digest and David. However, we won’t press the idea so as not to invite a denial. That way, we can all be friends.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Golf Digest is at it again. In our most recent issue, Michael Breed talks about a flop shot. Mike recommends standing further from your ball, which “promotes a shallower swing arc that will help you release the clubhead past your hands”.

Although an effective idea in bunker play, standing further from your ball for a flop shot is reckless advice! And, there are many reasons – not the least of which is Breed’s cited loft-through-release idea.

First of all, standing further from the ball does not necessarily shallow your arc. Michael made an assumption of experience, which he used to reach a conclusion. Experienced golfers widen their stance when they move further from their ball. Consequently, they lower themselves, which is why Breed assumes a “shallower” swing. Once lowered, golfers are, once again, closer to their ball. Good Lord!

Second, our club’s heel, no matter how open, is still interacting with the turf. We know our club’s heel engages turf because Breed makes no mention of gripping up. Moreover, using the full length of our club while lowering our handle raises the toe at address. And, when our club’s heel catches the turf first, especially Bermuda or Kikuyu, it’s over. Talk about eliminating room for errors. God help us, Mike! The heel of our club is the enemy on lob and flop shots.

Third, keeping our handle close to our body on the way through is ALL WRONG. Mike’s advice will take loft OFF your club. Releasing to add loft NECESSITATES the opposite happens. NO ONE who releases the clubhead past their hands keeps their handle close to their body on the way through. To do so requires torso rotation past the ball, which is a driving motion. Our handle is closest to our body before impact.

What Breed describes is not a soft shot action, but a confused, Mickelson-type flop with a driving, pitch shot action. Additionally, Phil doesn’t use Breed’s instruction of standing further from his ball while swinging. Mike is simultaneously recommending rotating through the shot AND releasing the clubhead past your hands. These are opposites. One cannot exist in the presence of the other.

His last paragraph is correct, though. You do want the club to glide through the grass. However, Michael doesn’t describe which lies best aid his recommended instruction. So, let’s see what we can do to correct the steel ball he and Golf Digest just screwed up.

First, we have to assume a level and fluffy lie. Once assumed, you have to keep your club’s heel off the ground by opening your clubface, gripping up, and raising the handle. Wherever you stand to get it done is correct, per club. Aim left (for righties) so your clubface points where you want your ball to start. This is all set-up stuff. The rest is practicing until you get the result you want.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

The first five years of the Open Stance Academy are behind us. Hundreds of thousands of views, clicks and comments later, we’ve come to this. I’ve turned all my posts and their 65,000 words into a eBook, now available on Amazon. Soon, I’ll also convert them into a paperback. That way, you may have them all without staring at a blue-lit computer screen.

We must begin again. I’ll do the heavy lifting, and you give me good feedback. We’ll work together to bring help to the rest of the golfing world. You will be an Open Stance Ambassador.

It is difficult to craft a truly helpful site without getting into the details that make my intellectual property special. It is always available to me in practice. However, in our world, I cannot give away all that time and effort. Hence, I focused my attention on our most important message – the individual power of specific intention.

Our most special gift is our mind, which can bend to unimaginable extremes without breaking. In the process of learning, that flexibility is invaluable, because it allows us to follow a thread without ever feeling lost. In the words of Inigo Montoya, we can “Go back to the beginning” because we know our intention.

The Open Stance is the thread. Our intention is reflected in the path we walk. A straighter path will make the most of the string. But, don’t worry. We can retrace our steps on the path, but should never stop using the thread.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

I had an Open Stance dream last night. When I awoke, my dream became reality. Every golfer in the World decided to control their own mind, swing, and game for the first time. And, there was happiness everywhere.

Golfers played as if there was no rush. Everyone practiced with a purpose. I felt peaceful knowing the truth had finally been accepted. Seeing all the relaxed faces enjoying their own
unique genius slowed the frames as I took it all in.

Golfers were dressed in comfortable, draping clothes in browns, whites, and grays. They reminded me of the Bobby Jones/Bing Crosby Clambake days of golf. Some of these placid folks were enjoying their cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. Some were not. Most of the men had slicked back hair, and the ladies wore their long hair up.

The clubs were modern. But, I didn’t see any golf bags. Whatever club they wanted to use just materialized out of thin air.

There was no real golf course, just a level lawn where people were hitting toward a cypress-sprinkled landscape. I couldn’t tell how far away the trees were. They hung softly in the distance.

As I glide down the line of ladies and gentlemen in dedicated practice, I noticed something comforting. Every golfer stepped into their open address position just as the one before strikes their ball. At impact, they all look like professionals, and they each make contact the moment I am directly down-the-line, behind them. It’s heaven.

I’ve never imagined mystical calm pierced more beautifully by a golf ball and club. When one of my students traps their wedge, you can hear the spin. At their apex, short shots seem to float, as if suspended ornaments hanging from the backdrop of gnarled shadows – then land… without a sound.

Then, without warning, a jarring alarm called me back to my bed. Still, though awake, my Open Stance dream remains rich in my head.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Why do we innovate new ideas? Because, inefficiencies are frustrating and time-consuming. And, we don’t like to waste time, do we? I suppose that is why we don’t cut steak with a spoon.

Saving time underpins all human endeavors, and for good reason. We recognize that, all things being equal, getting the job done with a better idea saves time. We needed a better plan, so we invented one. Now, we get through the steak more easily now because we have a Kramer knife than our spoon.

What makes Bob Kramer’s knives so special? The best materials, the best forgings, and the best hammering certainly matter most. But, how did Bob come by those hallmarks of his reputation?

He began with desire – his expression of need. Then, he created a plan, or intention. His plan was to create the finest cutlery in the world based on historical examples.

Therefore, Bob needed to gather knowledge of materials, forging, and hammering from the best sources. He studied swordsmiths from Japan. Then, he began practicing – action tantamount to religion. After trial and error, Bob did not give up because he hit a roadblock. He innovated on an individual level to reach his goal.

Today, Kramer is the best. Bob took our long-held, time-saving solution to steak, expressed his individualism, and made a more excellent and completely unique knife. His cutlery is not only consistently excellent, but also artistically beautiful and surgically precise.

Has my Kramer Corollary reminded you of the Open Stance process where we turn Need into efficiency? I could give a hundred other examples of specific intent, and every achievement process will sound the same. However, I wanted to “Cut to the chase” with a knife metaphor.

Perhaps, you may finally be able to “Cut the cord” tethering you to your golf instruction-based spoon. Spooning is comfortable, but forking is more rewarding. Fork off and find your own solution to the Open Stance knife. Cut through all the bad instruction, and do some Davy Crockett stuff with your Open Stance.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy