The Open just won the Open. Add it to the list. One more great ball-striker won one more great US Open while employing an Open Stance – the great facilitator of great ball-striking. Greatness has a common thread in the international golf scene. Shhh. I’ll give you a hint…. It’s the Open Stance.
You see, I’ve never claimed to have invented the Open Stance Philosophy or its application. I only claim to know more about the Open Stance than anyone on planet Earth. The fact that hundreds of professional golfers have turned toward my teaching is coincidental, I’m sure. They were probably just following examples set by Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Paul Azinger, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, and all our greatest ball-strikers and champions…. Probably.
How is it that major champions on the PGA and LPGA tours employ a set-up philosophy without ever speaking to the world’s foremost expert on said philosophy, you ask? Because they don’t need the fine points. Their intention with their golf ball is enough to consider with a set-up change. Some of you may have read me saying, “Set up Open and hit your ball straight at your target.” That intention is as complicated as my explanation need be to improve your own golf swing to the point of pleasure and success.
However, certain people like to think in order to know. I have talked a blue streak to them on the lesson tee because I’m one of them. They are fluent, in some cases, on the mechanics of a golf swing now. For instance, I have juniors as young as ten who can answer all the mechanical connections to ball position, swing path, and ball position with regard to set-up and movement throughout our swing. These kids are learning to self-diagnose trust own their human adaptive instinct.
I tell my students they should be able to move their ball position anywhere and hit it solid because they know the required swing adjustments. We make changes, and I tell them what to expect with their short-term results, and those results appear. I tell them to miss in the appropriate direction from the appropriate set-up until their brains send the appropriate signals to move their bodies efficiently to correct their miss. The more I teach this way, the faster and more satisfied my students are with their control over their process.
Consider your own swing knowledge. Do you know “What works for me is…” or do you know why being on plane as soon as possible in your swing is important. Do you know the difference between your swing plane and the target plane? Are you aware of personal assumptions not articulated when you talk about your golf swing? Do you have fallback voices to consult when you want to be great but also want to be original? Do you know why the Open just won the Open?
Look bud… the golf swing is a work of physical manipulation that has a empirical history. It’s been measured from Mathematics and Physics to Need and Intention and with every discipline in between for a hundred years, thanks to my research. The golf swing is a wheel, which no one will reinvent. Therefore, when you submit to the objectivity of it all, the only thing left is to understand ‘why slicks are better for Indy 500 cars than treaded tires that have more ‘character’.’ That is my milieu. See you on the other side.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
Patrick Cantlay Won The Memorial From an Open Stance
Why The Open Stance Controls Your Trailing Elbow