One of the reasons I love this channel is the Russell isn't set on everyone having the perfect "canned" swing.

This, 100%! I have spent my whole life struggling to get through impact with standard setup. But opening my stance gives me total freedom, I get a full rotation and release, and I'm even swinging faster because I can really drive my right shoulder through impact and extend the shaft down the line. I'm loving it. It has also eliminated the left side of the course. Even if I slightly pull one, it starts left but doesn't keep turning left, so it's only a few yards off target. And if I miss it right, it's just a high fade that doesn't get me into much trouble.

Brilliant vid.. all older players especially shud b doing this makes the swing so much easier 👏

Standing in the traditional square stance always made me at the top of my backswing feel like it was a long long way back to the ball! Also made me rapidly move my hands through impact and hook. Now I stand open, swing upright like Couples..pause..and fire the club right down the target line. So easy now.

Love it. Reason I’m changing my setup is to shorten the backswing and get a more free release + I have mobility issues that I need to work around.

I love how you differentiate between a fault and a characteristic. I lean towards looking at my swing faults first.

Hi Russell; I made 1 very small adjustment at setup that has changed everything as well. I haven't had any problems with squaring the clubface but occasionally I lose a shot to the left, left handed player & an occasional driver slice. The problem I was having that with driver, my trajectory was too low so I was losing a lot of distance but the reason was that I wasn't staying behind the ball which I knew but couldn't fix it. I was tilting my spine as is being taught but when I did I was hitting pop-ups. Also, I was spinning my hips quickly on the downswing & too level to swing up on the ball. What I found is if I setup square but closed my hips it stopped me from spinning, kept me behind the ball & swinging from the inside & up & I've never hit my driver this well. Great launch angle & straight with at least 20-30 yard distance gain with more carry. It also works just as well for my irons. Higher & longer. I've taken lessons over the years but not on a continuing basis. I've had lessons with 3 different pros & none of them saw what I was doing wrong. Many years were wasted believing I wouldn't improve any more than I had. I'm now a senior & am striking the ball better than I have in my entire life. All of this from 1 minor setup tweak from a KZread tip I saw 2 days ago. 1 other nice benefit is that setting up with closed hips makes it nearly impossible to come over the top & slice. I've never believed in a magic bullet swing tip but for me, it's exactly what this was.

Sooo good…I’m definitely guilty of setting up my golf swing like I’m still in my 20s…which doesn’t necessarily work for my 43year old body now…for me the slightly open setup is a game changer…thanks!

Excellent content, what I really like in your videos is when you discuss what the fundamentals of a swing are Vs swing traits that may be different to others but not incorrect. I think we can get caught up followimg you tube instructots to a T when it might not fit our swing.

This is the absolutely by far THE BEST VIDEO ever for my golf swing. I've watch countless of golf swing videos with different ideas and feels, from modern to old and tried everything. But I've always hit the best when I swing naturally with my athleticism, but it has been pretty inconsistent and had no real technique, setup or swing thought. Im pretty young, 23YO and play tennis on a pretty high level. But these three keys, especially the OPEN STANCE and forward ball position (with every club, even pitch) is what revolutionized my swing and completely made it click for me. I play other sports, mostly tennis and being in a square stance on a forehand just feels wrong and no power (for me), just being a bit more open make a huge difference and feels much more free and natural. Same with golf swing and other sports like you mentioned. This way also creates a lot more torque and speed. You rotate your body one way and the club goes the opposite direction (if both goes goes the same direction, you get no speed... try it yourself) Body goes around to the left and the hands, arms and club out to the right, towards the target. It feels like i just rotate and spank the ball from the inside, square. Like you said, its so much easier to control impact and just guide the arms and club towards the target when you're open. This is how i would position myself if i would hit something very hard on the ground (e.g. like a impact bag) with a stick, bat etc. It all just makes so much sense and feels so good and natural. I also visually see my target better and feel more connected with it, and want to swing out and towards it. Just like fred couples, lee trevino, jack n, will wilcox and more. Btw, there are other good videos on open stance swing on youtube, I recommend to go watch others aswell to learn more. And the ball position forward is also key for me, it makes me feel like i need to move forward into the ball and strike it with shaft lean, It also just feels and looks better when i stand over the ball. I've always been better with my longer clubs, 5 wood, 5-6 iron, etc. But the shorter clubs, where the ball is in the middle i've always struggles and not hit as pure and consistency, also ball path was worse... it just feels wrong and im not confident over the ball. FYI I just started playing this summer, I've hit some balls on the range previous 2 years but I now hit my 5 wood with bad range balls, 220 yards CARRY. And its a pretty cheap, light weight club. And this is the first time I try this setup, my swing and weight transfer, etc can get alot better. Todays range session was magical, I hit EVERY ball pure and with insane compression and confident. This has happened before but normally when it does it slowly fades or sometimes goes away when you pick up others clubs etc and you start losing the feeling. But no, this was different. I went from 5 wood down to 8 iron and had the exact same setup and feel, perfect shots. For me what also helps before I start my swing is to feel my weight on the inside of my right foot. Then keep it there on the backswing, this keeps my centered over the ball and when i start my downswing im ready to push my weight forward and rotate. I'll keep on working on my swing, specially my right foot/hip not being to active and extension too early towards the ball. But that is just small improvements, if I keep hitting the ball like this... I really hope this sticks and keeps working, I'll go the range tomorrow. Thank you Russel, brilliant tips and explanation.

@wallstreetoneil

Жыл бұрын

Anyone who has played top-level tennis and knows how to rip a looping tennis forehand from an open stance can be taught in a very, very short period of time to hit a golf ball very far - and you've just described exactly why. If you want to make life even more wonderful, as a tennis player, put midsized +4 grip on your clubs and use a 10-finger/baseball style grip where you get your right (tennis hand) fully on the club - and now your tennis brain will fully take over and you will have even more power, more control of the clubface because your right hand & brain connection will be fully in control. You will now be able to hit a golf ball just like you rip a forehand - the club will naturally come more vertically up in the backswing (like tennis), the club will naturally loop to create power as the elbow fires, as the elbow fires, the right hand will naturally (like tennis) rotate counter-clockwise, like it needs to do to hit a looping powerful topspin forehand, and finally, like tennis, with the ball forward, you will be able to move into the ball and create even more power as that looping golfclub has that extra time to create speed into the ball. Believe it or not, a lot of the best modern golf swings look a lot like (when you look carefully with a tennis eye) exactly like how we hit a ripping looping tennis forehand. Matt Wolff's swing is basically a tennis forehand - I can replicate it easily, and it goes a mile, because it's exactly how we hit a forehand in tennis. Look at video analysis of old Lee Trevino's swing - it's exactly a tennis forehand (club goes up, drops inside, elbow fires to create speed and he crushes it - and Lee was easily top 5 ball strikers in history - easily) Viktor Hovland's swing is an almost exact copy of Lee's swing when he was young (there is actually a comparison video done by another youtube instructor that compares them and shows that they are exactly the same - it's honestly incredible). DJ, Keopka, Zalatoris, JT, Morikawa, Champ, Garcia, and so many others, more verticle on the backswing, club mini loops in the transition, club face comes down into the ball in a strong position (this is really key - like in tennis we basically need the face facing the ground so we can hit topspin as the elbow has already fired and the racket is still coming up as we hit the ball way in front of us). It took me years to accept that everything I knew in tennis was far better than anyway anyone was teaching how to hit a golf ball - and sure enough, with modern teaching, the golf swing (if the teacher has any tennis knowledge), has basically become the tennis forehand. Im 52, I played tournament level tennis at the highest level as a kid and have half my brain's neurons wired to hit a tennis forehand. I never understood how golf was taught when I was growing up - it made it almost impossible to control the ball - you needed so much warm up time to find the timing to square everything up so that you could repeat it. 4 years ago, after nearly 20 years away from the game, I cam back and with all the modern internet teaching stuff, I began to realize it was really a tennis swing, I converted to a ten-finger grip for power and control and to put my right hand 100% in control. My stock yardage for my 7 iron is now 175, it use to be 160 - and I can easily, if I need to, hit it 195 - I just hit it more like a hard looping tennis forehand - it's bizarrely easy I actually laugh. My handicap went from 8 to a +2 (I'm not kidding) - this does take lots of shot game work - that's an entirely different thing. My driver clubhead speed is now 115 and I carry it 275 - if I need 290 I can do it. None of this was remotely possible if I swung how I use to and did for 30 years. Good luck - don't let any golf instructor tell you it's wrong - just tell them you are hitting it like Trevino because you are a tennis player.

Obvious, simple and just brilliant observations and instruction - well done Russ.

Perfect! Eureka Golf Swing demonstrated spot on!

This happened to me. One day I decided to set up open and the rest is history. Like you said - it felt liberating. Like I was finally free. Hard to explain. And it did not cause a fade or slice for me. I can draw it from that position.

Russell, obviously your excellent swing evolved gradually - this is what Steve Johnston PGA advocates on his channel also (open upper body, square lower body ?) so if two of the best coaches on KZread do this, it's got to be worth experimenting !

Yes, yes, & yes ! Number 3 for me. Getting my body to work easier is always a goal for me. I just love these videos and how you pull the concept(s) together so they make sense to me. Thanks from the States, Chris.

I have just come round to this approach and feels great so really helpful to come across this video. Very well explained, clear and simple. 🙏👍

When I played golf many eons ago. I was watching an interview with Sam Torrance. He was being asked various stuff and it got around to his stance. He said that his coach got him to flare his left foot to the left, so it would allow him to more easily rotate through the shot. His coach at the time was John Jacobs, who at the time I knew nothing about. As it turned out he was well known for his coaching. I did the same thing and it allowed me to rotate much more easily through the shot. And considering I have scoliosis of the spine, this was invaluable to me.

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing

Best lesson on all of KZread

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Great stuff

This is a great video!! This is exactly what I needed to hear, I struggle between open and a closed stance. I like how you explain why too, I just watched your Moe Norman Video first on how to hit through the ball. These two videos really helped me last night in my league. So do you have a open stance during the drive as well? Thank you for your videos I watch you all the time!

I like to take an abbreviated backswing and tend to push my longer irons. Starting to try this and finding it solves a lot of problems for me; I feel like I have more space to hit the longer club and can actually clear my hips with compressed impact. Will keep with this for a while as the initial returns are positive. Thanks for the great tip!

I am 65 years old and just had a left hip replacement. I like the idea of opening up the left side by the stance. Thank you for the tip I will try the new stance at the driving range. Love your videos.

When you open up the stand, you automatically place the ball further back in your stand.. your swing reminds me of the eureka swing from Steve Johnston. Thanks for your explanations, they aid me on my way to scratch

Thanks Russell. I have been fighting a twisted torso (when set up square,hips and shoulders are naturally open) and the impact on rotation. Naturally a fader I have been encouraged to work on more rotation and drawing the ball but results are inconsistency and more right shoulder over the top swing characteristics. The more I work to draw the ball the more fade I produce as the ball position wants to be more forward for an athletic move into the ball. This is ruining my game in that my swing feels forced and contrived and lost the joy of just hitting the ball solidly. I will work on your setup and see what happens. More video support from you would be very helpful. Cactusjack in Toronto.

As someone with a physical inability to rotate fully due to upper back disability, this is mana from heaven. At last, someone making golf accessible for older or non athlete players!

Buongiorno Professore! This is a great discussion thread! Would love to see a thread expanding these thoughts! My physio initiated the idea of an open”ish” stance to allow rotation!!

Brilliant stuff

Thanks!

I just discovered this in my driver swing. I was pushing shots straight right and realized that what I thought was a square setup was actually my body aiming right. Opening my body, while feeling a little strange, has me hitting straighter shots. Another benefit is that I'm swinging faster and more freely because of less fear of losing it right.

Standing square, I was bringing the club back too much on the inside and then coming accross my body. Causing a pull or hook. Opening the stance was a swing changer. Now my swing automatically comes straight back, and swings to right field.

Good stuff I like the idea of having my foot open so I can twist more great video thank you

have always used an open stance, just a more natural/comfortable position. makes it easy to move the ball around for different shots.

Great Thanks

I twisted my ankle 5 minutes before tee time the other day on my dominant back rt leg. Swinging hurt and it was pretty hard to hit the ball let alone put power into it. After some experimentation I found setting up similar to yours w driver had me hitting power fades w half as much swing as usual. Way more consistent also because I could swing hard as I wanted and not worry about the left side of course because the flight was predictably a little right of my target aim. Also considerably less anxiety about if I’m swinging too hard or not because all I had to do was swing hard to the left and it felt great! If I can hit good bombs on 1 foot I can’t wait till I heal up.

Great video thank you Russel. Please comment on setting up open as advocated then deliberately trying to swing to the right of target. Thank you.

Absolutely, not to mention left eye dominance might be present also; it is for me. Two things to be careful of: open shoulders which is very easy to do, and setting up by not initiating leading edge alignment with your body open to the target then building your stance. This can inadvertently move the ball back, getting you all stuck again without knowing it. Thanks

Oh my god, I have been fighting against all three of those things and I've been getting worse and worse. I can't wait to hit the course and allow my natural swing to do is thing.

I found on accident that I have soo much better contact and distance with and open stance over conventional. Thanks for appreciating the non conventional.

Ah thank you I ve been trying to be sq at address etc when my natural set up is to be open and ball forward due to let be honest my belly gets in the way haha so a slightly open stance feels natural 👍ps went for a fitting not long ago and swing path was positive to positive which baffled the fitter haha

Wow thnks Rus Brilliant mate I have just been doing Exactly the an now Stop fighting my natural swing an stop trying All these other Fixes as they never work for me anyway..cheers mate from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

Going to try this with my irons this week. Would you recommend for driver and fairway woods?

I’ve played today using exactly what you’re talking about for chipping and pitching, and was really confident with it. Quite keen to try it for full swings with all clubs as well.

@therealbonj

Жыл бұрын

for me, it’s almost like - my hips and shoulders start off “disengaged” on the backswing, and inconsistency comes from confusion over at what point do I “engage” them, i.e. to create the necessary torque to not come OTT. I’m imagining with this, they _start off_ engaged and therefore never need to get disengaged, and hopefully it also limits the amount I can physically backswing and prevents overswinging.

@therealbonj

Жыл бұрын

When I say engaged I mean the hip turn driving the upper body. Almost like riding a bicycle with only two pawls in its hub. If you’ve been freewheeling, at some point it’s going to engage.

the more golf videos i watch the more opinions i see on ball position stance hips feet etc..This video is how i set up and swing because i always would hit the ground before the bal.lI slice and play my slice.Sometimes it goes straight.I am trying to change my set up but too many supposed fixes that do not work for me once I am on the course

I’m really happy to see this, I play my 7 iron just inside my left heel. However, I find a closed stance is beneficial to me. Love your ideas and tips

I've been playing better since starting to feel open to target like I used to. Working a lot lately on wedge shots and ball position overall with all clubs. Sounds a little crazy maybe but I'm left eye dominant and always close my right eye when lining up my putts. I just started doing this over the ball on full swings and finding my dead center low point out of my left eye is helping whether placebo or not. Basically I'm trying to turn my left shoulder down to my low point then post into that point and rotate around it. Like my brain just put a spike in the ground at that point. That low point is not the ball. For a wedge that point is a solid inch in front of the ball or more. For teed up driver it is like an inch behind it. I'd say a 3 or 5 wood is pretty much dead on it.

Absolutely 💯

I realized that I set up with my hips open to the target, but closing them seems to help me. I think I rotate plenty, so starting with the hips open causes me to rotate too early, throwing the club outward at the top and creating pulls and pull hooks.

Open with my irons and hybrids closed with driver, and woods all ball position off left heel it just feels right to me ... baby fade for me

i could never hit my 3 wood or long irons/ hybrids . my short irons were either straight or hooking . i have a strong grip to fix slice with driver . So last evening i went to the range and opened the face of my clubs all of them except the driver . i was smoking my 3 wood long irons were high and long even my sand wedge was going further . i can only guess im too closed at impact before .

Hi Russell, love this tweak but finding my flight is going left! Do I need to feel like I am aiming right almost to straighten flight out?! Any advice most appreciated

wow I am not alone. I address slightly open with feet flared out and prefer the ball slightly forwards too.

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Good stuff

I stopped my hook misses immediately when I did precisely this!

More pls ? Opened stance Saw target line better. Hit better shots. What about when using your driver ? Any different concerns from using irons ? Thx

what shot shape do you play with an open stance?

Russell- due to age and physical limitations, I have to lift the lead heel in order to get more rotation and recenter. Can I do that with this setup? Thank you.

It makes sense

Hey Rus, what abt Driver? Do we use this for Driver off the tee also? Thnks mate

Would the ball position be the same (underneath your left ear) for pitch and chips shot? If yes, would this not take a lot of spin off of the ball?

After opening stance should I square shoulders parallel to target line? Tia.

Do you set up open to the target line with every club? Hogan did this as he got to the shorter clubs...his reasoning being that it takes less time to get back to the ball with shorter clubs. What is your opinion on Hogan's variable right foot position depending on the length of the club and have you ever experimented with it? Thanks! Keep up the great work

Do you find that you are a bit closer to the ball, as opposed to the square type address, when doing this?

Hi Russell. Does this mean your preferred shot shape is a fade with open stance?

If you take the club and ball out of the goals of the swing you’d want to swing the arms and hands down the same way in every swing wouldn’t you? But every club is a different length and the longer the shaft the more time it will take to swing down around the hands to find the ball. That explains why it is necessary to either adjust stance angle with fixed ball position in response to shaft length as Hogan advocated or move ball position relative front foot as club length changes if using consistent bio-mechanics for all swings with all clubs. Since longer clubs generate higher swings speeds one might assume they swing faster around the hands but the reason they wind up with more velocity is that the greater circumference of the swing arc gives gravity and momentum generated by the hip turn more time to accelerate them. I’ve used both methods. I find Hogan’s approach of playing ball off front foot with every shot then opening stance for clubs shorter than 7 and closing it for those longer ideal when the goal is hitting ever shot dead straight down the target line. It works because relative to the body the hands come down and trigger the whipping of club around hands the same why with all clubs but opening the stance relative to the fixed ball position puts the hands (axis of rotation for club) closer to the ball and closing the stance moves them further away from ball relative to the parallel stance / mid-iron baseline. But when when trying to hit a fade or draw the process becomes more complicated. First you need to adjust stance line left or right to create the adjusted path for fade or draw, then adjust the stance again based on which club is being used in order to keep ball positioned behind front heel for all clubs. All things considered - shot shaping, uneven lies, etc. - I find it easiest to set my stance angle based on desired shot shape, grip the club in the air, lower and hover it off the ground as counter balancing pendulum to find ideally balance on whatever lie angle I’m standing on, then take a few 1/2 speed practice swings to gauge whether or not I’m staying in balance and where club head leading edge is hitting the turf and face coming square to target (two different variables especially with wedges) to gauge where in the stance relative to the feet and center of balance the ball should be placed so it decompresses and flies off the face at the exact point the face swings closed on the path down around the hands square to target for straight shots or as predicted by stance and face angle when hitting fades and draws. Since I haven’t tried hitting balls dead straight since the mid-80s when I read “Golf My Way” by Nicklaus the set-up winds up being a combination of adjusting stance angle and ball position in the stance, especially when adding the goal of controlling the shot trajectory (i.e., three shapes x three trajectories).

Russell is a slightly closed stance , left foot forward, acceptable as well.?

By flaring out your front foot and having a more open left hip (not square to target ), won’t this effect your alignment to target I.e you will hit more to the left ?

How do you stop dropping the shoulder on the downswing? Kind of like a baseball swing

The great Byron Nelson (one of the straightest shooters to ever wield a club) always recommended a slightly open stance for all standard shots, and who can argue with him?

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Sounds good

If you look at Carl Lohrens teachings and the Swing Like a Pro book, you'll see they teach what Russell is describing

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Wasn’t aware but yes absolutely

Could you do the same thing with a driver or the fairway wood? I imagine that you can

i like the open stance idea.

@TheBaseCase

4 ай бұрын

I’ve been reading all these comments and can’t believe no one has mentioned the open stance guy, John Wright. He has been talking about an open stance for a dozen years now. Impossibly Anonymous.

doesn't the open stance promote fades? what if u want to do a draw?

I recently discovered that if I flair left side I strike the ball much, much better…but now I always draw or hook the ball. How can I stop that? I’m not good enough to deal with it yet!

What about clubface? Is it open too?

Trevino used to have a very open stance and still managed to draw the ball. I'm not sure it makes that much difference how you set up. Rory sets up square but still manages to hook and push the ball sometimes😃

@ebenlaubscher4153

Жыл бұрын

Trevino advocates a closed stance and moving the ball back for older golfers to compensate for loss of fexibility

@danielmosias6280

Жыл бұрын

@@ebenlaubscher4153 every video I see him in he's standing open. I just watched one to make sure. But the ball is way back in his stance

@danielmosias6280

Жыл бұрын

@@ebenlaubscher4153 kzread.info/dash/bejne/c4CZp7RyYqbVn6w.html

@josephwirtz8352

Жыл бұрын

Trevino has always been known for an open address. In fact, when young we were told not to emulate it.

@danielmosias6280

Жыл бұрын

@@josephwirtz8352 Glad you said that coz I was just going to go see an optician 🤓

Such a great video and it totally makes sense although I only do this with my wedges. Why not all clubs… not sure? Perhaps the thought for me is it will naturally ONLY produce a fade? Am I wrong? Can you draw the ball from your setup when needed without making major change?

@thePwnetratorYT

Жыл бұрын

I’m also curious about this. I went out and tried it today by hitting some balls into a net. I found I could still draw the ball if I closed my shoulders at address, while keeping my hips and feet open. Felt unnatural at first, but after about 15 shots it was feeling great.

I gotta ask because I struggle so bad with slicing, doesn’t this promote and out to in swing path? Please convince me that I’m wrong but this seems like the worst thing for my golf game.

Would this exercise be used for every club in the bag 🤷‍♂️

Isn’t this basically the eureka method?

"your ball position is relative to your low point" I should tattoo this on the inside of my forearms so I am reminded of this every swing.

Trevino played very well with an open address…

If it was possible, you would have got 10 thumbs up 😁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Long-time fan, student of your teaching . . Today’s video really helped to pull those 3 setup ideas together. TY. One day soon can you post a video showing us how to hit that low shot for getting out or under trees where the ball never gets more than 5 ft off the ground?

This is like tennis. Now virtually all players play their forehand with an open stance. It’s easy to control direction this way.

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

Another great program my friend. Be well.

Anybody else hit the ball like shit in the early part of a practice session because you are trying to control the swing so much and once you get exhausted and can no longer micro manage your swing you start hitting the ball much better?

Great video. I accidentally tried this yesterday and then saw this today. I struck the ball much more consistently with more power and accuracy exactly as you described. Thanks for confirming that my experiment was not necessarily just another gimmick.

Are you able to draw the ball like this?

@Lomlomlom

Жыл бұрын

I thought the same thing, also do you close your stance as you club up as Hogan did?

@micjonga

Жыл бұрын

I just saw this comment and I basically asked the same so hoping we get that answer!

This last six months I've had a epiphany with regard to golf having changed lots of things in my game. I now have an open stance with my irons, open when I putt but a touch closed with my driver and driving iron. Doing golf "by the book" doesn't work for everyone and these kind of tweaks have made everything loads easier. I've dropped three shots in the last two months and am now comfortably a single figure golfer in my late fifties and one thing that's made a difference is I'm now gaming a chipper - and if you don't, you should !

Start 122

Coach results, not a swing 👍

@russellheritagegolf

Жыл бұрын

Had to read this a few times 👍🏻

Flaring out my front foot has been the single biggest improvement in my game to date. Used to push everything right cuz i dont have the upper body flexibility (back issues) to turn all the way while square to the target at address. Started flaring my front foot and now Im hitting fairways like never before. What a fickle game golf can be.