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I have a fairly wide stance: 32" (81 cm) shoe-tip to shoe-tip on my longer shots. (I am 5'10' (178 cm) tall, regular build). I use this stance because it feels natural to me, and I am not aware that it causes me any particular problems or successes. Even so, I would like to find out your take on the advantages or disadvantages of a wide stance.

Hi straightshooter, i am also 5'10". I have just measured my stance width with a 3i, it was 19". Personally i find a wider stance resticts my turning through on the downswing. A big difference in our stances but i'll try a few shots your way if you try a few mine

a wide stance will give you a more stable balance, but it does restrict turning through

Thanks for the replies. I think I swing through the ball OK, but I must admit that my follow-through position is just on the borderline of comfortable/uncomfortable, certainly not relaxed. I will try to narrow my stance a bit.

I narrowed my stance considerably recently, and my accuracy has increased greatly. I'm especially pleased with the improvement off the tee. My driver is much more accurate and I seem to have gained distance as well. I'm 6'4" and have always had a wider stance, especially on the tee. The new, narrower stance I've been using seems to give me much better control of the club through impact. I tried this with my irons and was happy with the result there too. Try it out and see if you notice any difference. You might be happy with the change.

That wide of a stance is going to restrict your coil and, therefore, restrict your distance. Try a little narrower stance and if you're not happy with the results you can always go back.

Same for me, use to have a wide stance and felt I could never get enough power in my swing. When I went through my revamp, one of the things I changed was my stance width which narrowed and it felt like I was able to coil soooo much easier. Also allowed me to stand more upright rather than in a squatting type position.

The responses seem to be unanimous, so I will experiment with making my stance narrower. From what I have tried indoors with a short club, it doesn't seem to hurt my swing. The wide stance may just be an old habit. I plan to report back when I can try it for real, which may be a while (very busy at work for the rest of the golf-season).

I don't get the 'coil' comments though: I can get my hips to about 45* and my shoulders to 90* pretty easily on the backswing. On the followthrough my belt-buckle ends up pointing towards the target, but my left leg left is in front of me (nowhere near straight), which is almost uncomfortable (and ugly!).

Well in terms of the coil, it really depends on the the individual. Some guys are rubber bands and are able to get their shoulders completely turned with their hands directly above. I've never been one on flexibility so anything that rescricts my ability to turn my shoulders usually works against me.