My personal feeling would be to keep the shoulders square unless you are doing a flop. The feet are opened slightly generally on shorter shots because it allows the body to follow the shot through more easily preventing pushes. Again it all has to be practiced to see what works for your particular swing. Some set up totally square. I, myself, am almost square unless I'm really close in and doing more of a chip but everyone has there preferences. I came close to a hole in one on a short short par three today and missed pitch ins on two others from 110 and 90 yards today by inches and missed two chips by just inches. Practice is the only thing that allows you to know what works best for your swing.
My personal rule of thumb is, whenever I am hitting less than a full shot or opening my club face with a short iron, I open my stance to varying degrees depending on the shot. I agree with CoralPro, my shoulders are always square unless I am attempting a flop or in the bunker.
Thanks. The reason I ask is because I have a pitch shot that I have been using that has really helped my game but I haven't been able to execute it very well the last couple of times out.
I am right handed. With a narrow open stance, weight on left side, I simply turn and cock the wrists and fold the right arm to get the club back in position. No weight shift or body turn. I then start the forward swing by turning my belt buckle towards the target. The key is to start the swing with the body and have the belt buckle fully facing the target in the follow through. I think I have been failing on the latter and was considering opening my shoulders a bit to help. This shot when executed properly gives me a high trajectory and soft landing.
Last edited by hbendillo : April 18th, 2008 at 11:41 AM.
I have so many techniques I use for varying situations but the one you mentioned is my main go to probably from 30 yds and out except I don't intentional cock wrists. Again it depends on what club I'm using and what type of flight and rollout I want. Most of my pitches I try and keep the left arm fairly straight and insure the face doesn't close on the follow through because I try to fly it close and then allow check and slight rollout. All these different styles or techniques are going to vary from person to person on their abilities, swing styles and plain and simple, how much time they put into know what does what. Sometimes the best thing is to take 6 balls and if it isn't crowded just practice different techniques til you find what works best for that senerio then retry with the one that works to see if you can get good repetition.
Pretty much regardless of where your feet are, the ball goes with the shoulder alignment and face angle at impact...
That being said, my shoulders always go with my toe line...no better way to make a poor and funky swing than when you are twisted before you even start swinging...