Shoulder alignment

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Keefer

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My miss is a pull left. Was hitting clubs at a store one day and the sales guy says my left shoulder is pointing left instead of parallel left of the target. Sure enough he was correct. Have heard several prominent teachers say the shoulders are what you want aligned properly.

Have tried closing just my shoulders so that they aren't open to the target, but it always feels awkward. Yesterday I tried a slightly closed stance for all my clubs except the wedges and had no pulled shots. My misses were actually a little right for a change.

Anyway, shot a 1 over 72 with this new epiphany to rid the pulled shot. Snead, Palmer, Player and Mediate come to mind when thinking about Pro's who have played with a slight closed stance.

Now with a slightly closed stance if I take a club and hold it across my shoulders and lower it down to the ground my shoulders are parallel square to the target.

Does everyone buy into the shoulders being the thing you want aligned properly? Like they say if it works for you run with it. Playing tomorrow and will see if it's a real epiphany or not.
 
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jewofgolf

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All that matters is the delivery of the club on the plane you desire. Personally, I like shoulders pointing left because I want to play a fade as my go-to shot. I don't believe in changing such a fundamental thing if you are comfortable with it. I think you might just want to speed up your right elbow/shoulder rotation to get a fade out of it instead of a pull.

Regarding stance - all that matters is getting yourself to pivot correctly. You can hit a draw from an open stance and a fade from a closed one...if closing your stance gets you the shot you want, then good.

Mindlessly changing alignment in the hopes of curing something is a bad idea, in any case. You have to understand the interrelation of everything. I'm not claiming to have that full understanding, but I am claiming to know the dangers of experimenting with something as a quick fix, resulting in a long term problem.
 
mgranato

mgranato

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Alignment of any of the segments is always an interesting discussion as most folks are usually surprised at how where they are aligned differs from where they think/feel they're aligned.
 
K

Keefer

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My natural swing path is inside to inside. Everyone thinks that's the ideal path, but it really isn't IMO, at least for me.

For me an inside to inside path means I can hit it both ways, but my main miss is usually a pull with my irons. I can swing in to out with my driver, but for some reason I can't with my irons.

Tilting your head to the right is suppose to help with an in to out path also (eye-line pointing to the right). Anyway, mixed results with the slightly closed stance today and back to normal with an 85.
 
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zachgolf

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Jared Willerson said:
Actually I don't. I feel hands more back.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%. But I'm not sure why. My thinking right now is it's because it makes it harder to get the L upper arm flush against the chest and makes it harder if not impossible to go to a lower plane both in BS and DS. Another is it makes R elbow/arm too much in front.

Do you agree? Any additional reasons?
 
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Brian Manzella

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There are very few things that I have taught for over 25 years....(I've taught 30).

Mid-Body hands is one of them.

Additionally, I have students with slightly closed upper bodies, and quite a few with open upper bodies.

Also, I personally played my best golf with open chest, closed stance.
 
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zachgolf

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Brian Manzella said:
There are very few things that I have taught for over 25 years....(I've taught 30).

Mid-Body hands is one of them.

Additionally, I have students with slightly closed upper bodies, and quite a few with open upper bodies.

Also, I personally played my best golf with open chest, closed stance.
Click to expand...

Hi Brian,

What's your rationale for mid-body hands? I agree with it totally.

Z
 
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