I often enjoy sitting outside on the veranda with a relaxing drink during warm weather, and observe players take their address positions on the first tee.
I see some with feet wide apart bent over from the waist with knees locked solid. I observe others again with too wide a stance and with arms outstretched leaving a gap of a few feet between hands and thigh. Some I notice having their feet pointing far to the left of target and some pointing far in the opposite direction.
The problem I see often is not how they stand up to the ball but most importantly is how they aim their body in relation to the target. Now I do fully understand the needs and necessity of some club golfers with some physical problems having to adopt their stance to suit their needs, but on the whole I believe the biggest fault of all miss hit shots to the target has to be the way the body is aligned at address.
If your shots are going repeatedly to the left of target, or conversely going to the right, then the problem is with your grip. If your grip is too strong then you will have your hands too far to the right on the club which causes a hook and if they are too weak then your hands are set too far to the left causing the ball to slice.
Adopt a neutral grip with the back of the left hand facing the target. If your shots are going straight to the target then that problem is solved. If not then there is a problem with your ball position. If your ball is hooking to the left then it could be that your ball lying to far forward in your stance.
Move it back an inch and try again and should the problem persist then move it back another inch until it straightens out. Conversely, if you're slicing the ball it may be too far back in your stance so again move it forward in inch at a time until you've corrected the problem.
How far should you be standing from the ball? Simply stand up straight with your arms extended whilst gripping your club in a neutral position. Now bend from the hips until the club head touches the ground then lightly bend your knees and relax the arms.
The width of your stance depends entirely on how you walk. Step out a few paces then stop and observe the width of your feet, and also take note on the position of your toes. If your toes are pointing slightly outwards, or pointing inwards then this is your natural stance.
