The question is should I widen my stance when playing in the wind? The answer is very simply yes. So let’s explain why it is good to widen that stance. You can imagine when it is very very windy, what is like when you are walking down to the high street or outside your home it’s very very windy, you kind of get buffeted you’re walking down blowing you all over the place. On the golf course we haven’t got houses and trees to kind of shade us and shelter us from that wind, we are out in the open area so we really are getting that full brunt of the wind. So we are going to get blown around a lot. So by standing there and if you stood there and just expand with your feet together I bet the wind will blow you off your balance.
If you actually have you’re feet wider then you’re weight is going wider so you have got balance, you have got more stability where you’ve actually put your feet because you’re weight is now based over a greater area so think about it, there is more stability there. So when you’re playing it’s like the last thing that we want to see you over the ball taking a really good set up, feet going close together, trousers are really going, and the wind blowing all over the place and as you take the club back, you get blown off the ball. I’m not going to say that you are going to miss the ball but it is possible but then you’re making like a real hush of it. So when you’re playing into the wind the whole idea is to get a slightly wider stance to normal. So a normal stance would be the width of my shoulders, so a slightly wider one, just slightly outside, I’m really — I’m spreading out my weight ratio and now it’s giving me the best stability for windy conditions.
And by doing this of course not only have we got stability but by widening the stance we actually create a wider arc, a wider take a way, a smoother swing, so again instead of possibly having a narrower stance and swinging a bit more upright when the ball gets up and the wind starts blowing and affects it by having a wider stance, if I swing the club back now, look at the width as I go back, look at this width as I go back. So a wider stance than normal from here, this is a free wood so from here there is the width and the club is going to do the job. So that’s going to give me more stability, more control and in windy conditions, it is no good having a great set up and swing if you haven’t got stability. So next time under windy conditions just widen that stance and I’m sure it’s going to help improve your game in windy conditions.