You're Correct!

When considering where to position your right foot whilst playing golf shots, it depends on the type of shot that you are playing as to where you place your right foot.

In simple terms, the shorter the shot that you are playing, the closer your right foot will be placed to your left. As the shot that you are playing gets longer, the further away your right foot moves from your left, allowing you to create a wider stance.

If you consider playing a shot with your wedge, for example, the length of the shaft of this club is the shortest. Due to the shorter shaft, the circular movement of the club head being swung around you means that the swing arc that you can create with this club is the smallest. The length of the shaft of your golf club, combined with the length of your left arm, creates the radius of the arc that the club head swings around you on. The size of this arc dictates how far you can then hit the golf ball. If you are swinging the club head on a small arc, as you would with your wedge, then you have less time to create speed in the club head as it moves around you and as such a lower speed is transferred from the club head into the golf ball as it strikes it, producing less distance travelled by the golf ball.

If you swing your driver, this club has the longest shaft and so a bigger radius that creates a larger swing arc for the club head to travel around you on. The wider swing arc means that you now have more time to create speed as the club head moves around you and as a result, as the club head strikes the golf ball it will transfer more speed to the ball and therefore it is hit further.

If you are swinging a golf club faster, you need a base with stability that will allow you to maintain your balance, even during the higher speed swing. Therefore, as the club head travels faster around you, because the shaft length has got longer, your stance width should increase and your right foot should be positioned further away from your left, to ensure you create a stable, balanced base to swing from.

Beginning with your wedge, your right foot will be positioned closest to your left, with you having your narrowest stance. As the shaft length increases, your right foot moves further away from your left until you are using your driver with the widest stance width, where your feet are shoulder width apart.

If your right foot is positioned to create a narrow stance and you are using a long shafted club, you will struggle to balance correctly through the swing. Being off balance as you swing your golf club will produce mis-struck golf shots and your game will suffer.

If you position your right foot to create a stance width just beyond shoulder width apart, then you will balance well through the swing with the longer shafted clubs, but you will struggle to transfer your weight correctly when swinging the shorter clubs at a lower swing speed. This will cause you to hit the ground before the golf ball and the ball will not travel as far as it could.

Although comfort is important, it must be understood that altering the width of the stance can play a crucial part in altering the distance of a golf shot and also on generating a more controlled swing.