The very first time that I dabbled with the different stances was as a competitive junior golfer, trying to eliminate the natural fade resulting in numerous lost golf balls. Needless to say, my father wasn’t thrilled.

But after some tinkering, I figured out the right stance to improve my game.

So if you’re looking to add another setup to your repertoire, I detail the must-know pros and cons of a closed stance in this post.

I always suggest operating with a neutral stance for optimal posture, balance, and swing mechanics. However, a closed or open stance has its merits, as you will learn in this guide. First, we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of the closed setup before comparing the results to an open or square golf stance.

What is a Closed Stance in Golf?

In simple terms, a closed stance refers to a right-handed golfer who aims to the right of their target line. Naturally, the opposite applies to lefties. You will notice that this is the same stance you employ when setting up for a draw.

Your golf stance is similar to the one you adopt in baseball. It is the foundation with which a player finds balance, comfort, and efficiency in their swing. I learned about golf stances the hard way as a competitive junior.

I used to operate with the grip of death and produced an outside-in swing path on most shots. Sometimes, I got away with it, but when my left foot, hips, and knees opened up more, it aggravated the result.

Since my swing mechanics were too complex to tinker with on the golf course, I would close my stance slightly to compensate for the shape. This was not a permanent fix, but it did mitigate the effects and help me straighten out my ball flight.

The bottom line is that you can benefit from a closed stance in certain scenarios. However, you should not adopt this as your permanent setup because of the risk of erratic shots.

Pros of a Closed Stance

Corrects Fades and Slices

An extreme fade or slice is generally caused by a golfer swinging over the top and cutting across the ball. Just like a tennis player who uses that drop shot with a cut so that the ball stops rapidly.

Operating with a closed stance can encourage maximum rotation, prompting you to clear your waist and shoulders through impact. You’ll notice that this boosts power and helps you square your clubface at impact for straighter results.

My one buddy leads a “tough” life coaching in Phuket, Thailand, where all his students are beginners. He teaches them to hold the golf club the other way around and induce a baseball swing. His students find this awakens the rotation motion and helps them understand its importance in the swing.

You grab the clubhead and channel your inner Ted Williams, and feel how your hips and shoulders rotate.

 Encourages a Draw

A closed stance is required when you set up for a draw. This aligns you to the right of your target, anticipating the curve to the left.

A draw is handy for right-to-left doglegs for right-handers and left-to-right holes for lefties. Following the lay of the land shortens the hole and helps you position yourself optimally for a hassle-free approach.

Lowers Ball Flight

Closing your stance sets you up to produce a draw and strike the ball with a delofted clubface. You will find that this approach lowers your trajectory to restrict the impact of the elements. The uninterrupted flight leads to consistent distance and accuracy.

Low flight is highly beneficial when playing into the wind or when you are stuck under a canopy of trees. You will find that reduced flight in these conditions allows you to deliver ample yardage, despite the struggle.

Escape Trouble

We have all been there. The middle of a bush, behind a tree, and my latest achievement, behind a lamp post.

Closing the stance and clubface generated an in-to-out swing for a low hook when I was right behind a tree stump. The results were not always perfect. However, when my handicap dropped to single figures, and I practiced frequently, I had a successful record of escaping trouble.

Cons of a Closed Stance

Snap Hook

Unless you’re stuck behind a tree or bush, you only have to open or close your stance slightly. When players start to hook their shots, they aim further right of the target for a closed setup.

Increased Roll

The downside of the increased roll is the inability to control your distance. The low trajectory causes your golf ball to hit the ground hot and run like Usain Bolt, making it difficult to hold the green. As a result, you consistently sweat to get up and down. Instead of reading the line of a birdie putt.

Excessive Side Spin

I used to play with an excellent player in high school with a gentle draw that made me jealous. The only problem was that the bad days were terrible.

One day, I watched him miss every fairway because of the intense sidespin that sent his ball careering into the left rough. Luckily, he could escape trouble. Nevertheless, he lost so much confidence, and this specific round of golf traumatized his next ten games.

Other Types of Stances

Open Stance

An open stance is the opposite setup of a closed golf stance. In other words, your toeline will aim to the left of the target while the clubface is still square to the target.

Advantages of an open stance

Prompts A Natural Fade

As a youngster, I watched my older brother on the range. He could work the ball almost any way he wanted, and I wanted to do that. I thought I needed to change my grip or swing path, among other things. How naive I was.

All I had to do was open my stance and make a normal swing without changing much, and I noticed a slight fade. When you can work the ball any way you want, you have more in your artillery to achieve the best possible outcome for each shot.

A higher ball flight 

Every golf hole poses different challenges. I experienced this first hand at my home course littered with tall trees, water, and perplexing undulation. A higher ball flight helped me hit the ball over the trees hundreds of times.

Furthermore, the higher ball flight allows us to land the ball much softer, which is necessary for long par 3 tee shots and par 4 approach shots.

Disadvantages of an open stance

Loss of distance

The open stance encourages a left-to-right ball shape with a higher ball flight. Unfortunately, this can lead to a loss of distance, something exceptional players like Rory Mcilroy may disagree with. But, we are not him and must play to our strengths and abilities.

The more you open the stance and the larger the fade becomes, the more distance we will lose. This sets you up for tricky approach shots requiring hybrids or long irons, which reduces your chances of attacking the flag.

Heavy wind conditions 

I spent most of the last decade living in Cape Town, where wind is a permanent feature, and I am well versed in its torturous tactics. When I first set up shop in the Mother City, I played with a natural fade and got smashed all over the place by the breeze.

In addition, my open stance and clubface increased my apex, and the wind took hold of my ball and killed my yardage. I corrected this by closing my stance slightly and operating with a forward press setup.

Square stance

The square stance is when the left front foot is parallel to the back right foot and aimed at the target line. Your feet need to be shoulder-width apart, and the clubface has to be square to pull off this most common stance.

For example, you can have a neutral stance, perfect back position, hips, and knees in line, but when you play your shot, you have the ball in the center of your stance. This will make you push the ball to the right, even with the perfect swing.

Advantages of a Square Stance

Promotes Straight Flight

The greatest advantage of a neutral stance is that it prompts straight ball flight to boost your accuracy around the golf course. You will find that this balanced position encourages a fluid swing line with minimal deviation for a square clubface leading into impact.

Disadvantages of a Square stance

No Shape

The downside of constantly operating with a square stance is that it prohibits your ability to shape golf shots. This is particularly annoying on dog leg holes, where a draw or fade can nip you around the curve and give a short, direct approach to the dancefloor.

Matt Stevens

Matt Callcott-Stevens started playing golf at the age of 4 when Rory Sabattini’s father put a 7-iron and putter in his hand. He has experienced all the highs and lows the game can throw at you and has now settled down as a professional golf writer. He holds a Postgraduate in Sports Marketing and has played golf for 28 years.

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Amateur golfers often struggle to optimize rotation. Leading to a loss of power, accuracy, and distance. It is especially prevalent among senior golfers who do not possess the flexibility they once did. There is a solution to this challenge. In this tutorial, I am breaking down the mechanics of the closed golf swing.

This post aims to help you understand the distance and accuracy benefits of the closed coil technique. Plus, I will explain how it works and who should be using it.

If you are familiar with the coil action, rather spend your time familiarizing yourself with a flat or inside out golf swing.

What is The Closed Coil Golf Swing?

A closed coil golf swing occurs when your legs stay stable, and you load your pelvis to create spring at the top of your backswing. It helps create an optimal spring at the top of your backswing, prompting an accelerated downswing.

Elite Golf Coach Dan Whittaker simplifies the explanation by comparing lower body rotation to a corkscrew. If you twist a corkscrew with no downward pressure, you get nowhere. The same applies to your golf swing.

By keeping your legs stable, you create slight tension while shifting the majority of your weight from your left to right side. As a result, you create an optimal coil at the top of your backswing, generating maximum power on the downswing for a longer shot with greater accuracy.

How it Works

Step 1 – Setup

Approach your ball and setup. Open your legs for a standard width stance. If you are a right-hander, make sure your left foot aims parallel to the target line. Then position your right foot slightly behind the left, and turn it away from the target. That encourages torque and a smooth weight shift onto your tailing leg during the backswing.

Employing a poor setup makes it challenging to execute a closed coil golf swing.

When you are in position ensure your left and right leg are grounded. That helps keep them stable during the swing. Before starting your backswing, do a few rotations and ensure that your cleats are gripping into the turf and enabling optimal turn.

Step 2 – Backswing

A closed coil golf swing relies on a powerful rotation during the backswing. Failure to optimize torque while hip turning reduces the spring effect produced at the top of your backswing.

At no point should your feet be moving during the backswing. If your left knee bends towards the back, it means you have merely shifted your hips and upper body without creating the optimum coil.

Keep low and let the power in your legs drive the weight from the front to the back. Mark Crossfield recommends that your left shoulder and chin should point to the inside of your right toes at the top of your backswing. Reaching this position is another part of achieving coil during your backswing.

Legendary coach David Leadbetter also suggests that you keep your left arm straight during your backswing. By keeping it straight you increase the coil and wind up. That generates added power on the downswing. Bending your left arm reduces your control of the club and ability to generate power.

When you produce superb coil on your takeaway, you reach the top of your backswing with immense energy storage. From that point on, it enables you to unload for your downswing.

Step 3 – Downswing

You reach the top of your backswing, and you can feel the tension in your right gluteus maximus muscle. The tension is ready to shift towards the left side of your waist, enabling you to clear your hips at impact and drill the ball.

To achieve this, drive your back leg forward for right knee flex, which helps you thrust the tension to your front leg. This shift optimizes power and gets your hips parallel to the target line at impact.

The stored energy enables you to release from the top-down, encouraging accelerated clubhead and swing speed. That helps you maximize the coefficient of restitution (COR) at impact. Leading to explosive ball speed and increased distance.

Optimizing the coil during your backswing also encourages the ideal posture. When you are in the correct body set up at the top of your swing, it helps you to get your club on plane. Encouraging a square position at impact. Thus, you reduce the risk of slicing or hooking your shots and instead deliver straighter ball flight.

Step 4 – Impact

When your clubface strikes the ball, your hips should be parallel to your target line and weight on your front leg. After impact, the momentum will send your club upwards for your follow-through.

If you maximize your body’s rotation during your backswing and downswing, you will be in a prime pose to strike the ball cleanly at impact. Catching the ball in the sweet spot of your club with the power generated from coiling produces the speed needed to increase yards off the tee box.

Catching the ball in the sweet spot with that power boosts the chance of you hitting straighter shots. Therefore you enjoy superior accuracy and ball position, spending more time in the fairway than in the woods.

Overall, employing a closed coil golf swing helps seniors and younger golfers enhance the power generated during your backswing.

What The Closed Coil Golf Swing Does

Power

Rotating your hips with no pressure on your lower legs results in minimal power and an erratic swing plane. There are noticeable differences between rotating your hips and coiling.

The closed coil golf swing promotes optimal torque for enhanced spring on your downswing. Initiating it during your backswing increases your power and clubhead speed. Those two elements impart rapid pace onto the ball and provide increased yards.

Distance

Thanks to the immense power initiated on your downswing, you produce accelerated clubhead speed and increased COR. Together these features impart rapid pace onto your golf ball, leading to a high, long shot for considerable distance.

Accuracy

Not only does the closed coil swing deliver remarkable distance, but it also boosts your accuracy. Getting your body into the ideal position at the top of your downswing allows you to place your club on the path to square the face for impact. At the very worst, your club may be marginally closed, prompting a draw.

When you take rotation out of your game, you leave your arms to do all the work, and they can’t get the clubface to where it needs to be at impact.

Reduces The Risk Of Injury

Leadbetter explains that the coil swing requires less turn off the ball and a shorter backswing. That reduces the risk of hip, back, or shoulder injuries resulting from extended rotation. It is one of the core reasons why the swing is heavily associated with the veterans of our game.

Besides the reduced risk of injury, a closed coil golf swing lowers the chance of experiencing extreme aches in your joints and stiff muscles after your round.

Who Is This Swing is Best Suited For

Although most golf pundits recommend that seniors employ the coil golf swing, I think it can benefit most amateurs. If your game completely lacks hip and upper torso rotation, it is worth practicing the coil golf swing to get used to shifting weight from your front leg to the back.

In addition to the optimal rotation produced by this swing, it creates impressive power, distance, and accuracy. These are three features every golfer could use and why I feel all amateurs could benefit from the swing.

However, after breaking down the mechanics of the coil golf swing, we see that they offer the most value to senior golfers. The reduced risk of injury, optimal power, and accuracy, help make the game easier for the veterans.

As a result, the closed coil golf swing best suits seniors.

Matt Stevens

Matt Callcott-Stevens started playing golf at the age of 4 when Rory Sabattini’s father put a 7-iron and putter in his hand. He has experienced all the highs and lows the game can throw at you and has now settled down as a professional golf writer. He holds a Postgraduate in Sports Marketing and has played golf for 28 years.

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