How Stance Width Changes Your Swing Arc

Same Club, Same Tempo—Two Different Divots

Picture this: You stripe a 7-iron on the range, soft draw, ball fizzing. You reload, take the exact same swing—at least you think you do—and this time the strike feels heavy and the ball leaks right. The only difference? Your feet crept an inch wider. Tiny tweak, huge change. Welcome to the hidden power of stance width.

At Divot Works, we love skill-based fixes that address the impact conditions rather than the swing path. Stance width is a prime example. Get it right and your swing arc—the invisible circle your club traces around your body—stays tidy, predictable, and downright efficient. Get it wrong and the arc varies, contact scatters, and confidence slides faster than a greased putter on Augusta’s 13th. Let’s dig in. 

 

1. Swing Arc 101—Why It Matters

Your swing arc is simply the path your clubhead travels around your centre of mass. The low point of that arc—where the club reaches maximum depth—dictates strike quality, spin rate, and launch height. (Great explainer from TrackMan University here.)

• Too steep an arc (think burying the hatchet): ball-first contact is easy, but distance suffers.
  
• Too shallow an arc (think brushing the grass): big distance potential, but heavy shots lurk.

Consistent golfers don’t chase “perfect swing positions”; they control arc and low point. And stance width is the steering wheel.

2. Why Stance Width Steers the Arc

Your feet form the base of a kinetic chain that runs through knees, hips, and torso into the club. Widen that base and two big things happen:

1. Centre of Mass Drops & Shifts Further
    A wider stance lowers your centre but also forces it to travel farther along the target line during the swing. That extra travel time means more can go wrong. Some of the underlying principles of the research out of Dr. Sasho MacKenzie’s lab at St. Francis Xavier University suggests that excessive lateral sway could lead to contact inconsistency, by disrupting balance and force transfer.
   
2. Rotational Freedom Changes
   A narrow stance frees your hips to rotate, but you pay in stability—like trying to swing a hammer while standing on a paddleboard. Go too wide and you become a statue; rotational speed falls. 

Bottom line: stance width modulates how much you shift versus turn, and that balance shapes the arc.

 

3. How Your Arc Behaves at Different Widths

Remember, these are tendencies, not commandments. Elite players can make unusual widths work (hello, Bryson). For the rest of us, somewhere around neutral is home base.

4. Common Stance-Width Mistakes

1. The YouTube Lunge
   The internet loves a power stance—feet splayed, knees locked, chest puffed. Feels strong in a mirror, but the first move back becomes a slide, not a turn. Result? Club stuck behind you, late flip, high-right fireworks.
   
   
2. Feet-Together For Everything
   The famous drill has merit—great for rhythm—but some golfers do it on course, even with driver. That’s like sprinting in stilettos: flashy, but your ankles file an immediate complaint.
   
   
3. Driver = Automatically Two Feet Wider
   Conventional wisdom says “wider for the big stick.” Yes, you need more base for speed, but an extra inch or two suffices. Spread too far and you’ll sway off the ball, then hang back, adding spin and robbing yards. Let shoulder tilt, not stance width, create launch.
   
   
4. Static, Not Athletic
   Width alone doesn’t guarantee stability. You must still plant pressure into the ground. A neutral stance with active feet usually beats a wide stance with sleepy toes.

5. Skill-Based Drills to Dial It In

No coach? No TrackMan? No problem. Grab your favourite mid-iron and try these Divot Works-approved drills:

a) Feet-Together Strikes

• Hit ten half-swings with heels touching.
  
• Goal: crisp ball-then-grass every time.
  
• Benefit: teaches centred pivot; any excess slide = chunk.
  
  

b) Add-One-Inch Ladder

• Start feet-together, then hit three balls.
  
• Step each foot out one inch, hit three more. Repeat until contact quality drops.
  
• The best cluster (carry dispersion) marks your personal “contact sweet zone.” Measure it; note it.
  
  

c) Stance-Width Calibration
Using the Divot Works Stance IQ training mat (launching soon—join the waitlist here), start with a neutral stance. Hit a bucket, then widen one notch and record dispersion or observe as best you can. Repeat for narrower stances. Data will reveal the width that keeps your low point tightest.

6. Adjusting for Wind, Lies & Specialty Shots

Windy Days
Wind knocks spin off-kilter. Narrow your stance by half an inch and move the ball one ball back to steepen arc slightly, lowering flight without changing mechanics. Paul Lawrie does a great quick demonstration of this here. 

Side-Hill Lies
Rule of thumb: match stance width to slope angle. Ball below feet? Slightly wider for balance. Ball above feet? Slightly narrower to maintain tilt.

Fairway Bunkers
Plant feet an inch wider than normal (for sand stability) but choke up a hair to offset lower arc low point. Think stable base, shorter lever. 

7. Pre-Shot Checklist—Feet First!

1. Feet Width – Are you at the correct stance width for that club?
   
2. Ball Position – Matches club (forward for driver through to centre for wedge).
   
3. Weight Balanced – Pressure in laces, not heels or toes.
   
4. Target Picture – Visualise the shot, then swing.
   
   

Print it, sharpie it on your glove, tattoo it on your caddie—whatever keeps you honest.

 

8. Conclusion & How to Apply to Your Game

Stance width isn’t sexy. It won’t light up your Instagram feed. Yet it underpins every crisp iron, every towering drive, every that-felt-easy strike you’ll ever hit. Get it wrong and you’re chasing fixes all over YouTube. Get it right and the swing arc stays on rails, the club returns to the ball like it’s guided by GPS, and the game…well, it feels a whole lot easier.

Try the drills above during your next range session. Note where the divots/ground contact line up, where contact sounds pure, and where dispersion shrinks. Once you locate your personal “contact sweet zone,” lock in that stance width with routine and, if you want an extra layer of feedback, order the Divot Works Stance IQ mat to track your stance widths. We built it precisely to take the guesswork out of footwork.

➡️ Ready to turn stance tweaks into scoring tweaks? Learn more about the Stance IQ training mat.