How far apart should feet be for each club? This teacher has a system

Your clubs? They aren’t alike. Drivers, 8-irons and wedges? They’re different. 

So your stance while swinging your clubs?

That shouldn’t be the same, either, Adam Porzak says. It should adjust. 

And as to how far apart your feet should be? 

The instructor has a system. 

Porzak and fellow teacher Todd Sones were reviewing it recently in a video posted to Porzak’s YouTube channel (which you can watch in full here) and Instagram account (which you can find here). The method needs just an alignment rod and something to mark it with. 

According to Porzak: 

— Place the rod across your shoulders. Mark two dots indicating shoulder width. Place the rod on the ground. 

— For wedges, the outsides of a player’s feet should be aligned with the outside of a player’s shoulders. 

— For mid-irons, the player’s shoelaces should match the outside of the shoulders. 

— For the driver, the insides of the feet should align with the shoulder outsides. 

That’s it. But let’s ask some questions here. 

Why the need to adjust? Not surprisingly, it’s because of what you want the club to do. On the Instagram post, Porzak wrote this:

“Don’t take width of stance for granted. It affects a lot in the swing. Amongst other things, it promotes the ability to naturally hit down or up depending on the club. It allows the player to remain centered while having the ideal pressure shift. It also enables the ability to more cleanly turn to the top and rotate through impact but can have the reverse effect as well when not correct.”

Would the method work for, say, someone with a longer wingspan? On the Instagram post, a player asked this:

“I needed this. But my wingspan is longer than I am tall. Meaning I have long-a** arms and a normal 6-foot body. … Feel like my arms are getting stuck. Maybe open or close the stance a little bit?”

Porzak answered the question this way:

“I understand what you’re saying but it shouldn’t change the ideal stance width. This would still be a good formula for you. Of course, if you’re an inch wider or narrower, that’s not a huge difference and is totally acceptable as well.” 

What about a junior player? Would the method work for them? That, too, was asked on the Instagram post, and Porzak responded this way:

“Yes it does, but if the player is incredibly tiny they can be a little wider with the stance.”

Should you give it all a go? Yes. Should you adjust based on comfortability? Yes. Should you review with an instructor? Yes.     

Should you check out more of Porzak’s instruction content? 

Yes, and you can do so here and here. 

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.