Stephen Denton
To ensure you start on the right foot (literally), step into your stance with your trail leg first.
Once you do that, you can set the club down, tilt from your hips to get into proper posture, then align your stance — in that order. This step-in routine helps ensure you’re in the right posture as you determine the proper distance from the ball with every club — an essential step if you want to make balanced and repeatable golf swings.
Standing too close or too far is a common cause of an imbalanced swing, and it creates issues later in your swing that will send the ball flying left or right. Sticking with this pre-shot routine will help you improve your consistency and make more swings in proper balance.
Todd Sones is a GOLF Top 100 Teacher and is the director of instruction at White Deer Run GC, in Vernon Hills, Ill.