Paul Foston on Stack and Tilt (Video)

This video from the Golf Monthly UK site (here's a link to the text that accompanies it) talks about the basics of stack and tilt, which used to be fairly popular but has fallen out of fashion with instructors. This happens quite often with any new swing method -- for example, David Ledbetter's A-Swing seems to have already suffered the same fate -- but there are reasons that these methods become popular in the first place.

I think Foston does a good job of explaining why stack and tilt originally became popular and what you can still learn from it.



I actually did a couple of articles about stack and tilt way back in 2010, on August 31 and September 1. The second one was done after one of my readers (who was more current on the swing than I was) pointed out some changes that Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, the creators of the method, had made since they wrote the Golf Digest articles from which I had originally learned the technique. In the end I summarized stack and tilt this way:

When you strip away all the strange-looking moves, the "Stack and Tilt" is little more than a full swing made from a short game setup.

And Foston says basically the same thing. The swing didn't work for me as a full swing because my hips weren't -- and still aren't -- all that flexible but it's definitely a solid approach to the short game and partial shots. It's also a great way to learn how to swing without swaying off the ball, since it forces you to keep your weight on your lead leg all the way through your swing.

All of those things are still true. While the stack and tilt never caught on the way some other swing methods have, it definitely has strengths that many players can learn from. And the technique is a good one to use as is for pitching and chipping the ball.

So take a couple of minutes to watch the video and see if it can help you improve your short game. You might be glad you did.