I was doing ok before we came up with two theories. I am not sure which it either. I do know that I am striking the ball better with every other club, and I know if I can hit reasonable drives, my hc will drop significantly. So I am a bit anxious about the question, but if I get the results I can wait on the experts to decide why the driver swing is flatter.

The wider stance of the longer club is needed because of the increased amount of hip slide that is required to get the right shoulder on plane after the shoulders turn flatter because you are bending over less and thus your shoulders turn flatter on the backswing by default.

Whew!

The real "trick" is to make sure the ball is far enough forward and the head is far enough back at impact.

I have seen golfers on the SQUARED SHOULDER PLANE with the driver who hit it great!

The point is that stance width dramatically alters your ability to both a) turn and b)use a steeper plane angle

The wider the stance, the less likely most people are to be able to complete the turn and the more likely they are to be on flatter plane angle, regardless of club being used.

To the extent that 'most' people are lacking the flexibility to turn well and a steeper plane angle 'can' be helpful, this is an area a fair number of players should experiment with.

Many feel a wider stance is needed to stay balanced. While there is some truth to that, I suspect many use a wider stance as a 'crutch' against having good balance in the first place.

"I let my club balance me" - Moe Norman

I have no idea what you just said, ED.

Are you saying that a narrower stance willmake you LESS steep?

??

Good point!! I used to have all kinds of problems with this, my miss was a pull left because I had the ball far enough forward but the head was not far enough behind my hands at impact. One thing that may help understand why a driver must have the feeling of coming more from the inside is to look carefully at the way the clubs are made. If you look straight down a driver shaft, you'll see the head is designed so that is in front of the shaft at address. But if you hold a sand wedge straight up and down you'll see that the clubhead looks to be behind the shaft.

No, exactly the opposite.

A narrow stance will allow you to turn back AND through easier, with a more upright plane angle.

Given that most people have trouble turning, and tend to get flat/inside early - a narrow stance can be helpful.

If for no other reason than helping to show just how off balance most people are during their motion.