Name one great putter in history who didn’t use an open stance.

Tough, right?

Crenshaw. Faxon. Loren. Watson. Seve. Every one of them opened up. Some a little. Some a lot. But it’s a pattern—not a coincidence.

Make the list longer… Tiger? Open in his prime. Bobby Jones? Slightly open. Snead? Definitely. Hogan? Yep. Nelson? You bet. Arnie? Of course. Jack? Haha. Oh Jack… Absolutely!!

Arnie had that signature “get out of my way” look—low hands, firm wrists, open chest. He wasn’t guiding it. He was releasing it. He didn’t need perfect. He needed feel.

Jack crouched into the ball with a narrow stance and the blade set early. His steely eyes burned the target into memory. It wasn’t textbook—it was clutch. And yes, it was open.

Show me a great putter who set up perfectly square, and I’ll show you an outlier. The only one I can think of is Gary Player, and he did it for the same reasons we’ll mention. The important part to keep in mind with Mr. Player is that he had a reason for it, and it aligns with the same reasons below- what worked for him simply had him set up closed. This is an outlier. Most of the best, however, opened up. Not for style. For function. It freed the stroke, cleared the path, and sharpened the aim.

Putting used to be about feel. The greens were slow and bumpy. The balls were soft and irregular. The putters were small and very unforgiving. Players had to hit putts, not stroke them. It was a calculated guess. They needed to find advantages where they could. Seeing the line was one of them. Their setups weren’t perfect—they were practical. Despite all this, they made putts. Unbelievable, right?

So what changed over the last 75 years?

Agronomy

Greens have gotten ridiculously fast. Fairways today are quicker than Tour greens in the ’50s. There isn’t a green in America that rolls slower than a Tour green from 1950 anymore. Into stats? Those old Tour greens rolled at a cool 6 on the stimpmeter. That’s living room carpet fast. With that speed comes a different technique of putting—one that gives you a chance to get the ball to the hole with a much shorter stroke, a more predictable roll, and an easier read.

Technology

High-speed cameras and putting studios gave us “square-to-square.” Face angle is still king, but coaches started teaching structure—locked shoulders, passive hands, mechanical motion. It looked clean on video, but it took the athleticism out of the putting stroke. A good putter started to look like a putting robot. Imagine a robot mimicking Jack’s stroke? Almost laughable. It would be—if he didn’t win 18 majors with it. We moved from intuitive to technical. From feel to formula.

Optics

Strokes today are beautiful. But hard. Everything has to be perfect—aim, face, tempo. Miss by a hair and the ball doesn’t sniff the hole. An open stance is more forgiving. It lets you see the target, move freely, and trust your eyes. You rely more on hand-eye coordination and less on textbook precision. The motion covers for slight imperfections. And that freedom leads to consistency.

Nick Faldo may have been the turning point. His stance was slightly open. His stroke was deliberate and structured. He wasn’t reactive like Crenshaw—but he wasn’t locked-up either. That small openness helped him square the face, repeat the motion, and stay centered under pressure. Faldo bridged the eras. He looked modern—but still let his eyes and hands do the job. He brought order to the stroke, without giving up feel. His method led the way into the era of structured putting.

And now? The pendulum is swinging back.

Jordan Spieth doesn’t chase perfect positions. He sets up wide open, sees the line, and reacts. It’s not pretty—and he doesn’t care. His stroke is built on trust, not symmetry. He doesn’t manipulate the face or guide the stroke. He just lets it go. He’s not trying to copy a model. He’s trying to make putts. Spieth is the bridge back to instinct. Back to vision. Back to freedom. In a world obsessed with form, he doubled down on feel and vision—and it works.

How we see things

As humans, we’re wired to look horizontally—not vertically. We see in landscape, not down an alley. Our eyes are designed to scan side to side, not track something in a narrow tunnel. That’s why an open stance works. Why? Because the head can stand closer to vertical in this setup position.

Square setups drop the trail eye behind the ball, tilt the head, and distort the picture. The setup is so rigid, the head is reluctant to do anything more than turn a minimal amount to see the target. If it turns more than that, that precious mechanically perfect stance can be compromised. You start aiming with your shoulders instead of your eyes. And that’s where faults creep in—because what you see and what you feel aren’t lining up.

Open up—just a little—and your head levels out. Your dominant eye gets involved. The target line sharpens. And your hands stop trying to fix what your eyes couldn’t trust. It’s not a trick. It’s optics. And when your eyes are in sync, your stroke has a fighting chance.

No single method is prevalent amongst todays top coaches—but one clear trend exists. Stan Utley teaches freedom and flow—often with a slightly open setup. Brad Faxon? All feel. And feel lives in comfort. Phil Kenyon fits each player—but look at his Tour roster. Many of them stand open. This isn’t preference. It’s performance.

Here’s your test: Drop a chalk line or alignment stick on your target line. Hit five putts square. Notice the tension? The blocked view? Now open up. Hit five more. Most players report better vision, freer strokes, and tighter roll. That’s not magic. That’s geometry, optics, and motion finally aligned.

You want extra credit? Check your weight at address.

Most great putters favor a little pressure on the lead foot—something in the 60–40 range. It’s subtle, but it matters. That forward bias stabilizes the lower body, promotes a slightly downward strike, and helps the shoulders do the work. You don’t want to sway. You don’t want to rock. You want quiet feet, a quiet base, and a stroke that produces that cherished end over end roll.

That little bit of forward pressure helps you feel like you’re hitting slightly down on the ball—not lifting it. It’s a quiet move, but the feel is unmistakable. You’ll know it when you feel it.

Not everyone does it the same—some stay 50–50 for feel. But if you’re chasing consistency? Lean just a touch left. Then let the stroke go.

Putting’s hard enough. Don’t fight your body, your eyes, or your instincts. Open your stance—just a little. Or a lot. Tinker. Try it. Let your eyes see the line. Let your stroke follow the target line, not your shoulder line. It’s not a style choice. It’s a performance upgrade.

And if this setup worked for Jack & Arnie, and almost every legend in the game…

It might just work for you.