Plane and Path

I hope this helps new or struggling golfers understand a little on swing path and plane.

Something I feel is very important for golfers to understand is the relationship between the swing plane and path. Most instruction does not clarify these aspects, they touch on them but tend to leave the student with a foggy comprehension of what to me is the foundation of good ball striking.

The checkpoint method normally adopted by PGA instructors attempts to get the student swinging on path and plane but without ever clarifying what this means, many books make a good effort to get you swinging the club on plane but again the drills and images never put the picture together so that the objective is presented as a simple singular image. I should state that 3Skills is one of the better books for this. Hogan made a good job of it with his pane of glass all those years ago.



The swing plane is a theoretical inclined surface that lies through your club shaft at address, it is best imagined as a large inclined circle that bisects the ball at the bottom, is set at the same angle as the club shaft, encircles your body and is in line with the target. The angle of this plane will change with each club as they will create a different angle at address.

The picture of the Explanar device gives a good image.




To make good ball contact your swing path (The direction of the clubface) needs to match the swing plane as close as possible through the zone just prior to and after impact. It will also need to be square to the plane as it strikes the ball. If it is steep, shallow or out of square then you will not hit the ball with optimum conditions.

The pictures below show the swing path which should match the plane as it strikes the ball.






This video will also help to understand the path and plane of the swing.
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-do-...ane-1-27032764


Generating maximum head speed and working the ball right or left is for another thread. To have a chance of making good ball contact you should work at swinging on plane, ensuring the clubface follows the plane into and past impact, it is not correct to try and swing the club up and down the line of the target.

I hope this helps some of you.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

Does anyone find this type of information useful?

Yes and I'm waiting for Part 2.

Thanks Brian. That's the simplest and the best explanation of what swing path and angle I've heard. I suppose that is the reason they say that we should maintain our spine angle right to post-impact?

I look forward to Part II, to be simplified as Part I.

Thanks again.

i couldn't agree more


i the up and down is such and illusion. if i want to hit a ball out, why would i swing down on it? why not swing out like a baseball, just alter your swing plane on an angle so it apears to be up and down.

ken griffy jr. is a great example. his sweet spot is low knee pitches. if his bat was longer he would have a powerful golf swing to the ground. but i can garantee he is not hitting down at the ball, his plane is just shifting giving that apearance, but he is hitting out at the ball.

Another good piece of advice about staying on plane is to keep the elbows as level as possible durning the back swing. If one is lower or higher than the other, it will be more difficult to find the correct down swing position to impact. More than a few instructors will not relate this position to their students for various reasons, but for the most part, most professional golfers will have this position in the back swing. Those who don't are adding "extra" compensations in their down swing to find the correct impact position. You can see level elbows in BrianW's post with the guy in the white shirt.

A way to check this position is to lay a club across the inside of your elbows, when your hands, in the back swing reach about shoulder high. If the rear elbow is higher than the front elbow, you might tend to hit a fat shot, a slice, or a weak pop up to the slice side. If the front elbow is higher than the rear elbow you might tend to have too flat of a swing, which could cause topped shots, low line drives, or not taking a proper divot.

This is one one those "for what ever it is worth" posts, and was taught to me by my instructor (RIP) many years ago, long before the subject of being on plane was being discussed. GJS

Good points GJS, thank's.