The Plane truth

[IrishGolfer]

So I went back to the Lab last night to experiement on planes! I am not overly technical in my swing, never have been. But I have been lacking a bit in my swing recently, so I thought I would try a few things.

I rooted out some advice Charnock Pro sent me at the beginning of the year:

"On the backswing your shaft angle at shoulder height should basically be that if you drew a line from the grip to your ball it would point just inside the ball, but looking at your swing it would point straight down, so i am saying although it is steep on the way back it would be remedied on the way down if you could get the butt end of your club pointing at just inside the ball, this would mean that it would be easier to deliver the club on a consistent path.

Because you have a steep angle of attack i would guess you are good with your 5iron thru sw but struggle to consistently hit the longer clubs, as regards your sway, what i was saying was because you are quite tall your club travels quite a long way from the top, so as a tall person you have to do something to slow the transition down which means that a slight lateral bump on the way down will give the club chance to fall into position, and then after that you will be able to fire through the ball with confidence, your weak shot will stem from your steep shaft angle approaching the ball which would mean to make a good pass at the ball your body will slow down and your hands will pass everything causing a "handsy release" and a snap hook, with the advice i have given you it will result in an on plane delivery and a more consistent flight path and release.

THE DUDE SPEAKS THE TRUTH!

I started an exercise last night; firstly I cocked my wrists at address, fully hinged, with the club on line and parallel to the ground and my arms in the normal address position. Slowly I turned my shoulders to get the club head to shoulder height. My aim at that point was to get the butt end of the club pointing at the ball, not at my feet. Once I was there from that point I just ensured I was completing my backswing. At the top my aim was to start down with my hips first.

WOAH!

I was just cranking it last night. Everything felt a lot more solid and together. I felt my club head speed was faster and certainly I was hitting it straight and long. I had a few "interesting shots" when I got a bit lazy, but overall I was staggered with success delivered with this simple change. I'm definitely onto something here!

A successful night's testing. I will book a lesson with my pro soon, to get the seal of approval on this.

[charnockpro]

Thanks for the tribute, i really appreciate the feedback, and as i always say the reward is not monetary but getting praise like that, it kicks ass

[cypressperch]

what works for them. I am, however, somewhat mystified about all the discussion concerning plane. Here's why. There are certain things that we have to have in order regardless: grip, alinement, posture, ball position. If we position the club face square to the target line and allow the club to sit naturally behing the ball (as it is designed with no de-lofting, etc), and then we stand to the so-positioned club, many of those prerequisites are taken care of automatically.

So now we are addressed correctly. We want to coil back so that the back faces the target. This automatically brings the clubhead inside the target line. The arm swing brings the club up. With a driver, it is nice to have the shaft parallel to the target line and also parallel to the ground. During all this we want the head fairly steady. If we do not have the shaft across the line or laid off the line, all we have to do is bring the arms down and through as the body is uncoiled. If we get the arms back to where they were at address WITH A WELL TIMED SWING, we do not have to worry at all about plane.

Again, if something works, why fool with it? I have found that things go very well for me if I (1) get my set up correct, and (2) get my timing correct. There are a lot of golfers who seem to be concerned about whether they have a one or two plane swing. I am not sure that that is even that important.

I might also add tempo as an important consideration. Of course, there are many other points because golf really cannot be completely "simplified."

Cypressperch

[cypressperch]

what works for them. I am, however, somewhat mystified about all the discussion concerning plane. Here's why. There are certain things that we have to have in order regardless: grip, alinement, posture, ball position. If we position the club face square to the target line and allow the club to sit naturally behing the ball (as it is designed with no de-lofting, etc), and then we stand to the so-positioned club, many of those prerequisites are taken care of automatically.

So now we are addressed correctly. We want to coil back so that the back faces the target. This automatically brings the clubhead inside the target line. The arm swing brings the club up. With a driver, it is nice to have the shaft parallel to the target line and also parallel to the ground. During all this we want the head fairly steady. If we do not have the shaft across the line or laid off the line, all we have to do is bring the arms down and through as the body is uncoiled. If we get the arms back to where they were at address WITH A WELL TIMED SWING, we do not have to worry at all about plane.

Again, if something works, why fool with it? I have found that things go very well for me if I (1) get my set up correct, and (2) get my timing correct. There are a lot of golfers who seem to be concerned about whether they have a one or two plane swing. I am not sure that that is even that important.

I might also add tempo as an important consideration. Of course, there are many other points because golf really cannot be completely "simplified."

Cypressperch

[charnockpro]

what works for them. I am, however, somewhat mystified about all the discussion concerning plane. Here's why. There are certain things that we have to have in order regardless: grip, alinement, posture, ball position. If we position the club face square to the target line and allow the club to sit naturally behing the ball (as it is designed with no de-lofting, etc), and then we stand to the so-positioned club, many of those prerequisites are taken care of automatically.

I agree it should be kept as simple as possible and the basics should be adhered to, but the problem i saw was plane related and to remedy and help make the movement a simpler movement i saw this as the cure, he had the basics right but his set early in the backswing caused him to have to make many compensations on the way down so i saw the remedy as helping to simplify his swing

So now we are addressed correctly. We want to coil back so that the back faces the target. This automatically brings the clubhead inside the target line. The arm swing brings the club up. With a driver, it is nice to have the shaft parallel to the target line and also parallel to the ground. During all this we want the head fairly steady. If we do not have the shaft across the line or laid off the line, all we have to do is bring the arms down and through as the body is uncoiled. If we get the arms back to where they were at address WITH A WELL TIMED SWING, we do not have to worry at all about plane.

The arms dont actually return the same as address, they return with the right arm slightly bent and elbow pointing to the right hip, the left wrist flat and right wrist loaded/slight angle

Again, if something works, why fool with it? I have found that things go very well for me if I (1) get my set up correct, and (2) get my timing correct. There are a lot of golfers who seem to be concerned about whether they have a one or two plane swing. I am not sure that that is even that important.

Not so much concerned, if you make the right movements it will fit in to the parameters you discuss, but with the golf swing there are miniscule movements that affect a pure up and down path.

I might also add tempo as an important consideration. Of course, there are many other points because golf really cannot be completely "simplified."