Golf is a difficult game and I find that my pupils who take the time to understand what they are attempting to do improve faster than pupils who are looking for the ‘secret’

The secret is in fact that there is not a ‘secret.’

 One of the most misunderstood aspects of the swing is the swing plane.

It is really important to have a correct concept of the swing plane as without a correct concept you will be reduced to guess work and endless experiments so this article is intended to present you with the facts.

Photograph No.1 shows   my normal address position with two lines.

One line is parallel to and to the left of the shaft and the second line runs from just outside the club head and above the tops of my arms.

To understand the swing plane all you need to know is that the ball and the club head are in between the two lines at address.

The club head will hit the ball so it makes perfect sense to keep the club head in between the two lines throughout the swing until impact and beyond impact. This will produce a straight shot as the ball will be spinning purely backwards and the club head is travelling straight to the target.

This is the ONLY way to hit the ball correctly.

If the club head moves down to the ball to the right of the outside line the ball will go straight to the left if the face is square to that line. If the face is closed the ball will go to the left and then hook to the left .If the face is open the ball will go to the left and then spin to the right.

If the club head moves down to the ball to the left of the inside line the ball will go straight to the right if the face is square to that line. If the face is closed the ball will go to the right and then hook to the left.  If the face is open the ball will go to the right and then spin to the right.

The time between the club head striking the ball and the ball leaving the club head is ½ a millisecond. i.e. half of one thousandth of one second.

With this fact in mind the angle that you strike the ball should be very important to you.

There are many ways I encourage my pupils to think of the swing plane, or swing line or angle of attack – they all mean the same.

Many of my pupils either play or watch football and I do occasionally. ( Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1- how cool was that?)

There is one aspect of football that is very similar to hitting a golf ball and that is the penalty shot.

If you watch a penalty shootout this is what happens.

The ball is placed on the penalty spot and the penalty taker walks back so he can move forward to kick the ball.

Walking back is like a backswing in golf i.e. it is to position you to enable you to swing down in plane and kick the ball at the target.

Even though the penalty taker could move back as far as he would like they rarely move back more than three or four paces as this is far enough to allow him to kick the ball hard enough.

Also the penalty taker nearly always goes back to the left of centre line so he can kick the ball on line with maximum control and speed.

This is exactly the same as a golf shot as the club is only taken back far enough to create enough club head speed coming down  (most golfers take the club back way to far) and when the club is taken back in plane there is no need to re-route the club coming down.

Another way of visualising a swing plane, swing line or angle of attack is to imagine a javelin thrower. The javelin has to be thrown at the correct angle, I confess I do not know what the angle is but I would imagine above thirty degrees the javelin would fly to high and come down to soon and if the angle is to low the javelin would again come down to soon.

Lewis Hamilton is extremely good at lines, angles and speed. He knows the correct angle and speed to approach a corner and this so one of the reasons why he is the new Formula One World Champion.

The swing plane is applicable to many other sports but lets get back to helping you swing your club in plane.

Photograph No.2 shows how in the movement back the hands and club have remained inside the lines. This is a result of turning the hips and shoulders and moving the arms away from the chest.

A superb way to practice this is to have the two lines on a mirror so you can see what is happening Have a friend help you to make it easier to fit the lines.

One of my pupils drew a line on his bedroom mirror with his wife’s lipstick. He seemed taken aback when I asked him what colour he had used!

Another pupil who reduced his handicap from 11 to 6 used to draw lines on the mirrors at our excellent driving range. Unfortunately he used indelible ink and the lady who cleans the mirrors everyday was not amused!

Another lady was keen to practice her swing indoors in the depths of winter in Surrey when I was the professional at the excellent Army Golf Club. She was so aware of the lights in her kitchen that she successfully missed the lights in her backswing and promptly put the club head through the door of her refrigerator!

Photograph No.3 shows how my hands and the club are still inside the lines at the top of my backswing as a result of continuing the good moves in the first part of the backswing i.e. turning the hips and shoulders and continuing to move the arms away from the chest.

At this point we have aligned the swing in plane making the line down easier.

The lines at the top of the swing are quite a long way apart and in my lessons I would eventually tighten the tolerances to give an exact line back but in general terms if you stay in between the lines initially you will strike the ball infinitely better than if you stray outside the lines.

Photograph No.4 shows the arms and club still inside the lines as we start down as a result of the weight shifting to the left, the hips and shoulders turning and the arms moving down. These movements happen simultaneously as there is less than half of one second from starting down before the ball has gone and you do not have time to think in some sort of sequence.

Also note that the shaft is now pointing at the ball so the swing plane is now spot on.

Tiger Woods describes his downswing in the October edition of Golf World as follows ‘my upper body and lower body uncoil simultaneously. That tells me neither will have to do any catching up at impact’

I agree 100 % with Tiger Woods.

The body and club will be moving so fast at this part of the swing that it is impossible to change direction so just let it go.

Tommy Armour, the silver Scot and Open Championship winner at Carnoustie in1931 said in his 1954 book How to play Your Best Golf all the time ‘you may find to your horror that I never mention or picture the complete follow through, except in discussing bunker shots. I’m convinced that any emphasis on the follow- through in golf instruction is just one more thing for the pupil to remember, and one, which won’t help him. There are two reasons for this. First if the ball is hit correctly it’s on its way anyhow, and it doesn’t matter how you follow-through, and if it has been hit correctly you are bound to follow through – naturally.

The late Leslie King used to teach the stance and then the follow-through and when the follow –through was correct he would teach the backswing and the then join the two together.

I use both diametrically opposed methods depending on my pupil.

Either way if your swing plane is correct half way down you will almost certainly be pleased with the result.
 
Having your swing plane on line is probably easier than you have imagined and understanding and visualisation is essential.

Another reason why it is important to have your swing plane on line throughout is this.

On a full shot if your swing plane is incorrect half way back you have the rest of the swing to correct it. However on a short shot of say 40 –50 yards if your swing plane is incorrect you do not have the time to correct it so the ball can go left or right and even miss the green from a short distance.

One of my pupils is an exceptionally good golfer playing of scratch at the beautiful Broadstone Golf Club. During one of his lessons he mentioned that he could hit the ball a long way off the tee and then miss the green to the left from a short distance with his pitching wedge.

The reason was he had turned to late in the first part of the backswing so his hands and club head were to near the right hand line (see Photograph No.1) The club head then had to come down to the left so that is where the ball had to go.

An earlier turn brought his club head in to plane so the shots then when straight.

The swing plane is important for ALL shots and I become extremely agitated when I hear that short shots are ‘little hands and arm shots’ They are not ‘little hands and arms shots as the chest and shoulders must turn to allow the arms to move in plane.

Tiger Woods knows this perfectly well and he says the chest will move the arms but the arms will not necessarily move the chest.

I agree 100% with Tiger Woods.

CONCLUSION

The ball goes where the club head goes and not where you want it to go.

The club head has to move down in plane.

The cub head does not necessarily have to move back in plane.

The club head therefore has to move down in between the lines in Photograph No.1