The Golf Swing Plane

You will hear many golfers, professional and amateursYou can swing along three different golf swing planes
alike, talking about the golf swing plane. Golf legendsand deviation from the right golf swing plane will lead
for years have made it a primary focus in their questto bad shots.
for the perfect golf swing.- The first is the right one, when you swing straight
After winning the Masters in 1997, Tiger Woodsdown the target line.
admitted that his backswing was ugly ~ his very own- The second one is when you swing down to the
words. Believing in the merits of a good golf swingleft or over the top.
plane, he changed his swing to adhere to a flatter- The third one is when you swing out to the right or
and more correct backswing plane. If you look at hisinside out.
backswing closely, you will see that he now goesSo what causes the deviations to the perfect swing
back in a plane that is much closer to his forwardplane? Your swing plane is affected by the tilt of
swing plane. By flattening his backswing plane, gettingyour body as you complete your backswing,
much closer to his ideal plane (ideally, where the clubdownswing and follow through.
goes back in a single plane and the forward swing isIf your upper body tilts to the right too much, your
more around the body (flatter also) he improved hisball will start out to the right causing pushes, push
swing.fades and duck hooks.
Anyone who studies the game of golf knows thatIf your upper body tilts to the left too much, your
although Ben Hogan did not invent the concept ofball will start to the left of the target causing pulls,
the golf swing plane, he certainly popularized it. Hispull hooks, skied shots and slices.
attention to perfecting his own golf swing plane ledThere are a couple of things that you should look at
to his notoriety as one of the best ball-strikers ever.that will stop the club head from swinging down the
He even wrote a book about it titled, Ben Hogan'sperfect line. The first is if you hit with your upper
Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf.body. This will cause your body to tilt to the left on
So just what is the golf swing plane? The golf swingyour downswing.
plane is defined as an imaginary surface thatThe second is if you start your downswing with your
describes the path and angle of the club during thefocus on hitting the ball. This will cause you to get
swing. The components of the golf swing plane areahead of the ball and your body will tilt to the left
the backswing, the downswing and the followbecause your lower body slides too much laterally on
through. To picture it, imagine a golfer standing overthe way down.
the ball, club in hand and extended in readiness toThe third is if you slide your lower body laterally
swing. Now in your mind, draw a diagonal line fromthrough your shot. This will cause your upper body to
the ball, along the shaft of the club and towards thetilt to the right too much.
sky.Another thing to remember is that an individual's
The ideal swing is for the golfer to bring his club backplane gets flatter as the club shaft gets longer and
in a line parallel to that diagonal line with the club headmore upright as the shaft gets shorter. However, the
stopping at the top of the diagonal, bringing it backgolfer's actual position at the top of the backswing
down the way it came up and then after striking theshould remain pretty much the same, regardless of
ball to follow through parallel to that diagonal line backwhat club is being used.
to the top. So, you are effectively swinging from theThis is the first in a series of articles about the
bottom of the diagonal line, to the top, back downcomponents that make up a perfect golf swing.
to the bottom and back up to the top.