Easy Tips To Groove The Proper Golf Swing Plane
If you are taking the time to read this article you are either already aware of the importance of getting your golf swing on plane or you are curious as to exactly what this plane talk is all about.
For the latter group the plane of the golf swing is essentially the path traced by the golf shaft all the way from address to finish. A sheet of paper is a plane. Lay the paper on a desk and that is a horizontal plane. The more you tilt the paper up the more vertical or upright the plane becomes. Applying this to golf you may be able to see that the taller the golfer the more upright the golf swing.
The goal for the average player should be to maintain the same plane throughout the entire golf swing. This is known as a one plane golf swing. Professional golfers tend to re-route their swing at the top of the backswing and have a slightly flatter downswing in an effort to store-up a little more power and deliver the club more from the inside. If you only golf occasionally and don’t have hours a day to practice then keep your swing as simple as possible!
The benefit of a single plane swing is more consistency. You basically will need to swing more with your body than with your hands. Ok, so what is the proper swing plane? Perpendicular to your spine angle is the answer. This may sound a little complicated but at this point just realize that if you want only one swing plane you need to have only one spine angle. This means keeping a nice straight spine by bending at the hips not waist and not lifting up on your backswing or dipping down on the downswing.
Once you have a consistent spine angle you need some point of reference to make sure that you are rotating properly around your spine. A great way to accomplish this is to try to keep your right elbow (for a right-handed golfer) close to your right side during the backswing. You will probably feel that this restricts your backswing somewhat which is really the whole point. You will find that in order to accomplish this you will need to stop swinging your arms back as soon as your upper body has rotated as much as possible (without changing your spine angle). The result will be a repeatable swing.
A good drill would be to try swinging with a spare glove placed under your right armpit and making sure it does not come out at anytime during your golf backswing. In conclusion, focus on maintaing the same spine angle throughout the entire swing, make sure to rotate and not sway, and avoid the “flying right elbow” that worked fine for Nicklaus but can get the average golfer into trouble!
