Swing Plane
This series is an overview of the great body of
information I’ve learned from the man who influenced my
teaching a tremendous amount, my friend Norrie Wright, from
Jacksonville, Florida. A more in-depth view is presented in
the DVD The Wright
Swing, a video textbook for students of the game.
The swing plane is one of those pieces of the golf-swing
puzzle that, if understood, can help your ball striking as
much as any other factor.
Norrie’s presentation of the plane is straight from The
Golfing Machine, a book that influenced his teaching a great
deal. In that book, Mr. Kelly calls a club on-plane if it:
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Either
points at the target line (both ends of the shaft), or
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Is parallel
to the target line, at those points when the club is
horizontal to the ground. |
The target
line, by the way, is the straight line from the ball to the
target. It is the only straight line in golf, as the rest of
the swing contains circles and ellipses.
You can check this yourself in a couple of ways:
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For the
pointing at the target line, tape two regular
flashlights together, end to end, so the beams of light
point outward. In a dark room, find a line on the floor
to represent the target line. Holding the joined
flashlights in the middle, slowly track the line with
one of the beams. As you cock your wrists with your
imaginary golf club, the other end of the flashlight
should now point at the line.
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For the
parallel part, place a club on the ground, starting at
your right little toe for righty’s. The club should be
lying parallel to the target line. Swing back, and when
the club you are holding is level with the ground, look
to see if it is directly over the club on the ground.
You could also do this in the through swing, but bring
the club on the ground to your left heel, also parallel
to the target line. |
A golf club
is either on-plane, or it’s not. Many good players leave the
plane in the backswing, but no good player leaves the plane
half-way down. If you are too shallow, you will be a hooker
or a pusher, hitting a lot of thin shots. Too steep and you
are a slicer, puller, or chunker (too much earth).
If this sounds complicated, I’m sorry. Again, from The
Golfing Machine: `Demanding that golf instruction be kept
simple does not make it simple, only incomplete and
ineffective’. A good teacher, however, can help you
understand with drills, mental pictures, and other tricks up
his or her sleeve.
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