A tricky but important concept to master is the golf swing plane; it is hard enough mastering the idea of one but three of them working in unison is mind-blowing. For a basic introduction to what it is, imagine the pendulum of a clock swinging freely. It forms a perfect arc, this is called a swing plane. To move the idea closer to golf imagine now holding a piece of string that is weighted and swing that, it also forms an arc, but using your wrist as a pivot point.
Now with golf it is a bit trickier to explain. We have the idea of the weight swinging freely, but what would happen if your arm or wrist were at an angle. Then the plane would be about that angle. If you arm was angled left, your plane would be angled left, if the arm was angled to the right then so would your plane. Move those thoughts to how you swing a golf club, the plane swing relates to when you swing the club around your body, and the two angled swings relate to the way you are tilting your body for the shot.
The driving range is a great place to study the relationship between the angle that you tilt your body and the direction of the shot. Putting what you have worked out into practice you will soon learn the correct angle to be at to get your shots to go straight.The golf swing plays an important part in improving your handicap. And a good swing plane allows you to be more accurate, get more distance, and knock strokes off your game. Everybody has a different stroke plane as it is related to the height, size, and other factors, but there are also many similarities.
When practicing your golf swing do it in front of the mirror, or better still record it. Then you can go and analyze it later. If you are lucky enough to have a coach let them know what you’re trying to do, and the chances are they can help make things a lot easier for you.
The only place to start when trying to sort out your swing is from the beginning, with your stance. Over the years your stance will have changed, but you probably have not noticed it. It would have been with a series of tiny changes due to height or weight changes. Even loss of flexibility in some of your joints. Then you might find that you are losing balance during the swing. It can all be fixed and your scores will drop as your game improves.
