Adding fule to the swing plane controversy

The third basic fundamental, the swing’s plane, is a much misunder­stood, highlycontroversial aspect of the game. This aspect of the golf stroke is influenced most strongly by the degree that the player bends his trunk or torso. The more upright the player stands the more vertical the plane of the swing will generally be. However, the height of the player also has a strong influence on the swing’s plane with the shorter player having a flatter plane and the taller one the more upright plane.

The girth of the player is another factor influencing the swing’s plane. Of necessity the stout person uses a flatter swing than his thinner fellow player. The short stout golfer will need a flatter plane than the tall stout, and the tall stout will generally have a flatter plane than the tall thin.

The short stout golfer needs a flat swing, first to allow the arms to clear the body during the swing, and second, to produce an arc of suffi­cient circumference to produce adequate power. This type of golfer needs clubs with a flat lie and shafts of medium to medium-long length to aid in executing this wider arc.

Free golf instruction swing plane

The short thin player could clear his body with his arms while swing­ing in a somewhat more upright plane, but in doing so he might dig under the ball. To eliminate this digging, such a player would have to use clubs so short as to cut down the swing’s circumference and greatly deplete power. Thus the short thin player should also use fairly long equipment . with flat clubhead lies, and he should also swing on a flat plane to produce more power.

Free golf instruction swing plane

The taller stout player should swing on a plane as upright as possible to allow body clearance and adequate power production.

From what has been said about the swing plane one may deduce that I feel a flat swing produces more power than an upright one. This is not true if the upright swing has as wide an arc as the flat one. It is simply a fact that the flatter the plane the wider arc one can use without digging the clubhead into the ground behind the ball. And the flatter plane allows the arms to have greater body clearance, a major necessity for the stouter and shorter player.

Of course the length and lie of the various clubs within a given set, say from the driver to the 9-iron, have a bearing upon the angle of swing plane. The longer driver requires a relatively flat plane. Each succeeding club throughout the matched set to the 9-iron requires a microscopically more upright swing plane because the shafts become shorter and the player stands closer to the ball.

In all cases care must be taken not to become so upright in swing plane as to cause arm friction with the body, clubhead collision with the ground, or power depletion through shortening of the swing’s arc.

Free golf instruction swing plane

In summing up, a player will obtain maximum directional control and maximum power if his swing plane is as upright as possible but still not so upright as to produce arm-body friction during the swing.