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The Tape Doesn't Lie!

13 10 08 - 10:39

After careful video analysis of my swing I have come to this conclusion: I am a one-plane swinger. Contrary to what I thought I was trying to do with the golf club, I am setup beautifully for a one-plane swing, and consistently reaching the top on that same plane. I had previously believed I was a two-planer, stuck in a one-planers setup. I now have come to realize, through the power of video-tape, that I am a one-planer with some two-plane advice seeping into my swing. Here is the video evidence, straight from V1 Home:

This entire year I have been working on getting my left arm in-between my right shoulder and my neck, getting steeper at the top. Not only was this impossible, due to my 40* spine angle, but I had also mixed in some other two-plane fundamentals into my pure one-plane swing. I am moving my hips laterally and pulling my hands down to start my downswing, which is not a one-plane transition. I'm also trying to take the club away outside the line of my feet, which is probably what is causing my constant "cut". I am also playing a very weak grip, which is probably why I push most shots. Instead of rotating my left forearm clockwise on my backswing, I have been cupping my wrist in order to open the face. And to top it off, I am playing a two-plane release into the ball, adding an additional timing element at impact. No wonder I have such a hard time hitting straight shots consistently!

As you can see from this picture, I am nice and on-plane at the top:

Unfortunately, I am also turning my hips, as a result of my left foot being square to the target, and my stance being too narrow. That is easily fixable.

Now that I truly understand what I am actually doing in my swing, I am shifting my focus to the one-plane swing instead of the two-plane swing. I figure my current swing is 80% one-plane, 20% two plane, so it should be much easier for me to groove a solid one-plane swing than starting over from scratch and learing the two-plane action. Wish me luck, I am going to need it!

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