Swing Plane Mistakes PGA Pros Teach

Set Up: Hands On The Swing Plane

Most golf professionals teach you to set up with your hands below the swing plane (see Picture #2). That position guarantees a more complicated swing and a higher failure rate unless you have exceptional coordination and timing. .

You should set up with your hand on-plane, actually in the position they will be in at impact. If you don’t start with your hands and the club shaft being on-plane then your chance of making an on-plane backswing are zero. Your backswing will NOT be on-plane. In order to make an on-plane downswing you will have to make a complex rerouting of the club on the downswing. Think of Jim Furyk’s swing. That’s complex looping move is fine for the pros who practice 6 hours every day but for the average golfers it dooms you to failure.

Set-Up With Your Hands On The Swing Plane

Don’t Set-Up With Your Hands Below The Swing Plane

Go ahead and ask your PGA pro why they teach setting up with your arms hanging down so your hands are below the swing plane. The only answer you’re likely to get it because “That’s the way it done.” or “That’s the way I do it and I’m a good player.” The fact is that’s the way they were taught so that’s the way there’s going to teach it even if it makes the golf swing much harder for you.

Yes, tour pros routinely start with there hands below the swing plane. Why? Because that’s the way they were originally taught and now they’ve practice that complex move of “dropping into the slots” meaning getting their downswing back on-plane hundreds of thousands of times it’s not a big problem for them. (At least it’s not a problem until they have a day when their timing is a little off.)

The fact is that it’s much easier especially for the average golfer to start their backswing with their hands and the club shaft on-plane. Then they can just turn their core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) and the club comes back right on plane. Since their backswing is on-plane then it’s much easier to to make sure their downswing is on-plane also since all you have to do is retrace the path the club just came up on. When your backswing and downswing is on-plane that’s called a “Single Plane Swing”. A “Single Plane Swing” is much less complex and much easier to learn than any other swing. That’s why the “Single Plane Swing” is growing in popularity so quickly.

Note: If any golf professional or anyone else thinks they have a bio-mechanically sound reason to start with your hands below the swing plane please feel free to leave a comment below.

Hands Set-Up Above The Swing Plane

hands above swing plane — Click Picture To See Larger Image

You shouldn’t set up with your hands above the swing plane either. Some Natural Golfers do set up this way. That’s not the position you’ll be in at impact so that is not the position you should start your backswing. If you do start you backswing with your hands above the swing plane, again you’re adding needless complexity to your golf swing.

Golf Hand Position At Address

By Joe Davidson 2 Comments

Golf Hand Position At Address

What Is The Correct Hand Position At Address?

There are two ways to address the ball and start your backswing.
The Right Way 1. Start with your hands on the swing plane or in the impact position.
This the the way we recommend. Biochemically it is much easier to make an on-plane backswing and downswing if you start with your hands on-plane.

The Wrong Way 2. Start with your hands below or above the swing plane.
Most golf pros teach your hand position at address should be below the swing plane. They say let the arms hang down almost straight which puts the hands quite a bit below the swing plane . The question is why do they say this? Go ahead as ask your local pro why they say to let you arms hand down so your hands start off below the swing plane. The won’t be able to give you a rational answer. They’ll likely give you an answer like, “Because that’s the way it’s done.” If you ask them “Isn’t it harder to make a backswing and downswing that on-plane if you deliberately start with your hands off-plane?” The likely answer will be stuttering or a blank stare. Starting with your hands below the swing means you’ll have an off-plane backswing that you’ll somehow have to reroute on the downswing making the swing much more complex.

Are Special Clubs Needed for Simple Swing?

Simple Swing does NOT need special clubs. If your clubs were properly fit to you they’ll work fine with Simple Swing.

Some people say that swings that hold their hands higher need more upright clubs. Well that’s pure BS. The companies that say this say it to sell golf clubs. I was a Natural Golf certified instructor and I asked everyone I could find including all the people who should have known, for the technical reason to use a more upright club and none of them could come up anything close to a rational answer. Most of them just stuttered and stammered when asked.

Yes, Single Axis swings and Simple Swing do hold the hands higher at address. However, at impact all arms are are extended at the same angle (i.e. on the swing plane ). The swing plane goes from the front shoulder joint to the ball to the target. Unless someone’s stance is exceptionally high or low so the shoulder joint’s height changes then the angle of the club and the lie angle are going to be exactly the same.

Look at pictures of Single Axis, conventional swing and Simple Swing at impact. Except for some minor hand position differences (maybe some hip rotation differences too) at impact you can’t really tell the difference between most of the swingers at impact. That means the hand position at address at address will be the same.

Bottom line: The lie angle of your clubs don’t make any difference at set-up. The only time your lie angle comes into effect is at impact. Simple Swing hold our hands higher at set-up because we are presetting our hands in the position that they will be in at impact position. Everybody’s hands are in the same position at impact.

If your clubs lie angle are not correct for you then you should see misshapen divots. Have your lie angle checked on a lie angle board which is a simple and quick process. A simple what to check this is with your own lie angle board. Put some masking tape on the bottom of an iron. Then hit some balls off a piece of plywood. If the marks on the bottom of the are in the middle of the sole your fine.Single Plane

Hand Position At Address For A Single Plane Swing

The fact is with the single plane swing gaining rapidly in popularity golfers of all levels are starting to learn how to simplify their swings. More and more pros are using a Single Plane Swing these days. To to a true Single Plane Swing you must start with your hands in impact position (meaning on-plane). Just starting with your hands on-plane biochemically makes doing a an on-plane backswing and downswing much, much easier. You can let your hands hang down below the plane but then it will take much more timing and coordination to insure your on-plane at impact. You can do it but you will be much less consistent if you start with your hands below the plane.

We also want to make sure you don’t start with your hand too high at address also. See the pictures below:

hand position lower — Hands On-Plane or in Correct Impact Position

Note that when you have the correct golf hand position at address the club is soled correctly.
That mean the bottom of the club sits flat on the ground the way the club manufacturer designed the club to sit.

The bottom line is that your hand position at address should be on-plane and stay on-plane throughout your Simple Swing making it a true Single Plane Swing.

Joe Davidson
Simple Golf

The Power Lock Stance

By Joe Davidson Leave a Comment

The Power Lock Stance

The Power Lock Stance was designed to give you a very stable base to hit from and to keep the lower body quiet yet allow some hip turning also. Keeping the “power brace” pushing into the front leg effectively prevents the front hip from opening up and causing pulls. The result is this is a great stance to increase your distance and cure pulling problems. What we are doing is setting you up at address in your actual impact position. This makes it much easier to get back to the correct position at impact.

Most golfers find this stance helps them feel more athletic at address. This stance is also quite helpful in reducing common backswing faults such as swaying and other extraneous movements in the lower body. Most people will gain distance and accuracy with this stance because the increased stability will reduce swing errors and boost their confidence in their swing.

CORE TURN
The Power Lock Stance will also help you to learn to turn your core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) around your spine. The turning of your core powers your arms (and the club) through the ball with little lower body movement.

FRONT HIP HINGE VS BACK HIP HINGE
The turning of the upper body begins the backswing and then continuing in the backswing about the time the club shaft reaches horizontal the turning of the upper body pulls the back hip back away from the ball enabling a nice full turn. This means that in the Power Lock Stance the front hip is the hinge or pivot that the hips turn around as oppose to using the back hip as the hinge or pivot as so many golfers do. Using the front hip as the hinge or pivot point is equally as powerful as turning around the back hip yet it requires much less time or coordination to hit consistently straight shots

HOW TO SET UP IN THE POWER LOCK STANCE

FLARE YOUR BACK FOOT
With this stance you address the ball and flare your back foot out 45 degrees as usual. You stance should be just a little bit wider than shoulder width. Your weight should be on the balls of your feet. (You can do the Power Lock Stance with a square back foot but you are in danger of over rotating your hips resulting in pulled shots.) You front knee should be slightly bent.

SHIFT YOUR HIPS FORWARD (TOWARD THE TARGET)
Next and this is important – you will need to shift your hips towards the target so your front hip is almost (but not quite) over your front ankle. You front hip should be inside your front ankle. If you get your front hip directly over your front ankle you’ll be weakening your ability to post or brace into your front leg reducing your power.

Remember your hips shift toward the target NOT your whole upper body. You spine should wind up tilted away from the target at about a 20 to 25 degree angle. Your head should be back over your back knee. (As you shift your hips forward you should see your back knee shifting to a position under your head.)

THE LOCK
Flare you back foot then you lift the weight of your back heel. The weight should be on the ball or front part of your back foot. I know this will feel a little different but do it anyway. THEN YOU SHOULD PUSH WITH YOUR BACK LEG FIRMLY INTO YOUR BRACED FRONT LEG. You should feel the pressure or pushing against the front leg on the outside of your front foot. It should almost (but not quite) feel like your foot is going to roll over to the outside (You’ll feel the top of each thighs tensing slightly as your legs push against each other.) The opposing tension of the back leg pushing forward and the front leg pushing backward helps stabilize your lower body keeping the lower body from becoming overactive especially in the backswing. This is the “Lock” part of the stance. It should feel like you are trying to slide your feet away from each other, pushing or sliding the front foot toward the target and pushing or sliding the back foot away from the target.

There are a number of reasons for having the back foot flared. First flaring the back foot dramatically reduces the tendency to sway in the backswing. Secondly, the flared foot weakens the tendency to over rotate the hips, opening the front hip and pulling shots to the left. Thirdly, it makes it more likely you’ll correctly hit (or brace) into the front leg through impact. I’m repeating this again for emphasis, “YOU NEED TO FEEL YOUR WEIGHT ON THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR FRONT FOOT.”

POWER BRACE WITH YOUR LEGS
THE KEY TO POWER BRACING IS HAVING EACH LEG PUSH AGAINST THE OTHER LEG AND FEELING THE PUSH OR WEIGHT ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FRONT FOOT. The two legs pushing or bracing against each other is what stabilizes your stance. You should feel tension from the pushing in the tops of both thighs.

KEY POINTS
1. YOU MUST CONTINUALLY THE PUSH INTO THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR FRONT FOOT WITH YOUR BACK LEG TO GET THE BENEFIT OF THIS STANCE. YOU PUSH INTO THE FRONT FOOT UNTIL YOU FEEL YOUR FRONT FOOT ALMOST START TO ROLL OVER ONTO ITS SIDE!
2. DON’T START YOUR BACKSWING UNTIL YOU SHOULD FEEL EACH LEG PUSHING AGAINST THE OTHER.

DON’T GO TOO WIDE WITH THIS STANCE.
Your stance should be a little wider than shoulder width. You should be able to easily finish facing the target and up on the toe of your back foot. You should feel yourself hitting into that front leg through impact. If you go too wide you’ll leave too much weight on your back leg, have trouble bracing intot the front leg and wind up pivoting around your back hip (which opens your front hip) likely causing a pull.

FRONT KNEE SLIGHTLY BENT
Your front knee should be slightly bent. Whatever amount your front knee is bent at address that’s the amount of bend you should hold right through impact. In other words, “Don’t change the bend of your front knee until well after impact.”

A straight front leg works fine for golfers who don’t pull shots very often. However we find the slightly bent front knee work best for most all golfers. The bending of the front leg really is important in preventing the over-rotation of the hips which opens the front hip resulting in a pulled shot. It’s okay if your front knee turns back during the backswing as long as the amount of bend doesn’t change.

BACK KNEE BENT
Your back knee should start slightly bent and should stay slightly bent until it straightens on the downswing approaching impact. The pushing of the back leg into the front leg (with the front leg pushing back) should stabilize the lower body. As you club approaches horizontal on your backswing the turning of your core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) should start pulling the back hip back away from the ball. With your front knee slightly bent your front hip won’t really turn although it will move in slightly a couple inches (toward the ball) during your backswing.

BALANCE, STABLITY AND HIP ACTION
As long as you’re set up correctly with your hips forward but not quite over your front ankle then you don’t’ have to worry about balance (where your weight is). With the spine tilt there will be more weight on your back leg than on the front. That’s fine. our spine and head should stay relatively stable throughout the backswing and downswing. Your core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) just rotates around your spine.

PUSH INTO THE OUTSIDE OF THE FRONT FOOT
Feel the push of your back leg into your front leg. YOU SHOULD FEEL THE PUSH INTO THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR FRONT FOOT. It’s almost like your trying to roll your front foot over to the outside. When you do that you should feel the tops of both thighs tense slightly. When you push into that front leg what you are doing is stabilizing the lower body giving yourself a sold base to hit off of. If you don’t feel pressure in the outside of your front foot it’s likely that you don’t have your hips shifted forward (towards the target) correctly.

The turning of your core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) should still easily open the back hip (moving it away from the ball) but overall there will not be a lot of lower body motion. As I said “You must really push into the front leg to get the benefit of this stance”.

GOALS OF THE POWER LOCK STANCE
1. To increase your swing speed by giving you a stable, powerful base to hit from.
2. To reduce lower body motion (especially over-rotation of the hips) causing pulls and other inconsistencies.
3. To Learn to turn the core around the spine.
4. To give you a simple, repeatable yet powerful lower body action.

Using with the Power Lock Stance there is no weight shift (meaning center of gravity moving backward and forward) but there is a force shift where you should feel all of your weight and your power being thrown into your front leg through impact. Doing this Power Lock Stance is the quickest way to learn that feeling. If you don’t feel the weight going into the front leg through impact your stance may be too wide.

EXPECTATIONS
You’ll probably feel the Power Lock Stance is a little restrictive when you first set up. Hopefully you’ll come to see that is a very good thing. The Power Lock Stance is designed to help you to make the correct swing motions. There is less chance of screwing the swing up with the Power Lock Stance because it encourages you to set up correctly, stabilizes you and then guides you to post into the front leg. Most students seem to adapt well to this stance in less than 10 minutes. We have seen a significant increase in consistency with most students. We expected to see a slight fall off in distance but we are actually seeing some significant gains in distance which seems to be because the golfers feel more stable and more confident.

Questions and Answers

Q. Why is the spine tilted 25 degrees away from the target?

A. Because that’s the position we want you to be in at impact. What we are doing with out address position is mimicking the impact position. At impact your hips will be forward with approximately a 25 degree spine tilt. By starting in the impact position it is much easier make your turn and then to get back to that position at the actual impact.

Q. Do you turn your hips?

A. Yes absolutely. However the turning of the hips is a little different (i.e., easier) that it is with the old fashioned golf swing. See The Symple Turn – A simplied lower body motion for the golf swing. http://simplegolf.com/blog/full-swing/lower-body-action/the-symple-turn-a-simplied-lower-body-motion-for-the-golf-swing/

Basically the turning of the core pulls the back hip back away from the ball in the middle of the backswing. The front hip acts as a hinge in this simplified turn.

Q. What do your want golfers to push into the outside of your front foot?

A. Pushing into the outside of your front foot stabilizes you. You have to keep the hips shifted forward to keep the pressure on the outside of the foot. If you sway backwards the pressure shifts to the middle or inside of the front foot.

Q. What happens if you don’t get your weight to the outside of the front foot? What if I just push into the inside of my front foot?

A. Getting the weight on the outside of the front foot helps you NOT open the front hip. If the weight is on the inside of the front foot some people will straighten the leg and open the front hip pulling the shoulders and the shot to the left (for a right handed golfer).

Q. Is there anything else you should be thinking of in the backswing?

Yes, you should remember the Swing Tracks Drill http://simplegolf.com/blog/simple-short-game/swing-tracks-drill-insures-youre-on-plane-everytime/ I recommend to students that they do a “Shoulder Waggle” http://simplegolf.com/blog/full-swing/basics-full-swing/set-up-waggle-or-shoulder-waggle-before-every-swing/ or two before every swing. I ask them to check their “hand line” and to make sure the butt of the club points at the extended target line during the backswing.