This is the first part of a two-part article. It covers plane and face—two of the four common denominators to a sweeter swing that will help you lower your golf handicap. Next week we’ll discuss centering and radius.

The next time you watch golf on TV, take a close look at each golfer’s swing. If you’re watching a PGA tournament, you’ll notice that the players all have something in common in addition to great mechanics: They’ve mastered the real basics of a good swing—plane, face, centering, and radius. These basics are critical to a great golf swing and sound ball striking. Fortunately, you don’t need great athletic ability to master them. You just need to practice some simple drills.

Of course, these basics are really just means to an end. They’re not ends in themselves, so mastering them won’t automatically lower your golf handicap. They must be combined with other fundamentals, like having a good grip, posture, ball position, and alignment, to achieve a great swing. But they’re a critical step. Unfortunately, written golf tips and personal golf lessons don’t always cover them.

Below we define two of the four basics—plane and face—and provide drills to help master them. Next week will cover centering and radius.

 

Plane:
You’ve probably heard the term before, but you’re not sure exactly what it is or how it applies to your swing. Plane is defined by the angle your club creates when it’s ground at address. To master accuracy, the club must remain on this plane as it approaches the ball on the downswing. Actually, most golfers have two swing planes—the one formed by your takeaway and the other generated by your downswing, which is slightly flatter.

Of the two, the second is the most important. It’s the most powerful and direct route to the ball, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips. Coming back to the ball above or below this plane short-circuits your power and causes pulls, slices, and an assortment of other types of bad shots. Ideally, you want to perfect your swing so that you’re always coming back to the ball on plane.

 

Plane Drill:
Place two shafts on the ground to represent the target line and two tees in the ground just outside the target line. Stick a tee in the grip end of your club before setting up. Now, address the ball and start your backswing. At the three-quarter position of your backswing, the tee in the club’s grip should point to the target line or out to the tee line. If the club’s butt points past or over the target line, the plane angle is too flat, so you need to do more work to perfect this basic. Keep working on the drill.

 

Face:
Face is another key swing basic. To be a great ball striker, you must rotate the clubface to square it at impact. Most players don’t rotate the clubface enough on the downswing to do this or they rotate it much too late. You must start rotating the clubface just before impact and finish just after it. To test oneself, take a practice swing without a ball and stop just after the impact. Your glove hand should be below your non-glove hand just after impact. If it’s not, you must rotate the clubface more.

Face was a major concern of Jack Nicklaus when he played on the tour. So he used a simple technique to square his clubface at impact, one I’ve written about in my golf tips and discussed in my golf lessons. He turned the clubface’s toe past the heel at impact to draw the ball from left to right. He felt that having the toe beat the heel to the ball encourages the clubface to close through impact. Jack’s tip helps you not only square your clubface, but also shape your shots and eliminate a slice.

 

Face Drill:
The face drill is one that you can easily do at home. Without a club, grab your left/hand wrist with your right hand. Left-handers need to do the opposite. Assume your golf stance and take the position to the top of the backswing. Hold it. Repeat. Keep doing it until it’s ingrained. The drill helps you develop a one-piece backswing and position the club at the top, so you can deliver the club back to the ball squarely at impact. This drill and the plane drill are compliments of Jim Mclean, the noted golf teacher.

While great mechanics are critical, the real keys to a sweeter swing are plane, face, centering, and radius. This week we discussed plane and face. Next week, we’ll talk about centering and radius. Developing a great swing depends on mastering these common denominators. Work on the drills discussed above and you’ll perfect them, taking you one step closer to a better golf handicap.

 

 

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros". He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

This is the second part of a two-part article. It discusses centering and radius—two of the four common denominators that make for a sweeter swing—one that will dramatically cut your scores and lower your golf handicap. Part I covered plane and face, the other two common denominators.

Professional golfers all have sweet swings. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be professionals. Honed by hours and hours of practice, their swings all have four common denominators—plane, face, centering, and radius. These denominators are critical to a good swing. If you’re serious about developing a swing that cuts strokes from your golf handicap, you must know what these four denominators are and how they affect your swing.

In addition, you must perfect them in your swing. Drills designed to help you practice them are a good to do that. While these denominators are critical to a sweet swing, they can’t do it alone. They must be combined with other fundamentals, like having a good grip, posture, ball position, and alignment, Unfortunately, written golf tips and personal golf lessons don’t always discuss these denominators.

Below we define centering and radius—two of the four denominators—and provide drills to help master them.

Centering
Every swing has a foundation defined by your head and your spine. If you want to hit accurate shots, this foundation must remain steady throughout your swing. Watch Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, or any of the other pros on TV and you’ll see how steady their heads and spines are throughout their swings. Swing coaches refer to this foundation as your center.

Your center has two angles. One is the angle your spine creates with your hips at address. The other involves your head’s lateral movement. Focus on preventing both your head from moving one way or the other and your spine from moving up or down, and you will be on the road to finding a swing that cuts strokes off your golf handicap.

Right Arm Drill
Set up with your left forefinger (right-handers) in the center of your chest. Swing back with your coil and right arm in sync, just as you would if you were swinging a club. Let the right arm swing and fold into a right angle so the right elbow moves away from your shoulder while you feel the movement of your body-center in the area of your sternum. The arm and the shoulder coil arrive at the top of the backswing together. Now, swing down. Concentrate on swinging your right arm close to your body, coordinating this movement with that of your body-center all the way though to the finish.

Radius
Radius is the distance between the lead shoulder and the clubhead. Swing coaches often discuss maintaining radius in their golf instruction sessions and golf videos/CDs. The key to maintaining radius is releasing your wrists at the right time. If you release your wrists at the right time and execute the proper sequence of movements in the downswing, you’ll maintain radius.

Some weekend golfers release their wrists early, forcing the shaft ahead of the lead arm before impact. An early release causes you to hit the ball thin or mis-hit it altogether. It also causes you to lose the radius of your swing. To maintain your radius, you must take the club back low to the ground for about twelve inches, which triggers a wider swing arc. (Swing arc is a basic concept I’ve discussed in my golf tips.)

Brush-The-Ball-Away Drill
Tee up a ball. Place a tee in the ground about 12 inches directly behind the teed up ball. Set up to the ball with a driver. Push the club back to tart your take away. Try to brush the ball off the second tee by letting the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders control the action. Practicing this “sweeping takeaway” teaches you to maintain the radius of your swing, generating more power and longer shots.

This drill and the previous one are compliments of Jim McLean, the noted golf teacher. The two drills improve two key denominators of a sweet swing—radius and centering. When combined with the other denominators—face and place—and the other basics you learn in golf instruction sessions, they’ll help you achieve a swing that even the players with low golf handicaps will envy.

 

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.