I remember seeing Nick Price for the first time on TV, his hair used to stick up all the time a lot more than most other tour pros.  Anyways, I have always been a big fan of Nick Price since the 90s, let’s look at how his swing is.

Btw, he’s a student of David Leadbetter, so he swings on the yellow plane. (We will have to term the yellow plane swingers as 90s swingers.  I also have been guilty of practicing the yellow plane for about 10 years of my life but that’s the 90s, let’s focus on the true swing plane here)

At halfway back, Nick does the perfect match with the yellow plane.  I’d rather see him more outside near the red plane.

At the top, Nick does get back on to the plane.

Surprisingly, Nick does come back to the yellow plane before impact.  This is actually harder to do and its only because Nick’s really good at it.  Most tour pros would come down the red plane line.

At impact, Nick is somewhat neat the red plane.

Now, a lot of pro golfers and teachers still rely on the 2-plane swing, which is combination of the yellow and the red plane.  This is too confusing and there’s too many moving parts.

If you want to swing on 1-plane swing like Tiger or Moe Norman, you will need to concentrate on getting your clubhead on one plane only.

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Let’s take a look at Stewart Cink’s swing and see why he is so consistent.

At address, you can see I have two plane lines.  The tour pros usually follow the red one or the yellow one depending on what school of “plane” they believe.

Stewart, in this case, resorts to the yellow plane line, which is perfectly okay, but the red plane line is the “new” and deadly “secret” that the tour pros won’t tell you about.

At takeaway, you can see Stewart right-on-plane with the yellow plane.  It’s actually inside the red plane, meaning Stewart will have to re-route slightly to hit the ball.

At 1/2 way on the backswing, you can see Stewart follow the yellow plane perfectly.  This is the old-method taught by teachers like David Leadbetter and some others.  (It’s not a TRUE plane as I will explain further in the latter pics.)

At the top of Stewart’s swing, you can see he’s veered off the yellow plane completely and he’s now on the red plane.  Why the yellow plane worked is because he actually “manipulated” his arms to go upright.  This isn’t natural but then over 50% of pro tours swing like this.  (except Tiger and couple other players)

At 1/2 way down, you can see the Stewart is actually on-plane with the true red plane.  The yellow plane, as shown here, does not constitute as the real-plane as it has no meaning.

Why is it like this?

Because the yellow plane only shows the plane of the club shaft at “address”, not “impact”.

At impact, your wrists and arms straighten out due to the centrifugal force applied by the body, that’s called the red plane, true plane to follow for hitting the ball flawlessly.  A lot of teachers do not even know about this simple because they are too stubborn and stuck in the 90s.

At moment of truth, check out how Stewart’s shoulders, arms, and hands are on plane with the red line than the yellow line.  (This is why yellow plane has no meaning except that teachers try to teach you an invisible concept)

Even after impact, look at how well Stewart stays on-plane.

Now, you have learned the two ways of planes in golf.

The first plane is the plane formed by the clubshaft at address.  (the yellow line)

The second plane is the plane formed by the line between your clubhead and the middle of your right shoulder sockets.  (the red line)

Tiger Woods and couple other top players in the world are using the red plane.  Everyone else is using the yellow plane.

Which one is correct?

The red line plane is more correct because it’s based on your impact position, not address.

The reason why the yellow plane works is because Stewart manipulated his arms after takeaway to fit the red plane.  (So in fact, all his previous work to get the club on-line with the yellow plane becomes worthless)

Take a look at my swing analysis of Tiger’s swing and you will know what I mean here.

Here’s Stewart Cink’s driver swing in slow motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Lorena is a very good pro who exemplifies her game with her great swing.

Let’s take a closer look at how the champ does it.

At takeaway, Lorena is perfectly on-plane. A lot of the top pros are moving towards the 1-plane swing, which is following that red plane line.

At 3/4 backswing, Lorena gets slightly upright. This is still okay though.

At the top of her swing, Lorena is definitely slightly too upright and her club “goes across the line”, meaning it’s pointing right of the target. She will have to “re-route” her arms slightly to hit the ball square and if she doesn’t, she will hit a block to the right. This is something she could fix in the future. Greg Norman used to play like this for years and a lot of other tour pros do play “across” the line, but do as they say, not as they do.

Being slightly upright and over the line is actually not a bad thing. It’s easier to control than being slightly flat and under the line.

On the downswing, Lorena “drops” her arms to get the club back in position which is fine here.

At impact, Lorena looks perfect.

After impact, Lorena looks good too. Take a close look at how her elbows, arms, and hands have formed a “triangle”, this is really good stuff.

Conclusion

If Lorena Ochoa is winning every other tournament she plays, she shouldn’t change her swing but if she stops winning or has some time off to re-work her swing, I’d recommend to get slightly flatter at the top of her swing and that should automatically help the club point more parallel to to the target line instead of going “across-the-line” at the top of her swing.

Lorena’s takeaway looks reaaal good though, I’d recommend everyone to copy that.

Here’s Lorena Ochoa’s driver in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Luke Donald has a great swing, like everyone else on tour.

Let’s look at how he does it:

At takeaway, Luke is actually on-plane. The red plane line is “Butch Harmon’s” teachings and the yellow line is “David Leadbetter’s” teachings.

Most pro tour follow the red or the yellow plane at takeaway.

At the top of the swing though, most players’ hands will match with the red plane as Luke is showing you here.

Right before impact, Luke’s body is nice and tall, ready to hit the ball from inside-out.

Take a look at how straight Luke’s arms, hands, and club form. This matches perfectly with the swing plane, Luke probably hit this 300 yards.

Luke does come up slightly early than most players but this is a good thing as he is standing “tall”.

Here’s Luke’s swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Ernie Els dubbed “Big Easy”, does have one of the best swings in golf and here’ why.

Continue reading ‘Ernie Els Driver Down-the-line Swing Analysis’

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