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

backswing, centrifugal force, club shaft, david leadbetter, moment of truth, plane line, red line, shoulders, Stewart Cink, takeaway, tiger, yellow plane backswing, centrifugal force, club shaft, david leadbetter, moment of truth, plane line, red line, shoulders, Stewart Cink, takeaway, tiger, yellow plane If you like this post, please subscribe to the ProGolferDigest via RSS or via E-Mail to receive updates.

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I went to the range today and couldn’t help hitting these knockdown shots.

Basically, setup with the ball in about the middle of your stance.

Swing about half-way.

Really try to swing about 50-75% of your total effort.  You need to swing easy for the knockdowns and hit it super-crisp.

Make sure your follow-through is longer than your backswing.  A lot of teachers will teach you to stop at waist-level.  That is not a good way since there’s a chance you might de-ccelerate.  The best way is to swing nice and easy but make sure you follow-through.  There is no need to abruptly stop the club.  (If you watch Tiger hit knockdowns, he makes a nice follow through.)

You also want to try to see if you can get your right arm straight like the red line.  (Obviously, I didn’t do that, still working on it…)

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Today, we are going to study the “head” of a pro golfer.  Last time I did a Down-the-Line swing analysis of Adam Baddeley, but today we will do the front view.

How much should your head move during your golf swing?

Most good pros, including Tiger Woods, will move about 1-2 inches on the backswing and come back to the same head position addresss at impact.

Let me prove the point by going through Adam Baddeley’s swing:
(Note the red line I put on Adam’s left ear.)

Notice Adam’s head moved about 1-2 inches already on the takeaway?

This is good, Tiger does this too.  But it doesn’t matter whether you move that head on the takeaway or at the top of the swing, it just matters you do move it.

Note: Moving the head means you have successfully transferred some of your weight to your right foot, critical for hitting the ball straight and far.

Look at the top of his swing, it’s now clear he’s in perfect position. 1-2 inches of head movement is usually the best.  Anything more or less means you are either doing a C-reverse-weight-shift OR you are swaying too much.

Note: Sometimes even I sway a lot by overswinging (thus my head moves about 3-4 inches), simply keeping a keen eye on your head movement will help you not overswing plus stay in perfect balance.

Notice that Adam’s head has come back to the same position at address.  This is a good sign he’s transferred his weight back to the left foot.

Here, Adam actually pulls his back a little.  (Your goal is try to keep it near where the head was at your address)  He might be trying to hit it a little hard here but it’s not going to affect his shot that much.

Notice how the head now is way right of the original red line.  This is good and shows that you’ve completely transferred your weight to the left foot “after” hitting the ball.

Today’s Lesson?

Take a video shot of your swing from the front like Adam’s swing shown above.  Then download the free V1-Home software and see how your head performs.

It’s a very simple but effective way to correct your swing, by looking where your head is.

I assure you if you can achieve that 1-2 inches consistently, you will hit the ball consistently too and hit the ball farther and straighter.

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Retieft Goosen has one of the best rhythms in golf.  Here’s Retief at setup.

At backswing, Retief is right on-plane.  Now, there’s 2 types of planes that 99% of tour pros use.

One plane is the plane formed by the ball to the middle of the shoulder sockets (the top red line) and the other one is the plane formed by the ball to the belly. (the bottom red line)

Retief here uses the 2nd type of plane, which is what David Leadbetter promotes whereas Butch Harmon does the other.

The impotant thing is to keep your plane within the two different types of plane.  Anything higher or lower will make your swing a lot harder to keep up and cause back problems.

Jack Nicklaus probably breaks this swing plane rule but that explains why he needed a ceramic hip replacement.

At the top of the backswing, Retief has a beautiful triangle.  His club is pointing slight to the right of parallel meaning he will probably hit from inside-out and a slight draw.   This can become a problem for Retief if his club starts pointing more right and cause blocks to the right under pressure.

At downswing, Retief is actually a little too “steep”.  This can again cause blocks to the right.  But Retief manages to get back on plane right before impact:

As you can see, Retief is coming in a little too much inside-out.  His shoulders are still inside-out.  He might hit a good 15 yard draw on this drive but again, this type of too much inside-out action will cause blocks to the right.

However, it’s always better to error on the inside-out plane than outside-in plane since you do hit the ball more accurately this way.

After impact, Retieft shows he hit the ball perfectly as his club and right arm are in plane with the ball.

This is the secret.  No matter how bad your backswing is, if you can end up in this position, you will hit the ball very very good like Retief Goosen.

Here’s the video:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Adam Baddeley has one of the simplest swings in golf.

As you can see Adam at address, he’s perfectly balanced, ready to go.  I set up the big red line from the clubhead through middle of his shoulder sockets.  (That is important as I will explain later…)

Adam’s new swing is actually a little flatter than most other tour pros but it’s perfectly acceptable position here.  He “rotates” more laterally than the other players, which is part of his swing technique.

At the top of his swing, again, Adam is very flat compared to most other tour pros but he does remind me of Ben Hogan, who swung even flatter than Adam.

The important thing to note is how “well balanced’ he is, he looks like he’s almost just standing tall without the club in his hand. (for the lower body)

At downswing, Adam is perfectly ready to launch the ball with his swing plane slight flatter than the red line from the ball through his shoulder sockets.  This means he’s coming into the slightly inside-out, meaning he will hit a nice powerful draw.

At impact, again, Adam is in perfect balance.  If you watch his spine and lower body only, you can tell how well balanced he is, almost standing normal.

That is the key, you always want to feel like you are simply standing up tall throughout the swing.  It lets your body balance itself automatically.

Now, here’s the secret.  Notice that red line from the ball through the shoulder sockets?  Well his clubs right on it after impact.  This ball probably was hit almost perfectly.

Here’s the video:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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