How To Fix Golf Swing Plane | Improve Takeaway (Pro Tips)
Your golf swing plane is one of the most important parts of your golf swing, yet, did you know it's NOT actually a FUNDAMENTAL of the golf swing?
Say what?
That's right, golf swing plane is NOT a fundamental. By definition, for anything to be a fundamental, it must be:
- Origin
- Central
- Absolute
- Primary
Now those terms by themselves may not make a lot of sense, but when you contrast them with Webster's antonyms, things will come to light:
- Secondary
- Consequential
- Peripheral
- Dependent
Now, thing about your golf swing plane. Which of the above criteria does it most closely match?
Well, for starters, your golf swing plane happens in the PERIPHERY of the swing, it's DEPENDENT on how you move your muscles and is CONSEQUENTIAL of dozens of other movements and is SECONDARY to the order in which you move your bones at their respective joints.
By Webster's very definition, swing plane can not be a fundamental of the golf swing! Then why did I say it was so important? Because it is!
Here's the Catch with Golf Swing Plane
When something as important as your golf swing plane is off, it must be addressed. The trick is HOW you fix your swing plane.
You see, golf instructors such as Hank Haney would have you focusing on moving the golf club around and try and loop it back around to get the golf swing plane to shallow out if the golfer is swinging over the top.
If you watched the Haney Project on the Golf Channel, you witnessed Haney grabbing the golf club of his student's and trying to force them to create big loop in their golf swing to swing from the inside. In case you missed the Haney Project, you can check out a great episode below 😉
Unfortunately, as you saw with all his students on the show that he attempted this move with, it failed miserably. Even after these golfers spent 9 months hitting 1,000 balls a day, their golf swing planes remained unchanged!
Why?
The answer is simple. To fix a problem, you must fix the underlying cause.
A bad swing plane is a RESULT of not doing the underlying fundamentals correctly in the golf swing!
So, to fix your swing plane, you MUST fix the CAUSE (fundamental) not the symptom!
Fixing Your Golf Swing Plane Starts HERE
Over the course of my 20+ year golf teaching career, I've fixed the swing planes of thousands of students. More importantly, I've fixed all their swing plane issues in a matter of minutes, not days, weeks or months.
How?
By fixing the FUNDAMENTAL issue that caused them to have a poor golf swing plane.
In most golfer's cases, that's an over the top move, the same as Hank Haney was attempting to fix without success.
That's because he was only looking at the symptom. That approach is as effective as putting a band-aid on top of skin cancer.
At RotarySwing University, we cut the cancer out.
No band-aid fixes here. We're going to fix the root cause of the problem with your golf swing plane.
In most cases, there are actually only two cause of swinging over the top.
Only 2 Causes for an Over the Top Swing Plane
Yep, that's right, millions of golfers swing over the top typically for one of two reasons, or often both together. But the point is, to fix a poor golf swing plane, we only need to address these two things.
The first one is a lack of weight shift in the golf downswing. If you don't shift your weight, you won't create any secondary axis tilt. Secondary axis tilt is necessary to naturally shallow out your golf swing plane!
In fact, spine angle is one of the primary determinants of swing plane! Your spine forms the center for which the golf club is swung around. Did you catch those two words?
Primary and Center? Sound familiar? That's right, by definition that is what makes a fundamental a fundamental. The angle and alignment of your spine is one of the MOST important fundamentals of the RotarySwing method. Not only for swing plane, but for injury prevention as well.
Injury prevention is at the very CENTER of RotarySwing (see how I wove that word in there again ;-). That's why we have a Medical Panel of orthopedic and neurosurgeons that helped shape the RotarySwing method to be the safest, most powerful and efficient golf swing method on the planet.
So, you now know that the angle of your spine is critical for swing plane, so what's the other cause? Pushing from the right side for right handed golfers.
If you swing over the top, this is the most important golf instruction video you'll ever watch. This video explains very clearly how the right arm and shoulder can change the swing plane of the golf club with very little effort.
And, the fact that most golfers are naturally right handed makes this move that much more difficult to overcome. But, by working on this golf swing plane drill, you'll get yourself in the habit of the golf club naturally falling down on plane.
How to Fix Golf Swing Plane
So, you know the causes of a poor golf swing plane, and even some swing plane drills to help get you on track, but what is it that you really need to do and understand to truly fix your plane? You must understand that everything emanates from the inside out.
In other words, if your swing plane is off, the FIRST thing you should check is what your BODY is doing, NOT focus on the movements of the golf club. Hank Haney has done an excellent job proving that doesn't work with his students on the Haney Project.
What DOES work 100% of the time is fixing what the body is doing. And we start with the takeaway.
The Takeaway Swing Plane
If I gave you one good guess on what the #1 takeaway swing plane mistake was, what do you think it would be?
If you guessed taking the golf club back under the plane and too far to the inside, you'd be correct! This is something that nearly every golfer at one point or another has struggled with. And again, you don't want to focus on the golf club when fixing this issue.
The golf club is irrelevant - it can't move itself. Your golf clubs are NOT predetermined to swing on a swing plane that is too flat! It's not their fault - it's YOURS.
So, you should be focusing on YOU and YOU means your body - your muscles and the brain that's giving them instructions on how and when to fire! That's the ONLY thing that can cause that golf club to go under the plane!
In the takeaway, when you swing under the plane, it's almost always due to pushing the left arm across the chest.
Take a look atone of my older golf students here making this extremely common golf takeaway mistake. Note how in the frame on the left, the golf club is 3 FEET out of position! Unless you're Ray Floyd, you're going to have a hard time recovering from this position - and why would you even want to try?
After only a few minutes of teaching this golfer my secret 2" shoulder blade glide, look at the difference in his takeaway - it's HUGE!
How come I'm able to produce radical results like this in only a few short minutes and Haney spent 9 months trying to correct the same issue in his students? Not because I'm a magician, it's because I'm simply focusing on his body. In truth, I couldn't care less where the club goes during this stage, I'm solely looking at and focusing on the movements of his torso and arms and the club "magically" goes where it's supposed to.
Best of all, this golfer doesn't have to worry about where his golf club is positioned anymore either. He is also only focusing on my takeaway drills and the club takes care of itself.
The Golf Backswing Plane
Now, let's take the club further back and look at what typically happens for most golfers at this stage. There are 2 common "recoveries" that are going to happen here.
The golfer is either going to sense that they're too flat and inside and "lift" the club vertically, steepening the golf swing plane. Or, they're going to continue letting the club swing around their bodies.
In the case of the golfer we had earlier, he kept swing back flat and ended up with the golf club in a very deep position that may look ok to those who think the "one plane golf swing" is the way to go, but there's a reason you don't this much on the PGA Tour.
Typically, when you swing back flat and inside during the golf takeaway, the right wrist hinges early and that shuts the face. You can see that has happened here.
This golfer is now forced to swing down way from the inside and hit a big hook, or swing over the top and hit a giant pull - neither are very desirable!
Instead, RotarySwing is about efficiency of movement. I teach you how to move that absolute minimum that you can and still hit the ball 300 yards off the tee.
In the picture on the right, you can see this 68 year old golfer now looks like a tour pro at the top of his backswing with a nice square club face.
The trick to achieving this great position at the top of the backswing is again, focusing on the body. In this case, I had him work on my REF sequence:
- Rotation
- Elevation
- Flexion
The way RotarySwing instructors teach the entire backswing is by focusing their students' attention on these three little letters.
Rotation is for the rotating body and the rotating forearms during the backswing. Both are ALWAYS rotating throughout the entire swing until impact when the body slows down and the golf club fully releases.
Elevation refers to the way the arms work vertically up and down in front of the rotating rib cage during the backswing.
Flexion refers to the very late bending of the right arm in the backswing.
I cover these 3 moves in great detail in my golf instruction video 5 Minutes to the Perfect Golf Backswing, so if you want to look like this at the top of your backswing, check it out.
The Money Maker - Down Swing Plane
The backswing plane stuff I've discussed so far serves one purpose really - to make it easier to create a proper golf swing plane on the way down. And no one can do a better job illustrating this than Sir Charles Barkley.
Barkley's problems with swing plane that Haney failed to fix, again, stem from Haney focusing exclusively on the golf club. Instead, if you focused on Barkley's body movements, Sir Charles could go onto enjoy a life long of long and straight drives and get rid of that horrible hitch in his golf swing.
I discussed this in detail in the video below when I compared my golf swing to Barkley's:
You see, YOU could fix Barkley's swing, but instead, let's focus on fixing YOUR golf swing plane. If you want to be on plane in the golf down swing, the first and foremost thing you must focus on is weight shift.
Weight shift in the downswing creates secondary axis tilt that shallows the swing plane and horizontally shifts it to the right. This is the exact opposite of what golfers who swing over the top and create a very step swing plane do.
They focus on their shoulders and arms to bring the club down, the pro focuses on his hips to initiate the downswing. You'll be amazed at just how different your golf swing looks when you take your right arm off the golf club and just focus on your body movements and the left arm.
You'll find it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to swing over the top and create a steep golf swing plane. In fact, I'm going on record with saying this is the #1 problem in amateur golfers' swings which is why the first thing I do when a student has a steep swing plane is take their right hand off the golf club and video them with only their left arm swinging the club and focusing on weight shift.
The results are 100% the same 100% of the time - the steep swing plane is gone.
But, don't take my word for it, try it for yourself! Grab your smart phone and video yourself down the line making a left hand swing only and see what happens to your golf swing plane - then send me a check for $500 lol. That's my hourly rate for a golf lesson and we just fixed your swing plane.
Now, of course, the right arm needs to be on the golf club and has a very important job to do, but you need to train the body and arms to work together in a very specific sequence, which is exactly why I create the RST 5 Step System. Below is an infographic of the 5 Step Process and what you're going to learn as a RotarySwing University student:
This is the way that all our Certified RST Instructors (more than 40 worldwide) teach all of their students. It is this proprietary process that produces the dramatic results you see from all our hundreds of thousands of members of RotarySwing.com.
So, if you're struggling with a bad golf swing plane and you really want to fix it - and do it FAST - then RotarySwing University is the answer you've been looking for:
"Dear Christina, in 2017 I wrote to you to tell you all the good things I thought of the RST system. I have continued to practice the drills following Chuck's and his team's advice. I can now surprisingly swing the club so easily, efficiently and without pain like never before. I got rid of the pain I have had for years in the left knee and the low back. No more need to take medicine. Thank you to Chuck and his team for that.They have also given me the answers to the questions I have been looking for in the last 20 years despite the many golf teachers and lessons I have had. Weight transfer never heard before, I realize now that my swing plane was not correct. Now it is time to take action. I would like to join Rotary Swing University and I am looking forward to continuing the work with their support. " - Joelle Brault, 4/4/2018
Well said Joelle, now IS the time to take action! Why waste another year looking for balls in the woods? If you want to play the best golf of your life and you're TIRED of that crappy golf swing plane and want to fix it, I've got the deal of a lifetime for you!
For a limited time, I've opened up a few more spots at RotarySwing University and if you act now, I'm going to give you 3 FREE BONUSES:
- Short Game Mastery Course
- Bomb Your Driver Course
- Jack Nicklaus Putting Secret Course
The Putting Secret course alone will pay for itself in money you win from your buddies on the green, just listen to this testimonial:
"Just wanted to report back that the $17 I spent on the Jack Nicklaus Secret putting course was the best money ever spent. Made all the sense in the world showing the tractor pulling and pushing the trailer and the grip with the left hand real low has transformed me from a less than average putter to an better than average putter in one day. I have tried out the new grip and stroke with two different putters going the first nine with one and the back nine with the other a couple of times now and the results for both putters were amazing and similar averaging less than two putts per hole. I was making longer putts and even reading greens much better. I have only been golfing since last June when at 59 year old, I picked up a club for the first time. I was struggling to break 100 and now I am looking forward to breaking 90 with a few more months under my belt." - David Smyle 4/3/2018
But, if you enroll in RSU, you don't HAVE to pay $17 for the course, nor do you have to pay $49 for the Bomb Your Driver Course. In fact, I'm not only going to give you those for FREE, I'm going to throw in 6 FREE SWING REVIEWS worth over $100!
So, I'm going to GIVE you over $200 worth of stuff, but that's not even the best part!
I'm going to GUARANTEE your golf swing improves - for LIFE! That's right, enrollment in RSU comes with a LIFETIME money back guarantee - NO OTHER golf instruction site on the planet offers that. We can do it because we have a proven track record of over 300,000 successful students and we've been at this longer than ANYONE in the business.
That's right, RotarySwing was the world's first online golf instruction membership site started way back in 2004 - so we're not going anywhere!
As you can imagine, I can't offer this for very long, so act now if you want to fix your swing plane and play the best golf of your life!
Click here to accept your offer!
