How to change your swing plane

Hi. Robin here with one of my recent lessons. I thought this was a good lesson, because you can apply the concept to different types of shot problems you’ve got. So, I think this is a good lesson for anybody struggling with either a hook, or a slice, or a push or pull, and there might be something you can learn here. This player came to me saying his main problem was a severe hook, and really plagued with the hooks for quite some time. That was his main goal.  That was what he wanted to get out of the lesson, a hook fix.

It was quite clear to me. He said the only way he could really sort of try to fix a hook was to feel like he was cutting the ball, and I felt conceptually that that was part of the problem. Early in the swing, in an effort, he felt to change his swing path, because one thing that is absolutely sure: if you are hooking the golf ball, with a high degree of certainty, your swing path will be too much to the right side of the target – in to out. He knows that, and in an effort to fix that, he was lifting his arms and club outside and in front of his body in the move away. Very little body rotation, just a lift to the arms, lift to the club in front of his body. Very little body rotation early on in the swing.

See when his left arm is reaching parallel to the ground, shoulders would only complete a 20 or 30 degree shoulder rotation. Now, as I said to him, if I asked you to hit the golf ball from there, you wouldn’t have a very good shot. Club is too steep, arms are too far out. You really couldn’t hit a good shot from this position. So, you’re going to have to re-route the club. You are going to have to compensate. So now, his turn kicks in, no turn at the start.  His turn kicks in.  That gets his arms now going this way  – from out to in. The direction of his club is going this way.  So a bit of a loop – figure eight. (From in front, to coming down behind.) This is not that severe. These shots weren’t that bad, but it’s quite clear when he does this more or on the golf course, that’s where he starts to get a severe hook.

The club comes in from slightly on the inside. He releases the club fast. Actually, he’s had a little bit of surgery on his right arm, so that’s why his right arm can’t fully extent properly. But that pattern, in to out, raising that club quickly, that’s where he gets his hook from, and really where he loses most of his shots. What I explained to him, is we needed to change the pattern actually.  If he were to start with his arms going more behind him , going into a deeper position behind his body,  working his body early in the swing. From here, you’ll now get a different compensation. The arms will start to lift up and work over, bringing the arms down more  in front, swing path more to the left. Okay. This is an exaggeration, because his fault was quite ingrained.  So his practice swings, we were exaggerating quite a lot, but actually this pattern, if you hit a golf ball with this shot would produce a fade or even a slice shot.

When we took that into the actual shot, you can see his body is a lot more involved at the start. He is really sitting very deep, but actually, the club is pretty much on plane. Now, his arms will not have that look where they were working behind him to finish the swing. If anything, they are actually working more in front of him, rather than working behind. Now, his arms will come down more in front, club in front.  He is never going to hit a hook shot from here. Club is actually, in this swing, slightly outside in.  Not releasing quite so fast, and almost instantly, we got him hitting straighter shots, even with a touch of fade, which he is happy with, opposite to the shot that’s been killing his score.

So, the point to be learnt here is that naturally many, many amateur players think, “Well, I’m slicing the ball. I am going to take it inside going back.” Actually, that can have the effect of creating a bigger slice.  The more inside you go in the move-away, the more you lift your arms, the more you come over the top, the bigger slice shot you’ll get. Contrary to that, if you’re somebody who’s hooking the ball, you might think that by taking the club outside, you’ll fix the hook, but again, normally, the opposite happens, which has been proven in this lesson. So, I say this is a lesson for concept. If you are struggling with slice, slices, hooks, push, or pulls, the answer might be opposite to what you’ve been working on. So, I hope it helps and thanks for watching.