MANY people will be aware of Ben Hogan’s classic “pane of glass” golf swing plane image.

On the printed page it is not always easy to see exactly what he is saying and misunderstandings can arise.

The following four and a half minute video uses more modern means to simply explain and demonstrate how to keep the golf club on plane from setup to impact and how common mistakes happen.

The video uses an innovative, physical, free standing pane set up behind the golfer and added graphics to simply demonstrate and make clear its concepts.

You find many such videos and clips on places like YouTube and elsewhere but the helpful props here and plain talk I thought make this well worth a look.

The instructor is John Jordon of the PGA Venezuela – EduGolf Foundation (the wonders of the internet) who says if you are able to keep the correct club angle throughout the swing you are well on the way to making solid, consistent golf shots.

The video itself is from a site called MaxYourGame – with which ASG has no association – but which we visited and seems harmless enough.

A COMMON swing flaw with senior golfers is that they tend to set up crouching too close to the ball, according to Bruce Green; Head Golf Professional at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Green says many older golfers, including some of the senior tour pros, unconsciously start dropping their chins closer to the ball and this prevents them from making a full body turn and a full, unimpeded swing.

In this YouTube video, presented by GolfZone, Green explains this fault and provides some other senior golfer swing improvement suggestions. Green, a twice Victorian PGA Champion and winner of more than 40 Pro-Ams, has been Head Professional of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club for 23 years.

WITH Fred Couples ripping up the Champions Tour and proving how good the form was by leading the US Masters after the first round it is a good time to have a look at some analysis of his swing.

The Couples swing is often described as “like butter”, “silky smooth” and the like– all the things you would just love to have your swing compared to.

This video is a detailed analysis by top US coach and sometime Couples contemporary Wayne Defrancesco, who points out that while Couples has some unorthodox moves he is “a freak” with outstanding rhythm.

“Everybody would love to be able to just stand up to the ball, get the club what appears to be completely out of whack and then just flush it down the fairway,” Defrancesco says.

As he says, “Everyone would love to be Freddie”.

HUNTER MAHAN, who collecting his second US PGA Tour title with a win at the Phoenix Open this week, credits a lot of his success to Australian born sports psychologist Neale Smith.

Mahan says after his second placing at the 2002 US Amateur he always knew he had the game to win on the tour but needed help with his mental approach.

He turned to NSW south coast born Smith, a former tour player who has worked with a number of top professional golfers.

Neale recommends the following pre-shot routine to help remain cool and play consistent golf.

Step 1:

Collect the appropriate information for the shot. For example, gauge the yardage, the wind, pin placement, etc.
Step 2:

Select the shot that fits the situation and is also something that you’re comfortable with at that time. If you’re not playing your best today, be more conservative.
Step 3:

Imagine or describe what you are about to do. This will help create the intention of what you are going to do.
Step 4:

Connect to the feel needed to produce the shot. Most players connect with their practice swings. Some don’t rehearse at all. Find what works for you.
Step 5:

Aim your clubface, body, eyes and mind. These four key elements must be aligned to start the ball on the line you’ve planned.
Step 6:

Make a trusting motion using the cue that best helps you hit the shot you have planned. It may be a target cue, swing thought, swing feel, rhythm cue, or nothing at all — whatever works best for you. Direct your attention to what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. Fear of the potential result may get in the way of making a smooth, trusting motion.

Comment:

This all sounds like a lot and the last thing a club golfer wants to see is a player in front taking an age with every shot, but an effective routine can be accomplished in a short period of time – many pros only take around 11 to 12 seconds on their pre shot routines. They can even start as you are walking up to the ball.

The whole point is you are approaching every shot with a positive mental attitude, rather than standing their dithering with unwanted worries, distractions or mental wanderings.

Jeffrey Mann over at the Perfect Golf Swing Review website has published a new “review paper” that he believes may be of particular interest to inflexible senior golfers.

As we have reported before, Jeff is a retired doctor who for the past several years has devoted himself to analysing and detailing all aspects of the golf swing.

As we’ve also said before, and as Jeff readily warns, his material is very detailed and is not for the faint hearted. If you are looking for a quick golf swing fix this definitely isn’t the place.

If however, you are interested in thoroughly understanding or continuing to explore the modern golf swing (or maybe you’re an “expert” and would beg to differ on some aspects) this is a destination where you can spend hours going through the material.

One of the great things about Perfect Golf Swing Review is that Jeff has trawled the internet (and the golf libraries) to come up with relevant YouTube videos, clips and link to help explain each concept.

Jeff’s (relatively) new paper is titled “Left Arm Swinging, Right Arm Swinging and Hitting.”

Jeff has detailed the difference between “Swingers” (Tiger Woods and the majority of pros) and “Hitters” (Kenny Perry) before but in this detailed review he also looks at “Right Arm Swinging” which, he says, may be beneficial for some senior golfers to consider.

Jeff says the right arm swinging method may be very suitable to older

inflexible golfers or flexible golfers who swing better when using their dominant right hand as their major power source.

“I believe that right arm swinging is particularly suitable for golfers who cannot pivot well due to a lack of torso/spinal flexibility and who cannot easily keep their left arm straight throughout the backswing and downswing,” Jeff writes.

“I believe that a well executed pivot action is essential for a left arm swinger, but less critical for a right arm swinger, who doesn’t use a pivot-drive action to power the swing.”

So older golfers with a stiff spine, or as Jeff describes it, little “hula hula” fleixibility may find this swing perfect.

Perfect Golf Swing Review Right Arm Swinging Paper

BEN CRENSHAW, for decades revered as one of golf’s best putters, has shared some simple putting tips with an emphasis on keeping it loose and natural.

As a simple fix, Crenshaw says nine out of 10 golfers hold the putter too tightly.

“Putting is fingers and hands and eyes and imagination,” he says in the video below. “Knowing what your backstroke and follow through will do and how to get it up there in the right way.

“But nine times out of 10 I think most people just grab the club too tightly,” the 57 year old says.

“If they will just back off their grip pressure just a little bit, what it does is make the club head feel heavier and therefore it swings more.

“The tighter you hold the club the less apt that putter head will swing.

“So it should be held as a delicate instrument because you are doing delicate work.”

“You have to be yourself to putt”

“Anything works in putting. You have to be yourself to putt. I think Harvey Penick made the best statement I ever heard he said never look like anyone else when you are putting.

“I always thought that was interesting because you’ll see a successful technique and then you’ll want to try that.

There’s fine putters in the world and they always seem like the ball is just going around the cup. You know, they are not going way past.

“But what that is is a trust in their own ability. They’re not worried about style or technique.

“There is no substitute for hitting the ball solidly and staying down through it”

“The thing is there is no substitute for hitting the ball solidly and staying down through it. But you know most people can get over it. It’s just stand over the ball naturally.

“So, be natural be yourself but the pace of the putt is most often more important that the line. Try for pace, pace is vital.”

QUESTION: In a stableford round Tom putted up just 50 cm short of the hole, he properly marked his ball, put the ball in his pocket and tended the flag for the other players. By accident when replacing the ball on the mark he substituted another ball and subsequently sunk the putt?

What is the ruling?

1. Tom is penalized two strokes and must replace the proper ball on the mark before putting out
2. Tom is penalized one stroke and must re-take the putt using the original ball
3. Tom is penalized two strokes and the putt counts

ANSWER:  (3) Unfortunately, a penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play is incurred. The player would have substituted a ball when not permitted to do so (as with a lost ball or ball hit out of bounds). According to Rule 15-2, the second ball would become the ball in play and the penalty ascribed by the applicable rule would be incurred.

(This golf rules quiz item supplied by Cliff Nunn, a VGA state accredited rules official and proprietor of  Golf Clubs Down Under.)

With the very windy weather of late, Golf Rules Quiz No 5 is very pertinent.

John’s drive comes to rest on a steep slope through the green. Fearing that the ball may move, he does not address the ball (i.e. he does not ground the club) nor does he do anything else that might cause the ball to move. However, during his back swing the ball begins to move and he strikes the ball while it is in motion.

What is the ruling?

a) There is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies.

b) John incurs a one stroke penalty and the ball must be played as it lies.

c) The stroke must be cancelled; John incurs a one stroke penalty and must replace the ball.

d) John incurs a two-stroke penalty and must play the ball as it lies.

Quiz Answer.

a) There is no penalty under Rule 14-5 (striking a moving ball) because the ball began to move after John had begun his backswing. However, had John caused the ball to move or had addressed it, he’d have incurred a one-stroke penalty – Rule 18-2a or b

This golf rules quiz item supplied by Cliff Nunn, a VGA state accredited rules official and proprietor of  Golf Clubs Down Under.

1. Clubface 2 Degrees Closed

2. Clubface Continuing to Close to Finish

3. Left Knee Returns to Address Position

4. Right Knee is Moving Parallel

Full Golf Swing Fundamentals Series

1. The Grip

2. Correct Address - Foundation of the Golf Swing

3. Perfect your backswing with the one piece take away

4. The Top of the Backswing

5. The First Move Down

6. The Downswing