Good golf swings are commonly described as "on plane." Thanks to teaching institutes studying golf swings with biomechanical sensors and high-speed cameras, it's generally agreed the most efficient way to hit a golf ball with the most power and accuracy is to keep the golf club moving on a particular plane throughout the swing.
Definition
The plane of a golf swing should line up with the plane that a golfer creates with the shaft of the club when addressing the ball. Approaches include the one-plane and the two-plane swings. A one-plane swing happens when you rotate your shoulders on the same plane throughout the golf swing. A two-plane swing means the plane of the shoulders is different on the backswing than the downswing.
Difficulty
The golf swing plane isn't easy for everyone to maintain because we don't normally move that way. Golf fitness instructor and physical therapist Jeffrey Banaszak says basic human movements happen on three planes: the frontal, or side-to-side; the saggital, or forward and back; and the transverse, or rotational. With most of our movements forward and back, it takes practice to master the rotational movements on the transverse plane, expertise necessary to swing a club on a consistent plane.
Individual Differences
All that really matters to hit a golf ball long and straight is to deliver the club face square to the target at impact with as much speed as possible. Professional golfers do it consistently well by maintaining a good swing plane, but each swing is different. Height and girth difference dictate slightly different swing planes--more upright for a tall, lanky player and flatter for a shorter, stockier player. Hank Haney, Tiger Woods' former swing coach, points out that two out of the best three ball-strikers in the game, Lee Trevino and Moe Norman, had opposite swing planes but still put the ball where they wanted with consistency.
Benefit
The most efficient path to hit solid shots is from slightly inside the target line to the ball and slightly outside of that line after impact. Golfers who practice and perfect a consistent swing path--whatever plane fits them best--will build a golf swing they can trust to hit the ball consistently.
Tips
Hall of fame golfer Ben Hogan offered a classic tip in his instruction book, that you should swing as though you were trying to avoid breaking a pane of glass that rests on your shoulders and the ground on the other side of the ball from you. A tip for a one-plane swing is to try to cover the logo on your shirt with your lead arm on the backswing, then cover it again with your trailing arm on the follow-through.
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