As a PGA Teaching Professional, the terms posture and plane are talked about all the time. Staying in posture and swinging the club on plane are arguably the two most important mechanics in order to control the consistency of your ball flight trajectory and ball flight pattern.
The challenge for most average golfers is getting both posture and swing plane to coordinate together. Golfers that have good posture while addressing the ball and maintain good posture while swinging the club have a much better opportunity to swing the club on a better plane. Golfers that lose control over the swing plane are very likely to jump, lift or rise out of their posture while they are swinging in order to compensate for the poor swing plane. In other words, your body will have to adjust to poor swing plane or angle of attack.
Here are some things to consider when correcting flaws in your game:
- Find out first whether the biggest cause of the problem is your posture or the plane by consulting a PGA Teaching Professional.
- Most of the time posture will be more important than swing plane, because a high percentage of average golfers start the swing by addressing the ball off balance.
- Find drills that help with posture first
- Once you have more control over posture and balance, then take time to work on your swing plane.
- You may have to work on both areas of your game, however, always focus on posture first and swing plane second.
Lastly, if you can start with good posture and maintain it while swinging the club on a good plane, your hands will release the club at the proper time. Many golf instructors work on helping their students create more wrist hinge or club lag too early in the lessons. Releasing the wrist hinge or casting is often a result of losing posture (jumping, lifting or rising prematurely) and throwing the club over the top of your swing plane.
If you are in the Raleigh / Durham area and would like to schedule a golf lesson to understand your posture and swing plane, please contact me through my website at: www.grexagolf.com
All the best in golf,
Greg Greksa
PGA Professional
Director of Instruction
Grexa Golf Raleigh
CGHS Golf Coach
Co-Founder, Golfshadow.com
Cleveland / Srixon Advisory Staff
greg@grexagolf.com
www.grexagolf.com