swing plane for
accurate iron play

IGNACIO GARRIDO: PGA EUROPEAN TOUR

NAME: IGNACIO GARRIDO
BORN: MADRID, SPAIN
DOB: 22/03/1972
TURNED PRO: 1993
CAREER WINS: VOLVO PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, 2003; VOLVO GERMAN OPEN 1997; RYDER CUP TEAM: 1997

The wrong angle sends the club on a path across the ball, forcing you into using your hands to rescue the shot. Swing plane has caused much confusion for amateurs, so here we're going to simplify things. I'll show you the simple way to set up a good swing plane, and an equally straightforward way to check it. Use them both and you'll find your iron shots covering the pin more often.

Swing plane - the angle at which you move the club around your body - can make or break your iron shots. The correct angle sees the club swinging straight down the target line at impact, meaning you can hit the ball with authority and consistency and with quiet hands.

SETTING THE PLANE

Think body, not arms

Ignacio Garrido

Many amateurs have a reasonable concept of how the ideal plane should look - but because it's only a visual image, they too often work on placing the club into position with hands and arms only. It rarely works. When the hands and arms become too dominant they can lift the club too steeply (left) or whip it back too flat (right).

 

Ignacio Garrido
Ignacio Garrido

Instead, focus on setting the swing plane with your body turn. Here I'm performing a familiar drill: forearms crossed and palms on opposite shoulders, I'm simply rotating my body around its spine angle - the fulcrum of the swing plane. This moves my body into the correct position; the hands and arms can't help but follow.

Ignacio Garrido

Here I've made the same move but while swinging the club. The focus has been on body turn; I haven't allowed my arms to lift or drop the swing's angle; they are passengers to the dominant body motion, and as a result of that end up in the perfect swing plane position at the top.

CHECKING THE PLANE

Extend the club

Ignacio Garrido

Here I've found an old shaft and am clasping it to my club with my normal grip. I've also positioned a couple of balls slightly further away from me than the object ball, parallel to my target line. These will act as a reference point during this drill.

 

Ignacio Garrido

Take up your normal grip and stance, but feel the shaft extension rest against your left hip as you set up to the ball. Move the club away. Remember, the key to a good plane lies in body rotation, not arm movement.

Ignacio Garrido

Your goal is to get the aim of the end of the shaft to run along the line of the two balls positioned outside the object ball as you swing back. Don't worry about ultra-precision; as long as the shaft points roughly at that line you will be moving the club in plane. However, it's better the shaft tip points outside the line than inside; it indicates a slightly flatter swing plane, acceptable because the natural swing is around your body.