So what about the plane of the club on the backswing? Some instructors contend that on the backswing the shaft should be steeper than the original plane line. Thereby, if you extended the visual line of the club to he ground, it would point inside the target line—I don’t agree. It doesn’t make sense that the club should move up on a plane angle that is not parallel to the original plane line only to shift back to a parallel position on the downswing. Certainly, there are accomplished golfers who move the club in this manner on the backswing. Some do it just because if feels natural to them; others because they were guided by their instructors to employ this method. They are world-class athletes, however, and I honestly believe that had they been instructed to take the club back so that it’s parallel to the plane line, they would have been just as successful. When a golfer visualizes his or her backswing plane, my preference is that it would be parallel to the original shaft plane, with the butt of the club pointing outside the target line, and not at the target line, as is often explained. Nevertheless, backswing planes, and the path the clubhead takes on the backswing, are especially negotiable since you don’t hit the ball on the backswing. The golf ball does not respond to your backswing, only to your downswing. Most golfers are told that in order to have an effective downswing, they must have a model-like on-plane backswing. However, the best players in the world do it differently. Some do take it back on plane, but others take the club below (under) or well above the plane line on the backswing, and then put the club back on plane in the downswing.

One problem is that many golfers randomly change the backswing plane or path of their clubhead because they are hitting the ball poorly. They equate a bad golf shot with a bad backswing. But I’ve seen golfers change their backswing to improve their ball-striking when their backswing is perfectly fine, changing it for the worse. The Backswing should only be changed if it's negatively impacting the downswing. Sure, the backswing is going to impact the position of the arms and club at the top, which in turn will impact the downswing, but backswing changes can’t be random and without purpose. It’s fine to experiment with different backswing ideas, as long as you understand how they impact the downswing movement of the golf club. Then, you can evaluate whether one method is better than another for your swing. The path and plane the club takes on the backswing is negotiable.

The important point that needs to be understood about the movement of the golf club and the body going back, to the top, and down to impact, is that even when observing the swings of world-class players, the clubhead path can be dramatically different from player to player, yet still produce an effective swing that, in turn, produces a consistent, predictable ball flight.

Editor's note - this book by Joe Laurentino will be available in late summer 2007 from www.negotiablegolf.com.

Questions or comments on this golf tips and instruction article? Send them to the editor at editor@masterstrokesgolf.com.