Tip Tuesday: What Swing Plane Numbers in TrackMan Tell You

In this tip, Allen Terrell of the Dustin Johnson Golf School at TPC Myrtle Beachin Pawleys Island, S.C. shows us what swing plane measurements as obtained through TrackMan technology tell us. When you understand it, your efforts are geared toward getting the measurement at or below a set number.

Allen Terrell:
Today, we’re just going to talk about swing plane and how it relates to TrackMan terminology on swing plane, not necessarily some tilted glass wall or anything, but actually what swing plane means in the TrackMan world.

So, the simple (explanation is) it’s really the club head centered geometry and how that relates, but the simple to the horizon and things like that, simple terms in just what this angle is here to the ground. Okay so, that would be pretty much 90 degrees to the ground, six iron let’s say 60 degrees for argument’s sake.

So, if you’re hitting balls with a TrackMan and you start to see that number higher, what does that mean? Usually it just means that for whatever reason, the player’s hips are thrusting toward the target, toward the ball, their chest is rising, and obviously then the handle raises up. Very, very common swing flaw.

Now, why that’s happening is usually a reaction to something that’s going on from the backswing and the transition. But, just working on that swing plane number and trying to improve it can help you get better as a golfer, can help you improve some positions in your swing by just trying, let’s say you take a seven iron and you just try to hit balls and you try to get that swing plane number down somewhere under 60.

And, what you’ll start to feel is where you put your body in, what positions you put your body in to reach those numbers, and the position and that movement pattern you’re creating is the right movement, so it will help you improve your swing.

So, just understanding swing plane, trying to get it to 60 degrees or lower with a six or seven iron will definitely help your overall golf swing.