3 Factors that Influence Your Golf Swing Plane
The way you set-up to the ball can dramatically effect the plane that you're going to swing the club on.
Common Causes of Bad Swings
If I stand too far away from the ball, like so, the tendency now in the backswing would be to swing too flat.
If I swing too flat in the backswing, I may then make the error of coming too much from inside, too much from the inside to the out position and have problems hitting the ball to the right. Which I'll naturally correct by flipping my hands over.
That could cause hooks; at best it would cause inconsistency in the strike on the ball. Conversely, if I stand in too close to the ball, what will happen now is that there will be a tendency to swing the club too far up, too upright of a plane. The tendency there would be then my club will be too far in front of me on the way down between across the line of plane.
Hitting the ball out to the left and therefore making sure that I couldn't release the ball properly blocking it through to try to prevent that shot and getting weak shots. So the distance you stand away from the ball would dramatically affect your swing plane.
How to Improve Your Position at Address
The correct way to a take the posture at address is to realize that you take three angles: knees, hips and shoulders. A slight bend of the knees depending on your height, a bend from the waist forward and most importantly of all a relaxation in the shoulders.
Don't set yourself to the ball in this artificial or tight way. Relax the shoulders; bend at the knees, hips and the shoulders. This will allow you to swing the club back in play over your right shoulder. Swing it down to impact and then through over your left shoulder. Remember the way you set-up can dramatically influence the plane of your golf swing.