3Jack's Translation of TGM: Part 6B

Part 6B of the Translation will only go over Section 2-F due to the amount and importance of the information involved.

2-F (Plane of Motion

All of the action of the Golf Club takes place on a flat, inflexible, Inclined Plane which extends well beyond the circumference of the Stroke -- in every direction.

The inclined plane is the board in this video done by Jeff Evans. The club swings along this inclined plane. It's important to note that the angle of the incline can change for each golfer, but it is still on an inclined plane.



Homer gets into what's called the plane line as well. As I discussed earlier, here's a video of Martin Hall using the plane line with the Smart Stick training aid:



So the 'plane line' is the line at the bottom of the inclined plane. If the club is pointing at the inclined plane throughout the swing as Martin Hall shows, that is a 'straight plane line.' If it's wavering in and out of the plane line, that's a 'bent plane line.' We've already discussed how the straight plane line is one of the 3 imperatives of the golf swing according to Homer Kelley. But we will also describe how the plane line plays a roll in hitting a draw or a fade and I will get into the D-Plane part (even thought it's not part of TGM) of 'swinging left' and 'swinging right.'

However, it's important to note that whatever plane angle you swing on, the plane line still stays the same. David Orr here explains that in this video using the actual TGM book as the inclined book and the bottom of the inclined plane as the plane line.



Homer also discusses getting the right forearm on plane, but here he's talking about getting the right forearm on plane at impact. Moe Norman was probably as good as it got when it came to getting the right forearm on plane at impact. That is keeping the clubshaft and the right forearm on the same line at impact.


Homer notes that the hacker usually has the right forearm way above the clubshaft (aka above the plane) at impact.

Homer then talks about feel AGAIN. This time he says that 'clubhead feel' is really 'SWEETSPOT feel' and that you can sense and feel the sweetspot with the #3 Pressure Point. The #3 Pressure point in the base joint of the right index finger (for righties). Pic below.


Homer states that if lag pressure is lost (and remember, once you 'lose it', you cannot regain it in the swing), 'the hands tend to start the hosel (instead of the sweetspot) toward impact' and that can cause the shank. I think this is an EXCEPTIONAL observation made by Homer Kelley. Many teachers, including myself at one time, blamed the shank solely on the extreme OTT move, which is very much a cause. When this happens, the clubface gets wide open coming into impact and the hosel is leading and the toe is trailing. So when the club hits the ball, it's hit off the hosel and the shank occurs. But what often causes the OTT move is the golfer actually loses lag pressure. They have all of their maximum lag pressure in the start down and they lose it immediately after. So that causes then to actually come OTT and then the shank occurs. If there's one thing to remember, you can't shank from a closed clubface at impact. Thusly, a shank can only happen from an open clubface with the hosel getting to the ball wayy before the toe does.

Homer then discusses some checks to see if you're 'on plane.' One of them is when the clubshaft is parallel to the ground, it must also be parallel to the plane line that I discussed earlier.

These pictures of Mac O'Grady show a swing where the shaft is almost perfectly parallel to the plane line when the shaft is parallel to the ground.


Homer also mentions the 'straight plane line' which has been discussed (see the Martin Hall video) and says that precision is lost if the start up and the impact are not both 3-dimensional.

In later posts Homer will mention that impact is 3-dimensional, meaning that the clubhead moved DOWN, OUT and FORWARD thru impact. Thus, the startup (aka takeaway) is 'parallel' to 3-dimensional impact when the clubhead starts the backswing by going UP, IN and BACKWARD and doing it 'on plane.'

Now remember, 'precision' is different from the word 'accuracy.' As defined by Webster's, precision is 'the ability of a measurement to be consistently reproduced.' Meaning, if I can hit the middle of the fairway on one drive, that's 'accurate.' If I can consistently hit the fairway on drive after drive, that's 'precision.' So you don't have to be perfectly on plane to hit an accurate shot, but you do have to be on plane to be precise.






3JACK