Click here and enter your email address to watch the full video
Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America. Meet your new instructor.

Subscribe now to watch the full video.

Seeing Club Plane on 2D

2D is an incredibly useful tool for understanding your pattern. In this video, I help you understand the functional swing plane. It's a plane that is created each swing and exists from about waist height to waist height during the downswing. See what to watch out for with video and how you can use video to help decode your path and understand your miss pattern.

Playlists: Fix Your Slice, Understand Your Swing Plane/Path, Fix Your Hook

Tags: Poor Contact, Analysis, Member Question, Intermediate

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000
In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at analyzing swing plane on 2D.

00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,000
So I had a member ask a question about the different plane lines.

00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000
So here are some people talk about the shaft plane that set up or what becomes the

00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000
forearm plane or the shoulder plane.

00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:23,000
And basically which one should you use and what should you use 2D for when looking at

00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000
swing plane?

00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,000
So in this video, I'm going to discuss how you can use 2D video to

00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,000
help you figure out what your swing path might be.

00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:41,000
And then factor that in so that you can understand how to set the camera up, what to look

00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:47,000
at when you're looking at videos on YouTube and how to make some general adjustments.

00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:54,000
So first, I'm going to advise that you don't draw any of these lines at setup.

00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:05,000
But I prefer doing is taking the swing to impact and then drawing the shaft plane.

00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000
So that frame rate there is impact.

00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,000
So drawing the shaft plane at impact.

00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000
So we'll do that with both.

00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000
We're going to timer over here on the left and we're going to go right over there on

00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:19,000
the right.

00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:24,000
So this is going to be a little bit of a high impact and drew a line up the shaft and

00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:25,000
just extended it a little bit.

00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000
Now this tells you that in order to really look at path, you're going to need an high

00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000
enough frame rate in order to capture impact.

00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000
So I would say minimal 120 frames per second, but if you want to be really safe somewhere above

00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:45,000
200 frames per second, we'll help you be able to see where the club is at impact.

00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,000
And the faster the shutter speed, if you can find cameras that have really fast either sport

00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:55,000
modes or do it with a lot of light, if you're using something like a smart phone, that

00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000
way you'll be able to see the club hopefully clearly at impact.

00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,000
Now the more, so here we've got our baseline, our baseline is basically that line at impact.

00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:15,000
Now I recommend putting the camera parallel to the ground and in line with the back

00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000
of the hands right there.

00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,000
If you are more on the target line, then that's going to skew it and we'll talk about that.

00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000
And if you are more on the body line, that's going to skew it more in and out.

00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:35,000
But if your hands are pretty close to on this target line, you're going to have a relatively

00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:41,000
consistent reference in order to analyze the swing path.

00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000
The other little thing is you have to understand that different camera angles will skew those

00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000
numbers or skew the appearance.

00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:57,000
And in addition the height of the camera, so if it was angled down or angled up, or the

00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000
distance away from the golfer.

00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
So if you really wanted to be consistent with looking at your own game, put the camera

00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:11,000
at the same height, the same angle, the same distance away, and you'd have a pretty accurate

00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,000
setup for being able to look at your individual swing path.

00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:21,000
Okay, now in general, if we draw the swing plane at impact, the more that the club is coming

00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:29,000
from above the line here, in the downswing, that's going to be a leftward path or outside

00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,000
in.

00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,000
And the more that the club is underneath the line here in the follow-through, that's

00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000
going to be more of an outside impact.

00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000
And that's necessary for hitting a cut shot.

00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:46,000
So here we have Martin Kimer, who hits primarily cuts, and you'll see that the club is slightly

00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:53,000
above that impact plane and then gets slightly underneath it on the way through.

00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:59,000
Now you may find, if you really slice the ball, that instead of exiting just below here,

00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000
the club may be working around here, or even I've seen it as low as to the knees, where

00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,000
it was working so much outside in, that it was exiting very left.

00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:18,000
Or you may find that up here at the top, the club may be significantly above this line.

00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000
That's going to tell you that you probably have a severe outside impact.

00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,000
You don't even want to try to guess how many degrees or recognize that if you slice the

00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,000
wall, and you have a big one video, it looks like the club is above the line, coming

00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000
into impact and then below the line on the way through.

00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000
And you think you said that pretty good, then you have an outside-in swing path, and you

00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:44,000
want to do things that create more of a shallowing in order to balance that out.

00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,000
That includes closing the face more with rotation.

00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000
That includes arm shallowing.

00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000
That includes the Jackson 5 or some access to it.

00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000
That includes better sequencing or weight shift in the front.

00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000
That includes not having any forward lunge.

00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,000
There's a number of different ways you can get about or get into shallowing the club.

00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000
We cover a lot of those on the site because many golfers struggle with too much outside

00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,000
in and don't want to hit cuts the way Martin cybers doing it.

00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:19,000
So now if we jump over to the right, we have a right macroe, golfer who is known for hitting

00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:27,000
high towering draws with the driver, or at least they were back in some of his better driving

00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,000
days.

00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000
So here we have a camera that is slightly closed.

00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,000
So this camera is pointing slightly to the left of his start line.

00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000
Right.

00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000
So the center of the camera is actually angled a little bit that way.

00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,000
Which the more that you are out on the target line, so the more that you have the camera

00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:52,000
here angled back that way, it will tend to make the club look like it's more from the

00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000
inside.

00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,000
So this will exaggerate it just slightly.

00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000
Opposite if you're more on the body line and shooting that way, it will tend to make

00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,000
the club look like it's steeper or more outside in.

00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,000
But just as what we saw with Martin cybers swinging more from the inside or from below

00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:17,000
to above with Roy, we're going to see more swinging from below.

00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000
Sorry with Martin cybers we saw more from the above on the downside on the downswing

00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,000
to below on the follow-through with Roy.

00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:31,000
We're going to see more from below on the downswing to above on the follow-through.

00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:37,000
So here he is coming from below that line and then hitting it pretty much on that line

00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000
and then going quickly up above.

00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:47,000
Now you'll notice that his hands, even though the club is working well above, his hands

00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:54,000
are still working around to the left because he's had good body rotation and good release

00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000
mechanics, not really a major flip of the wrist.

00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,000
So even if you're going to have more of a draw path and have the club swinging out,

00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000
I'd advocate trying to get the hands to work more up the plane line or up to the left from

00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,000
body rotation and a good solid release.

00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:19,000
And again we cover a lot of those topics on our site in varying different videos either related

00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,000
to the release or the body sequencing on the way through.

00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,000
But this would be a good idea or good model here as far as if you're trying to get a general

00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,000
draw shape.

00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:37,000
Club finishing more up out in front versus down low and left versus a fade where it would

00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:44,000
finish at about the same point you can see that the club is lower and more to the left

00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:50,000
or about the same grip location you can see that the club was lower and more to the left.

00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000
These are the classic ways if you're going to look at your path you want to do it

00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:54,000
from down the line.

00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:59,000
But I'm going to give you another strategy if you're a little bit more adventurous and

00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,000
really want to get a good handle on your path.

00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,000
So one way that you can get a good sense of your path is what I did here.

00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,000
You can actually see from the shadow I just use the selfie stick on a tripod but if you have

00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:17,000
a buddy who can hold a selfie stick up above the golf ball so it's shooting down gives

00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,000
you a really good approximation of the path.

00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,000
So this line here is representing the target line and you see I drew a line right here.

00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:35,000
Now if I go up and come down into the downswing you'll see that club is going to there's

00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:41,000
a little jump in the camera there but it's going to approach slightly from the inside

00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:46,000
and if you just kind of scrub back and forth, this ball was hit a little on the toe but

00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:56,000
you'll see a general path of the club slightly in, just slightly in.

00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,000
Now I typically have fairly neutral path numbers.

00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:08,000
What you would see is a outside in path would look probably more like this and then working

00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:16,000
much quicker to the left and into out would be looking more like this and then look like

00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,000
it would go pretty straight longer.

00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000
A neutral path will tend to have almost a symmetric curve to it down at the bottom and

00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,000
that's what you would see from a down the line angle.

00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000
You would see that as a club that looked like it was following that impact plane.

00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:41,000
So over on the right is a swing on taken from about that same time frame.

00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,000
It was fortunately this practice session I was only messing around with the overhead

00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,000
and I didn't have any down the line but this was taken about that same week or same time.

00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:58,000
And so what you'll see, the driving range has a slight upslip so the camera is angled

00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:06,000
with this slope but what you'll see is this had a little bit of a right red path so it was

00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,000
coming slightly from the inside and then pretty much following the hands and the club

00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000
following that path through impact.

00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000
That would look fairly symmetric like we're seeing here.

00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:26,000
Now if I take that all the way back to setup you'll see a rough, really rough approximation

00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000
is you'll put it through about the point of the right elbow.

00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,000
If you're in line, you know, pretty in line with the back of the hands that usually works

00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:39,000
out to about the impact plane unless they have more of some style choices that create

00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,000
a very different looking.

00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,000
They're really vertical or really hands low impact position.

00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:53,000
Like in general you will see most golfers who have more of a neutral path will have

00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000
the club roughly following that line.

00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:03,000
With the driver it will be slightly more into out or from low to high, kind of like this

00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,000
one in order to account hitting less down on the ball with an iron it will tend to be slightly

00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:14,000
above the line to possibly even slightly below in the follow-through.

00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:20,000
So if you're working on your offseason plan and you hit hooks and you have more of a swing path

00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,000
that tends to look really low to high like this then you'd want to work on drills that

00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000
would help with the more of the hook program on the site or the body rotation.

00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,000
Making sure you don't have early extension working on arm shallowing instead of body

00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000
shallowing all those things.

00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:44,000
If you have an impact path that looks like this and you have a club that is coming from

00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:49,000
well high to low that's going to be a leftward path and you're either going to hit big

00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,000
poles or big slices.

00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:58,000
If you have that then you want to work through some of the arm shallowing the sequencing

00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:05,000
drills as well as earlier club face rotation, some of the follow-through check points.

00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,000
All of those will help you dialing your path to give you control of the ball flight in

00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:10,000
the way that you want.

Subscribe now for full access to our video library.