Hank Haney and the Swing Plane

[Martee]

Came across an article that talks about Haney's philosophy regarding the Swing Plane / Angle.

If David Leadbetter promotes a "setting" of the club early in the backswing, if Harmon's clients tend to swing more vertically and re-route the club slightly on the downswing, Haney preaches the pursuit of absolute symmetry from start to finish, described by some as a perfect circle. "Hank teaches a more rounded move," Miller says. "You'd think that would result in a draw, but the funny thing is, since Tiger got with Haney, he's lost his hook. I like that he's hitting the ball with a tiny fade. That's a big improvement."

Haney doesn't disagree with those impressions but is willing to expound on his process of achieving an ideal swing plane: "My idea is that there is no one 'plane' in the golf swing, but there is one plane angle," he says. "Any [backswing] short of parallel should result in the club pointing left of the target line by the same amount. If you're 40 degrees short of parallel, you need to be 40 degrees left of the target. That is the key to getting the golf club to come down with the proper rotation of the arms.

"Why would you teach re-routing the club when you can strive for perfect symmetry?" -- Hank Haney

"That's why you don't hear Tiger saying he's getting 'stuck' anymore -- because his club is no longer crossing the line," Haney adds. "People who re-route the club tend to get stuck. Why would you teach re-routing the club when you can strive for perfect symmetry? I'm not saying there's an absolute right or wrong way of doing things, but that is what I teach. There are a lot of different ways of doing it, and Tiger Woods was incredibly successful doing things differently than the way he's doing them now."

[dclaryjr]

Is this from the recent Golf Digest? I read Hardy's article but didn't see the Haney stuff.

[Martee]

Might be golf world (on golf digest site)

LINK http://www.golfdigest.com/majors/mas...0408haney.html

[EdZ]

Take a look at the 2 pictures of tiger in that article at the middle of the page.

In pic #1, he is slightly flat and has an overly arched wrist -

but in pic#2

can you say "flying wedges"?

dead on IMO..... "the shadow knows"

[rchang72]

Edz, I think that Tiger always had the flying wedges. Seems evident in all the pics from this gallery http://redgoat.smugmug.com/gallery/80234/1/2789457

Just my opinion, every good ballstriker seems to have the three imperatives, whether they know it or not!

[Trig]

I like his flying wedges at the top. I also like the way his right forearm is supporting the clubshaft.



His wedges look pretty good post-impact.



Whoops! Who's that at impact?

[brianmanzella]

I don't like the new tiger swing as much as the old 2000-01 one.

[Theodan]

Woods makes his instructors look good. Somehow he's smart enough to keep them away from his imperatives. His set at End is great, from there it's STILL a coin toss because the hips are going to get him. Woods still hasn't hit much more than half the fairways in his wins. I think he's around 150th in driving accuracy. So are Mickelson and Els.

Direction means next to zero on the tour. Raw distance and the ability to yank a wedge out of the ever shortening tour rough are the keys to winning now. If Haney's swing methodology helped Woods with that, then he deserves kudos.

BTW, that 3rd picture of the guy on the Hooters Tour (the jeans gave him away) is a definte up-and-comer. Impact position indicates both power and control. Get his name, we'll have to keep an eye on him.

Charlie

[Martee]

Woods makes his instructors look good. Somehow he's smart enough to keep them away from his imperatives. His set at End is great, from there it's STILL a coin toss because the hips are going to get him. Woods still hasn't hit much more than half the fairways in his wins. I think he's around 150th in driving accuracy. So are Mickelson and Els.

Direction means next to zero on the tour. Raw distance and the ability to yank a wedge out of the ever shortening tour rough are the keys to winning now. If Haney's swing methodology helped Woods with that, then he deserves kudos.

BTW, that 3rd picture of the guy on the Hooters Tour (the jeans gave him away) is a definte up-and-comer. Impact position indicates both power and control. Get his name, we'll have to keep an eye on him.

Charlie

In one article Haney states that behind every good or great instructor is or are great students.

I think one factor that has been overlooked in Tiger's career is that those imperatives that Tiger has were taught/learned at a very young age, prior to the well recognized golf instructors/coaches we hear about today.

You are right about direction. Recently someone wrote an article about POWER GOLF. It is good for all but a few courses and will most likely continue until something major happerns.

[birdie_man]

In that first picture of Tiger (of him at the top of his swing) isn't his clubface closed though? This is what I don't get...everyone says the clubface should be aligned to the left arm or w/e to be square...well his isn't, I can see that right there...yet you will still hear that it's "dead square" or w/e.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way.