[EdZ]

I believe Homer generally refers to the sweetspot plane - as discussed in 2-F. And did you mean pp#3? (just curious).


But Ed...what if the hands are monitoring the sweetspot during start up? I know for me, an offplane motion has a significantly different feel then onplane. More effort, etc. So....

Does the tail wag the dog or is it the other way around?

PP#3 is useful to monitor during the motion in part because it is the 'last link' in the chain and because of its relative (on plane rotation) relationship to PP#1. That said, for 'on plane' motion and for clubHEAD control, I find looking at the plane which PP#1 travels more helpful when looking at someones overall ability to stay on plane.

If you look at the tour players you will generally find many variations in how the clubSHAFT moves, shifts, but in many cases the hands, pp#1 in particular, will be at or close to zero shift. Important to note that I am not talking specifically of Homer's view of zero shift, in which the shaft/SS is considered - I'm simply looking at the hands at the top, at impact and a spot extending down the left wedge to the ground. In effect this is is a line drawn along the undersides of the arms at address, down to the ground.

A great photo posted by Mathew:




Furyk is a great example. His hands travel on a quite verticle plane with relatively little 'shift'. Someone like Appleby is also very 'on plane' from this same viewpoint, but simply with a less verticle plane angle, and in his case, also with a shaft/SS that is very close to a zero shift as defined by Homer

No doubt that there is a different feel to being on plane vs. off plane, however IF the wedges are set properly and STAY set, there is no need to monitor anything other than the hands and their travel. If your hands are on plane (in my view) but the club is not, you can certainly bet that the wedges are not in place!

The Flying Wedges, the imperatives - a shortcut to great golf