The idea of swing plane in golf dates back to 1957, and the renowned instructional manual, Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons. In the book, Hogan described the visual he imagined of a tilted ... pane of glass. In the famous illustration from the book, the glass had a hole cut out, allowing Hogan’s head to stick through at address. The pane of glass then rested on his shoulders while the bottom edge of the glass rested on the ground, in line with the intended target and bisecting the golf ball. Hogan’s belief was that the backswing should remain parallel to the glass as the club is swung to the top. Hogan tried to visualize never crossing the plane and breaking the glass with either the backswing or the downswing.

There’s a lot of debate in instructional circles about the value of this image, but at the very least, it can be said that swinging “on plane” is a very efficient motion, from a mechanical standpoint. A simple, on-plane swing requires less compensations and re-routing of the club in order to return the face squarely to the ball squarely at impact. Because of this, learning to swing on-plane can help you strike the ball better and much more consistently.

In this video, Titleist staff instructor Michael Breed shares a great drill that you can work on indoors and on the practice range. All you need is your Titleist stand bag as a guide and you’ll be swinging on plane in no time.