Hit it Straight, Hit it Long Do it Every Time in Your Golf Swing, Free Lesson For Power & Trajectory

Everyone is looking for power in their golf swing. How far can you hit it? Can you reach the par fives in two shots? Is the 200 yard par three too much for you to hit?

There is much to be said for long and straight. I like straight better than long if I had to choose. But I do like long a lot, a real lot.

I am willing to bet that you do too. But there are some of you that have no idea how to tap into your power sources. OOOPs !

Hit it Straight, Hit it Long Do it Every Time in Your Golf Swing, Free Lesson For Power & Trajectory

Did I say sources? As in more than one? Clickety, I guess I did. And for a very good reason. There are more than one sources for your power. You need to know them all to get the maximum out of your capabilities.

You know that I love angles. And you know that if you have no angles you have no power, no power, no distance.

You must create and maintain great angles in your golf swing in order to create power and to maintain trajectory for accuracy. Squaring the clubface at impact with lot's of clubhead speed gets you power and accuracy. Nothing else will.

Without great angles there will be manipulation of the hands and hence the clubface. A formula for frustration due to constant requirements to be in correction instead of commitment.

Ok, so once again here are the angles. The major one is the angle formed between the back of the right wrist and your right forearm.

Here is how you get it. Provided you have an excellent grip. If you are reading this, than you know what a good grip is. You may not do it, but you do know what it is. So unless you have the good grip that you know about, move along to another article. This one is not for you.

Now with the pad of your right hand, slightly push down on your left thumb. With a good grip this will tend to move your right wrist bent. And it is bent back toward your forearm, not cocked toward you.

Know the difference? If not, do this. Hold your right hand in front of you with your palm facing the target.
Your thumb should be facing your chest.

Now bend your wrist back toward your forearm. See it? That is the correct angle for this portion of instruction.

Good, now re-grip the club and without moving a single thing except your right wrist. Push the right wrist bent toward the right forearm. Push with the fat part of your right hand, down on the thumb of the left hand.

You should now be able to see that your left hand has tended to turn down slightly to the ground and the back of your right hand is bent back toward your forearm as near to 90 degrees as you can comfortable. Most won't get to 90 degrees, that's ok. What's important is that you get the right wrist bent back correctly. Not cocked back toward you, bent back toward your forearm.

You have not moved another single muscle in your entire body at this point.

The shaft of the club should be almost to parallel to the ground and almost parallel to the target line.

And the clubface should not be open. It should be almost looking at the ground so that you can't see the actual clubface. Weird right?

Nothing else has moved. Very important. Nothing. This is a drill folks. This is a drill.

Here is a fun thingy. If you want to you can now take this position into a backswing and actually hit a ball quite well. Try it. It will take more than one try.

Just take the bent wrist back, without changing it's position, into your backswing.

Now a word about the position of the wrists in the backswing.

You need to pay very close attention the the left wrist so that it does not "cup" in the backswing. Cupped means that the left hand is "under" the club at the top of your backswing. When this happens the club face opens, and now "Houston we have a problem." And you will tend to loosen your grip which will cause you to re-grip on the way to the hit position. Bad Bad Bad!

You cannot have it both ways. Meaning, you cannot have a great right wrist angle and a cupped left wrist at the same time. Try it and you will see what I mean.

If you cup the left wrist you will now need to do something at impact to re-create the great angle and get the club face squared up again. This is not a good move to have to do. So don't!

Another discription of this angle is "lag" you may have heard of that word. It's the same thing basically. Except lag tends to happen dynamically. It's not a static move. It is harder to do and, frankly, does exactly the same thing as creating great angles and maintaining them through impact. Only the method here is much easier.

There are several other power sources, I will get to them in another article. You can get a free e-book explaining this first move in more detail. Click the link!

Hit it Straight, Hit it Long Do it Every Time in Your Golf Swing, Free Lesson For Power & Trajectory
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If you want to know if there are any real magic moves in the golf swing the answer is yes, there are four. You can learn the first one here for free and take it to the range for a spin, click here: http://www.ebooksbestbuy.com/golf

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5 Tips to Hit the Driver Correctly - Hit the Golf Ball Long and Straight!

There is a definite science to hitting the driver correctly. It's designed differently than the rest of the golf clubs, so it needs to be treated as such. Here's 5 simple tips for hitting the driver correctly that will give you more distance and accuracy every time.

1) Tee It Up Higher- Especially with the new technology drivers. You need to tee it up higher so you can hit the ball on the sweet spot of the club face, which is in the upper middle of the face.

2) Put the Ball Off Your Left Foot- You want to align the ball with the inside of your left foot or even more towards the front of your stance with the driver. This will ensure you hit up on the ball, which will impart less spin on the ball, which will give you more distance.

5 Tips to Hit the Driver Correctly - Hit the Golf Ball Long and Straight!

3) Get the Correct Shaft- Make sure someone properly fits you for the driver shaft you use. You may be swinging perfectly, but if the shaft is all wrong for your swing speed and style, then you will never hit the long drives you are actually capable of.

4) Tee It Higher Into the Wind Also- Into the wind? You still want to tee the ball relatively higher. If you tee it low, you will swing down on it, or hit it lower on the clubface. Either way, that will cause back spin and make the ball go off line and shorter.

5) Grip the Driver Lighter- "Grip it and rip it" is what we're used to hearing. But the harder we grip the driver, the more tense the little muscles are, which will slow down our swing speed. Grip it lighter to free up your inner bomber.

5 Tips to Hit the Driver Correctly - Hit the Golf Ball Long and Straight!
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Greg Hanson is a professional golfer and has been writing articles about golf for about a year now. Not only does he specialize in golf, but you also check out his latest website about cheap coffee tables [http://www.cheapcoffeetables.org], that talks about all different kinds of models like the cherry coffee table [http://cheapcoffeetables.org/Cherry_Coffee_Table.html].

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How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis

Cross-cultural analysis could be a very perplexing field to understand with many different viewpoints, aims and concepts. The origins of cross-cultural analysis in the 19th century world of colonialism was strongly grounded in the concept of cultural evolution, which claimed that all societies progress through an identical series of distinct evolutionary stages.

The origin of the word culture comes from the Latin verb colere = "tend, guard, cultivate, till". This concept is a human construct rather than a product of nature. The use of the English word in the sense of "cultivation through education" is first recorded in 1510. The use of the word to mean "the intellectual side of civilization" is from 1805; that of "collective customs and achievements of a people" is from 1867. The term Culture shock was first used in 1940.

How do we define culture?

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis

There are literally hundreds of different definitions as writers have attempted to provide the all-encompassing definition.

Culture consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, ceremonies and symbols. It has played a crucial role in human evolution, allowing human beings to adapt the environment to their own purposes rather than depend solely on natural selection to achieve adaptive success. Every human society has its own particular culture, or sociocultural system. (Adapted from source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Generally culture can be seen as consisting of three elements:

Values - Values are ideas that tell what in life is considered important. Norms - Norms consists of expectations of how people should behave in different situations. Artefacts - Things or material culture - reflects the culture's values and norms but are tangible and manufactured by man.

Origins and evolution of Cross-cultural analysis
The first cross-cultural analyzes done in the West, were by anthropologists like Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H Morgan in the 19th century. Anthropology and Social Anthropology have come a long way since the belief in a gradual climb from stages of lower savagery to civilization, epitomized by Victorian England. Nowadays the concept of "culture" is in part a reaction against such earlier Western concepts and anthropologists argue that culture is "human nature," and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences, encode classifications symbolically and communicate such abstractions to others.

Typically anthropologists and social scientists tend to study people and human behavior among exotic tribes and cultures living in far off places rather than do field work among white-collared literate adults in modern cities. Advances in communication and technology and socio-political changes started transforming the modern workplace yet there were no guidelines based on research to help people interact with other people from other cultures. To address this gap arose the discipline of cross-cultural analysis or cross-cultural communication. The main theories of cross-cultural communication draw from the fields of anthropology, sociology, communication and psychology and are based on value differences among cultures. Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Shalom Schwartz and Clifford Geertz are some of the major contributors in this field.

How the social sciences study and analyze culture

Cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic culture whereas archaeologists focus on material and tangible culture. Sociobiologists study instinctive behavior in trying to explain the similarities, rather than the differences between cultures. They believe that human behavior cannot be satisfactorily explained entirely by 'cultural', 'environmental' or 'ethnic' factors. Some sociobiologists try to understand the many aspects of culture in the light of the concept of the meme, first introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins suggests the existence of units of culture - memes - roughly analogous to genes in evolutionary biology. Although this view has gained some popular currency, other anthropologists generally reject it.

Different types of cross-cultural comparison methods

Nowadays there are many types of Cross-cultural comparisons. One method is comparison of case studies. Controlled comparison among variants of a common derivation is another form of comparison. Typically anthropologists and other social scientists favor the third type called Cross-cultural studies, which uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behaviour and to test hypotheses about human behavior and culture.

Controlled comparison examines similar characteristics of a few societies while cross-cultural studies uses a sufficiently large sample that statistical analysis can be made to show relationships or lack of relationships between certain traits in question. The anthropological method of holocultural analysis or worldwide cross-cultural analysis is designed to test or develop a proposition through the statistical analysis of data on a sample of ten or more non literate societies from three or more geographical regions of the world. In this approach, cultural traits are taken out of the context of the whole culture and are compared with cultural traits in widely diverse cultures to determine patterns of regularities and differences within the broad base of the study.

Aims of cross-cultural analysis

Cross-cultural communication or inter cultural communication looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds try to communicate. It also tries to produce some guidelines, which help people from different cultures to better communicate with each other.

Culture has an interpretative function for the members of a group, which share that particular culture. Although all members of a group or society might share their culture, expressions of culture-resultant behaviour are modified by the individuals' personality, upbringing and life-experience to a considerable degree. Cross-cultural analysis aims at harnessing this utilitarian function of culture as a tool for increasing human adaptation and improving communication.

Cross-cultural management is seen as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters, which aims to discover tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miscommunication.

How laypersons see culture

It is a daunting challenge to convey the findings of research and field work and discuss cross-cultural issues in diverse contexts such as corporate culture, workplace culture and inter cultural competency as laypeople tend to use the word 'culture' to refer to something refined, artistic and exclusive to a certain group of "artists" who function in a separate sphere than ordinary people in the workplace. Some typical allusions to culture:

Culture is the section in the newspaper where they review theatre, dance performances or write book reviews etc.

Culture is what parents teach their kids and grandparents teach their grandchildren.

"You don't have any culture," is what people say to you when you put your feet on the table at lunchtime or spit in front of guests.

"They just have a different culture," people say about those whose behaviour they don't understand but have to tolerate.

Different models of cross-cultural analysis

There are many models of cross-cultural analysis currently valid. The 'Iceberg' and the 'Onion' models are widely known. The popular 'Iceberg model' of culture developed by Selfridge and Sokolik, 1975 and W.L. French and C.H. Bell in 1979, identifies a visible area consisting of behaviour or clothing or symbols and artifacts of some form and a level of values or an invisible level.

Trying to define as complex a phenomenon as culture with just two layers proved quite a challenge and the 'Onion' model arose. Geert Hofstede (1991) proposed a set of four layers, each of which includes the lower level or is a result of the lower level. According to this view, 'culture' is like an onion that can be peeled, layer-by layer to reveal the content. Hofstede sees culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another."

Cross-cultural analysis often plots 'dimensions' such as orientation to time, space, communication, competitiveness, power etc., as complimentary pairs of attributes and different cultures are positioned in a continuum between these.

Hofstede dimensions to distinguish between cultures

The five dimensions Hofstede uses to distinguish between national cultures are:

Power distance, which measures the extent to which members of society accept how power is distributed unequally in that society. Individualism tells how people look after themselves and their immediate family only in contrast with Collectivism, where people belong to in-groups (families, clans or organizations) who look after them in exchange for loyalty. The dominant values of Masculinity, focussing on achievement and material success are contrasted with those of Femininity, which focus on caring for others and quality of life. Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations. Confucian dynamism. This Long-term versus Short-term Orientation measured the fostering of virtues related to the past, i.e., respect for tradition, importance of keeping face and thrift.

Trompenaars dimensions to distinguish between cultures
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) adopt a similar onion-like model of culture. However, their model expands the core level of the very basic two-layered model, rather than the outer level. In their view, culture is made up of basic assumptions at the core level. These 'basic assumptions' are somewhat similar to 'values' in the Hofstede model.

Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner use seven dimensions for their model of culture:

Universalism vs Particularism (what is more important - rules or relationships?) Individualism vs Communitarianism (do we function in a group or as an individual?) Neutral vs Emotional (do we display our emotions or keep them in check?) Specific vs Diffuse (how far do we get involved?) Achievement vs Ascription (do we have to prove ourselves to gain status or is it given to us just because we are a part of a structure?) Attitude to Time Past- / present- / future-orientatedness
Sequential time vs Synchronic time(do we do things one at a time or several things at once?)

Criticism of current models
One of the weaknesses of cross-cultural analysis has been the inability to transcend the tendency to equalize culture with the concept of the nation state. A nation state is a political unit consisting of an autonomous state inhabited predominantly by a people sharing a common culture, history, and language or languages. In real life, cultures do not have strict physical boundaries and borders like nation states. Its expression and even core beliefs can assume many permutations and combinations as we move across distances.

There is some criticism in the field that this approach is out of phase with global business today, with transnational companies facing the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using new communication technologies.

Some writers like Nigel Holden (2001) suggest an alternative approach, which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about organizations and multiple cultures in a globalizing business context.

In spite of all the shortcomings and criticisms faced by the Hofstede model, it is very much favoured by trainers and researchers. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it is a wonderful and easy to use tool to quantify cultural differences so that they can be discussed. Discussing and debating differences is after all the main method of training and learning. Secondly, Hofstede's research at IBM was conducted in the workplace, so Hofstede tools brings cross-cultural analysis closer to the business side of the workplace, away from anthropology, which is a matter for universities.

Bibliography and suggested reading:

Dawkins, Richard (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press French, W.L. and C.H. Bell (1979). Organization development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Hofstede, Geert "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind", 1997 Holden, Nigel 2001, Cross-Cultural Management: A Knowledge Management Perspective, Financial Times Management

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis
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Quotation adapted from The Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com

Rana Sinha is a cross-cultural trainer and author. He was born in India, studied and lived in many places and traveled in over 80 countries, acquiring cross-cultural knowledge and building an extensive network of professionals. He has spent many years developing and delivering Cross-cultural Training, Professional Communications skills, Personal Development and Management solutions to all types of organizations and businesses in many countries. He now lives in Helsinki, Finland and runs http://www.dot-connect.com, which specializes in human resource development as well as communication and management skills training with cross-cultural emphasis. Read his cross-cultural blog http://originalwavelength.blogspot.com

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Magic Jack - The Most Affordable Way to Make Local and Long Distance Calls - Ever!

The MagicJack internet phone is much like a flash drive the size of an old Zippo cigarette lighter that you plug into your USB port of your computer. You then plug in any type analog or cordless phone with as many handsets as you want. The MagicJack is absolutely a phenomenal piece of equipment that delivers what it promises. Free local and long distance, voice mail, call waiting and caller ID.

The MagicJack internet phone auto-configures itself to provide VoIP over a broadband connection. You follow a few step by step choice configurations such as area code, what phone number you would like and so on, five minutes, tops. You plug in your phone, pick it up and you hear the same dial tone you have always heard. Make calls no different then before except you can call any where in the US and Canada and talk as long as you want -FOR FREE after the Initial fee of .95 for the first year then its just .95 every year after that.

According to the tech industry the theoretical advantage of the MagicJack internet phone is that you do not download any software into your computer. This allows you to take the Magic Jack with you when you travel, and where ever you can pickup a broadband internet connection, hotels, motels or even with friends or family, you can plug your Magic Jack in to your laptop or any computer and make free long distance phone calls. If you spend a lot of money calling, friends, family or frequent business calls when you are away then the Magic Jack will save you tons of money.

Magic Jack - The Most Affordable Way to Make Local and Long Distance Calls - Ever!

The one slight disadvantage to the Magic Jack, is that you must leave your computer on. You must configure you power usage settings not to power down or hibernate. With windows XP - Right click your desktop - Left click properties - Left click screen saver - Left click the power button - Select (Never) in all dropdown minuses - Click OK and OK and that's it. One other thing that is said about the MagicJack internet phone is, if the power goes out you have no phone to call the power company. Well this is true unless you have as I do a battery backup surge protector that allows fifteen minute of computer time before it shuts off, I also, as the majority of people nowadays, have a cell phone that I would use in such an event.

Here are a couple things that you should watch for, which are not problems if you know what they are.

1. If you are having trouble hearing or someone on the other end can't hear you, check your volume control on your computer, it may be all the way down.

2. If you loose dial tone or the dial tone goes in and out, check the phone cord that plugs into magic jack. Sometimes cheap cords don't fit snug and causes lose of connection. Try a piece of black tape to hold it firm in the socket.

Conclusion: The MagicJack Internet Phone is a fine piece of hardware that can save you countless amounts of money on phone service. When buying anything online that claims to have a grate deal of value for a phenomenal price, the first instinct is, too good to be true. And that is usually the case. But for the magic jack, the value and the price are both phenomenal. I just wish they had the Magic Jack when my kids were in the house. I could have probably bought a boat with the savings.

Magic Jack - The Most Affordable Way to Make Local and Long Distance Calls - Ever!
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Notes About The Author

Tim Wedin has written expert articles on numerous subjects but none has made more of an impression on him then the Magic Jack. Find out what advantages Magic Jack has over some of the other VoIP phone services at, http://www.MagicJackInternetPhone.com/

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Issues and Challenges in Open and Distance Learning

Open and Distance Learning is a way of learning that focus on releasing learners from constraints of time and place whilst offering flexible learning opportunities. For a lot of married and working adults, Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is a way of combining work and family responsibilities with educational opportunities.

The first challenge faced by online distance learners is in balancing the combination of work and education. Most of the Open and Distance education students are older, have jobs and families. Job responsibility is already intimidating, let alone the family and the learning. The task of balancing all of the above responsibility is truly challenging for most of them.

The second issue is in acquiring go online distance study habits. The students' everyday environment is very distracting for most of the students. Unlike traditional university students who are always in their learning community which supports them most of the time, online distance students are not. Distractions such as friends asking for night supper and wife demanding to go shopping at the mall every weekend are among other distractions faced by students. Acquiring some time in a day to study is quite a hard task to complete.

Issues and Challenges in Open and Distance Learning

Online distance learners also have a hard time in being independent and responsible to their own self. Most of the time, there is no one around to monitor the students learning process. The openness of the online distance program gives students the freedom to do their learning process whenever they like but most of the time, procrastination is the culprit. Unfocused view of their learning goals also will make the students act irresponsibly towards their learning.

Online distance learners also face problems in recognizing and mastering strengths and skills. In online distance learning, technology is the main conduit which information and communication flow. A computer with internet access is usually needed for this process and its application will need the user to master certain level of acquirement. The students will also need to have some basic writing skills and a go online distance command of English language. Unfortunately, not all of the students possess the above-said skills.

The fifth challenge is in motivating themselves as well as maintaining and increasing self-esteem. In online distance education, learners are usually isolated from peers and tutors. The motivational factors are absent due to lack of contact and competition with other students. The lacks of immediate support of a teacher who is able to motivate will also affects the learners. In the long run, students might feel uneasy with their teacher and uncomfortable with their learning situation and environment.

Online distance learners also face some problems in relating and interacting with peers. Most of the time, learners will learn most effectively when they have the opportunity to interact with other students. Sadly, forming of the study group is not easy. This is caused by the difference in the usage of time between students. One particular student may have some free time for meeting with peers at 10am every Saturday, but another student who works in the government sector may still be at work at the exact time.

The next one is in coping with distance learning strategies apart from printed material package the students are familiar with. There might be audio/video tape material, television-aided learning, overhead projectors, computer referencing and computer-assisted instruction using the internet. Some students might feel uncomfortable with these learning strategies due to lack of skills and knowledge in using those strategies.

The second last challenge is in preparing for and taking examinations. In order to excel in examination, learners have to start early in understanding the course content and preparing and revising the content. However, not all students do start early in their learning process. Do not have enough time, lazy, too many works to be done are among other reasons given by this type of students in order to avoid studying for exams.

The final challenge faced by online distance learners is in using library facilities to access information and references. Most of the library only opens during office hour and the learners would not be able to go to the library during office hour due to demanding works at the office. This will definitely cause problems to students who want to gain access to the reference material. Library database program such as the OPAC will also require the students to have proper training and skills in order to maximize the usage.

The Open and Distance Learning courses are very different from a traditional classroom setting. Due to a number of challenges and obstacles, it often requires a high degree of commitment on the part of the learner.

In order to overcome these online distance challenges, learners must first plan and manage themselves effectively in order to balancing work, family and study. They have to apply smart time management. Avoiding procrastinating is a must. They must be more responsible and have a focused view towards learning. They must also learn to improve themselves in areas they are lacking (such as writing skills, note taking skills, computer skills and English language skills) because not all skills will be taught by the tutor. They need to motivate their own self by setting achievable goals and have a positive attitude. Due to lack of meeting time with peers, they have to make an effort to interact with peers and tutors frequently.

Issues and Challenges in Open and Distance Learning
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Mathew Simond is a journalist and copywriter. He is also a webmaster of many websites including http://www.psychologycolleges.net and http://www.religiousstudiesonline.org He aims to provide healthy information and advice on academic degrees.

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How to Switch to an Upright Golf Swing Plane and the Benefits it Has to Your Distance and Accuracy

As a golf instructor I can see no reason why golfers should not adopt an upright swing plane regardless of their physique or flexibility.

Yet, if you go online to search "golf swing plane" you will see multiple explanations about the subject and just as many differing versions about what is correct and what is not correct.

As I will show shortly from a purely mechanics and physics point of view, the benefits in distance and accuracy far outweigh those of a flatter swing plane and for those reasons alone I recommend and teach the concepts of adopting a more upright swing for all my students.

How to Switch to an Upright Golf Swing Plane and the Benefits it Has to Your Distance and Accuracy

Swing plane angles are usually associated with a golfer's height.

Golfers who are shorter in height are said to have a flatter swing plane.

It is also common to see golfers adopt a flat swing motion due to characteristics of their physique that limit the range of their swing flexibility, such as their chest and mid section size.

On the other hand taller golfers naturally swing with a more upright swing plane simply because of the increased height of their shoulders from the ground.

But, the physical characteristics of a golfer are not the only things that govern their swing plane angle.
What also determines swing plane is how they position themselves in their setup, and how they rotate their shoulders on the backswing...

Swing Plane Angle
Before I get into the specifics of an upright swing let me first define how the angle of the swing plane is often understood.

I say that because I am sure like most passionate golfers you have read Ben Hogan's book "Five lessons. The modern fundamentals of golf" and his explanation of swing plane is probably one that is stuck firmly in your mind.

Here is his explanation...

Try to image a golfer forming a right angled triangle in their setup position.

The vertical side of the triangle is formed from the top of their shoulders/neck to the ground around their feet position. The horizontal side is formed from the club head and ball position to that point on the ground that meets the vertical side of the triangle.

The hypotenuse, or long side of the triangle, is determined from the club head to the point on their shoulders.

The classic understanding of the angle of the swing plane is that it is the angle between the hypotenuse and the horizontal side of this triangle. (Remember the plate of glass illustration in Hogan's book resting on the golfers shoulder...)

You can now imagine how this angle would increase or decrease due to the height of the golfer and why swing plane is often associated with the golfers shoulder height.

The reason why I say this is how swing plane angle is often determined is that there is a big assumption with this theory that is incorrect most of the time...

What it assumes is that the club head swing path follows this same angle throughout the backswing so that the high point of the swing lies on an extended line that is drawn from the ball through the top of the shoulders to the hands at the top of the swing...

The reality is that the angle at which the swing "actually" rotates can be totally different resulting in the hands reaching the top point of the swing either below or above the point of the "Hogan plate glass definition."

The reason for this is that the swing plane angle is not only influenced by your setup, it is mostly determined by the plane around which your shoulders rotate.

Your setup might show one swing plane angle that may be entirely different from the actual plane of rotation of your shoulders.

Here's why...

Rotational Planes of your Shoulders
To understand your shoulder rotation motion, stand upright in front of a mirror. Hold your arms out straight from each side. You can rotate your shoulders in a horizontal plane around the axis of your spine... which is easy to do.

Now try and rotate your shoulders in a vertical plane by lifting your right arm and dropping your left arm so that you maintain a straight line from hand to hand across your shoulders. The axis of rotation in this plane is a point on your chest just below your chin....this motion is not very easy to execute.

The reality of your shoulder turn on the backswing is that it is operating in a combination of both vertical and horizontal motion.

As you would expect, a shoulder turn that is moving more in the horizontal plane will create a flatter swing plane.

One that is operating more in a vertical plane will produce a more upright swing plane.

So when we go back to the classic Hogan explanation of the swing plane being governed by the setup and height of the golfer, the only way that a golfer will be on that same plane at the top of their swing is if the combined horizontal and vertical movements of their shoulder turn happens to match that angle.

This seldom occurs...

Having this understanding that swing plane is affected more by your shoulder rotation than your setup and height allows you to make adjustments to your backswing to gain some of the benefits from an upright swing path.

Here are some of the key reasons why I always recommend a more upright swing plane that are based on the mechanics and physics of the swing.

Improved Consistency of your Swing Accuracy
The first reason affects the accuracy and ball flight path of your shot.

If you have ever reviewed my free video on the "Understanding the mechanics of common swing faults" where I outline the physics of why your shots "fly" in the manner the do , the outcome of all your golf shots boils down to two major factors:

o The direction your shoulders are aiming at the point of contact with the ball
o The orientation of your club head face at the point of contact with the ball

The flatter your swing plane the more your shoulders are moving in the horizontal plane.

This means they are only "aiming" at the target at a point just before contact and shortly after contact. That is because the club head motion is moving more "across" the target line like a baseball swing rather than towards the target line like a putting swing.

Outside of this very small region the direction your shoulders are aiming is further to the right of the target on the down swing and further to the left of the target on the follow through (opposite for lefties).

The success of a flatter swing plane requires a high degree of "timing" and balance in the swing through the contact point since there is very little margin for error.

The level of "ball spin" generated by a poorly timed swing also determines the accuracy of the shot.

The relative difference between the shoulder swing plane and the orientation of the club face at the point of contact determines the amount of spin generated on the ball.

The more the shoulders are moving "across" the target line the greater the ball spin created leading to exaggerated hooks or slices.

On the other hand an upright swing is produced by the shoulders moving more in the vertical plane which means the time the shoulders are moving down the target line is a lot longer during the swing.

The result is that the club head moves down the target line over a larger region of the swing giving a higher margin of error for timing and balance problems.

The impact on ball spin is also reduced, because the shoulders swing less "across" the target line at contact for a poorly timed shot.

In both cases the consistency of your swing accuracy will improve the more upright your swing plane angle...

Higher Swing Power and Distance
Observe all of the big hitters on tour and one of the common features you will notice is most adopt an upright swing.

I wrote about this in a previous Turnberry newsletter but it is worth reviewing the reasons why an upright swing plane generates more power for the swing:

o The hands and club head will be higher off the ground at the top of the swing generating more "potential energy" for the swing. When you think of the energy that can be created by hoisting a 20-30lb weight above your shoulders and dropping it, you will understand where increased energy comes for the swing. That weight being the combined weight of your club and arms.

o You use your powerful muscles down your right side and the top of your left shoulder which can generate more power for the swing than using the power of your lower back muscles rotating around the base of your spine in a flatter swing.

Improved Balance

Your balance during the backswing and downswing is affected by the centrifical force of rotating the club head as it is in motion and on what angle that force is acting on your trunk.

The centrifical force generated by the club head moving in a circular path acts to pull your shoulders forward toward the ball which can affect the stability of your trunk during your swing.

To give you and exaggerated example of the effect this might have on your balance, try to imagine the action of an athlete throwing the hammer.

In this case the athlete has to overcome the enormous centrifical force needed to rotate the hammer by "leaning back" in order to stay balanced during the spin.

A flatter swing plane has a similar impact on the balance of the golfer who has to counter the effect of the centrifical force need to rotate the club head with the lower back muscles in order to hold the trunk in position during the swing.

During an upright swing this centrifical force is being generated more up through the trunk and legs from the ground generating less effect on your lower back muscles allowing your trunk to remain more stable.

How to Generate an Upright Swing
As much as you might expect your setup to impact the plane angle, it impacted more by your shoulder rotation.

I encourage you to start your swing with a "downward rotation" of your left shoulder...

Many golfers initiate their swing by moving their hands.

For golfers who may be stiff in their trunk flexibility, shoulders or may have a few inches more around their mid section than they would like, starting the swing with their hands encourages them to "wrap" their swing around their body causing a flat swing plane.

That is because their shoulders are moving more in the horizontal plane.

The net swing results can be excessive slicing, with the ball starting the flight path heavily to the left, or pushing the ball to the right.

This is because the region where the club head is moving down the target line is very small lowering the margin of error for accuracy in the swing as I covered earlier.

Start your swing by a downward movement of the left shoulder and you will counter this problem.

It ensures your swing begins with more of a vertical rotation of the shoulders. By doing so your shoulders will be rotating more down the target line.

Mirror Exercise for Correct Setup
The other area that will affect your swing plane is your setup.

I encourage you to practice this swing initiation drill with your left shoulder turn in front of a mirror at home.

As you turn watch your hand motion. Adjust your setup in order to make it easier to turn vertically and move your hands along a more upright swing plane.

Here are a few pointers to help you:

o Let your arms hang vertically down in the stance with your hands positioned no more than six inches away from your leg

o Keep your back straight from the hips up. Do not let your shoulder hunch forward

o If you are large chested you may want to lean forward more in the stance to give your arms more clearance to move straight back rather than wrap around your body

As you go through this routine you are likely to feel muscle stiffness in the back swing that you are not used to...especially in your left shoulder.

That is because it is much easier to rotate your shoulders horizontally around your spine than to rotate them vertically.

This is normal since the motion in the vertical plane uses different muscles in your golf swing.

Shoulder Flexibility
Many golfers are just too stiff in the shoulders to do this effectively and when they first try an upright swing plane on the range they find the results disappointing.

Should this occur, shorten your backswing considerably because the stiffness of your golf muscles in the upright swing plane is causing other areas of your swing to breakdown.

Caution: Never allow your left elbow to break when trying to swing more upright. You will defeat the purpose of the adjustment to a higher swing plane and only cause yourself more timing problems.

An exercise I recommend to improve shoulder flexibility in the vertical plane is to take a broom handle and place it across your shoulders and then wrap your elbows and arms over the top of the handle.

For some people this may be a stretching exercise in itself, so do it gently without stressing the shoulder muscles.

Now move the handle straight down one side as far as you can go, and hold for 60 seconds. As you hold the stretch, do not allow your hips to move sideways in the opposite direction as this will counter the stretch.

Likewise keep your trunk upright and straight as much as possible during the stretch.

Now do the same motion in the opposite direction.

After a few days of this stretch, you will find your distance on the range will improve as you begin to extend your backswing more. However, you should see marked improvement your accuracy consistency right from the start the more you swing down the target line.

Good Luck!

Regards,
Les

How to Switch to an Upright Golf Swing Plane and the Benefits it Has to Your Distance and Accuracy
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Les Ross has written multiple technical articles on golf and is author of "Breaking the Distance Barrier" http://www.breakingthedistancebarrier.com and owner of "Highlander School of Golf". If you would like to receive more articles of this nature, sign up for his free technical newsletter at: http://www.highlanderschoolofgolf.com/newsletterrreg.htm

Highlander School of Golf specializes in providing personal "live" and recorded online technical information that is flexible for the student and cost effective. You may try out the online experience by watching our free recorded seminar "Understanding the Mechanics behind Common Swing Faults" accessed from the home page of our site.

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