Is Sergio Garcia a One or Two Plane Golfer?

A one-plane golfer tracks the same path on his backswing as his downswing.

A two-plane golfer has a downswing that has a different path than his backswing.

I asked my golf pro whether I had a one-plane or a two-plane swing, and he told me not to worry about it. He said it was more important to be consistent.

Two. The water plane and the grass plane.

Ok I'm terrible at humor.

There are so many definitions of swing planes that this thread could get interesting (and maybe leave our heads spinning).

I go with this definition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izp9Jrirk1Q&NR;=1&feature;=fvwp

By that definition Sergio has a one plane swing, but he is one of the few golfers that returns the shaft as low or lower at impact than he was at address.

Hey, guys. I was just messing around here and made a video about this just now. Just experimenting of course. Please chime in if I said something wrong as I always welcome being corrected so I can improve too.

Here's my vid though on this:

Awesome! A few things I would look at: (1) Sergio looks to be a bit more one-plane than he was early on in his career; (2) you're comparing Sergio with a wedge to Freddie with a driver (you'd probably find the same results if they were using the same clubs, though maybe not as pronounced); and (3) the way Sergio drops his hands without really starting down with his hips messes with the one-plane/two-plane stuff. Sort of like how there's no one perfect spot to define Ben Hogan's A4 because he started down with his hips before his arms were at the top, Sergio can go from his arm plane above the shoulder plane to one-plane before he even starts down with his body. And if my voice wasn't so awful that it would shatter the windows in your house, maybe I'd make an Analyzr video about that. :-D

Haha! You should have!

All good points. I should've used driver Sergio. It's basically the same.

I also probably could've mentioned how hand depth changes, how there's a difference between arm lifting and being a pro with a 2-plane swing, etc.

Also, this isn't the same stuff as when Johnny Miller or Nick Faldo says "he's right on plane" when referring to some pro's downswing. In that scenario, you really only have one option when swinging your club. You better be on plane. And that refers to the angle of the shaft relative to the tilted plane we play golf on.

Again, please correct me where wrong, guys!

When I watched today, it seemed Sergio was dropping way less inside than I remember.

Sergio is a modern guy in tune with our high tech society.  He is a .com-plainer.

Good point! Yea, both players' shoulders tilt a good amount downward. They're definitely not level shoulder turns.

For sure! Go on Youtube, and you'll see that the vast majority of the comments on Sergio's swing videos are "OMG, LAG!!!"

But yea, this is part of that "whip effect" people talk about with the golf swing. Make a motion like you're going to crack a whip, and you'll notice your wrist does the same thing. The wrist hinge increases at the start the "downswing" of the whipping motion. Some instructors say that if your wrist hinge is about 90 degrees at the top of the backswing, it should increase to about 80 degrees during the early moments of your downswing, or thereabouts.

Having said that (Curb reference), this video Mike made recently best explains how to go about creating said lag:

I'm getting off-topic here, but maybe this is my opportunity to post this video and make this point... or perhaps I should just put this on the thread " Elbow Positioning and Its Effect on the Downswing " instead as that seems to be the most relevant place based on a quick search I just did.

But when I saw Lee Westwood miss the ball this past week at the Players, I thought of the "steep to shallow" shaft angle on a good player's backswing and downswing, because its the perfect explanation for why he doesn't hit the tree going back, but does hit it going down:

Last off-topic post I'll make here.

It defines the potion at the top of the back swing.

One-plane - left arm accross the shoulder line.

Two-plane - left arm above the shoulder line.