How to use Drill Sticks to check your Swing Plane
Drill Sticks are an increasingly popular training aid, being seen in almost every pro shop and tour players bag. It is common for many golfers to use them merely as an alignment tool, or to hold their towel on the golf bag (guilty!) Jokes aside, their use is far more versatile, with many drills available to help golfers games.
Drills sticks can be used really easily to practice getting your swing on the correct plane in the backswing. A good backswing plane helps improve consistency of swing path through the ball and consistency of strike. Being over or under the plane line on the backswing often leads to being over or under the plane line on the way down, resulting in more wayward and less consistent shots.
For this drill you will need 2 drill sticks. Lets call them drill stick A and B. Start by aligning drill stick A to your target, just inside of the heel of the club. Next, push drill stick B into the ground at the back end of the drill stick B. It is essential that drill stick B matches the shaft angle at address, as seen in the picture below.
Once this is set up you are ready to start practicing. From here achieving the correct plane in the backswing would mean the club tracks close to drill stick B on the way back. In other words, the clubhead must avoid colliding with the stick (too far inside) and / or being too far away from the drill stick (too far outside.) Using this drill gives instant feedback as to whether you are achieving the correct plane in the backswing. Making practice swings and hitting balls with this drill stick setup will help ingrain the correct swing plane.
Another effective way of checking your swing plane is by placing drill stick B through the grip in your club. With drill stick A set up the same, aligned at the target on the ground, the drill stick B should point on this target line throughout the backswing. Hitting balls with this drill is difficult but it is an effective way of checking your backswing is on plane. Creating this feel can then be transferred when hitting balls. I recommend interim practice, hitting a few shots, then making a few drill swings with the stick in the butt of the club.
I hope you have found these practice methods useful and they can help you achieve a more consistent swing. If you have any questions or would like to contact me, feel free to email james@jamesjankowskigolf.com
