Click Here: “Ben Hogan’s Pane of Glass”
The best mental image ever devised to keep your golf swing on plane is “Ben Hogan’s Pane of Glass”. Hogan spends a whole chapter in his book “Five Lessons” on the swing plane using this “pane of glass” imagery. This tells you how important he felt swinging the club on plane is to becoming a great golfer.
Look at the drawing above and burn it into your psyche! This large pane of glass is angled from the ball all the way through the golfer’s shoulders and beyond. The angle of the pane is dictated by the golfer’s stance. Imagine a hole in the center of this large pane of glass just big enough for the golfer’s head to poke through.
Hogan liked to imagine this pane of glass when he swung because it allowed him to swing the club under this imaginary “pane of glass” in the back swing as well as down into impact and into his finish – without breaking the glass!
The truth is Hogan’s golf swing was always on plane and he is considered by most to be “the best ball striker who ever lived”!
This image alone has helped me tremendously in learning how to attack the ball from the all powerful inside. When you learn how to swing down from the inside, you develop that all important “lag” in your golf swing – and lag is the secret to effortless power in your golf swing!
If you have an “over the top” swing (aka casting), you can see how you would break this pane of glass at the start of your down swing. By being aware of the pane of glass your hands will drop down to your side during the downswing, maintaining your lag (aka the slot – illustrated beautifully by Hogan in the photo on the right).
You will be attacking the inside quadrant of the golf ball – a very powerful image to have for your golf swing.
The “pane of glass” image also helps your backswing. If you swing the club too much to the outside during the initial part of your backswing, you will break the pane of glass. By keeping Hogan’s image in your mind as you start your backswing your arms will stay connected to your body – you are almost forced to swing the club on plane! The wrists will cock by themselves without you giving them any thought.
The other nice thing about using the Hogan “pane of glass” image is it will help with your alignment. As you settle into your stance, imagine Hogan’s pane of glass being perpendicular to your target line. This will help you align your feet, your hips, and your shoulders to the target line – all crucial components for proper alignment.
Hogan’s pane of glass image also keeps you centered and stacked during the golf swing because your head movement will be minimal – remember your head is poking through the hole in the glass.
So work Hogan’s “pane of glass” image into your regular golf routine and learn to become a great striker of the golf ball – just like Ben Hogan!
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