Golf: Tony White's swinging four points.

So where do we get our reference points from if we have no straight lines to go by?

In a swing that is on a perfect plane, the angle that the shaft lies to the ground at address should be maintained throughout the swing.

For those who like numbers and angles (hi to all you engineers), a sand wedge lies at around 65 degrees to the vertical, the number one wood or driver lies at around 50 degrees to the ground so there is no fixed 'plane' as club lengths vary.

I would suggest you use the numbers to appreciate clubs vary and then forget the numbers, concentrating more on some checkpoints that will allow you to gauge whether you are roughly on plane and roughly is plenty good enough to hit the ball consistently straight and far.

The four points are:

About half way back

Around half way back down

On impact with the ball of course

Half way through.

In order of importance I think they rank three, four, two then one.

I have ranked them without much explanation as to why purely to highlight that if you are focusing on your backswing, you are focusing on the least relevant part of your golf swing.

Nobody ever hits a golf ball with their backswing and the backswing does not have the huge bearing on the (critical) path of the downswing that people give it credit for.

Luckily for golfer Jim Furyk, who is evidence that a sound backswing is not nearly critical.

Good players are without exception on plane coming back down into and through the ball or they wouldn't be good players.

The above photos show the relevant positions in swing border all taken using a driver purely because it is the longest club and therefore highlights how 'flat' and 'rounded' an on-plane golf swing should be. In order they are set-up, backswing, downswing, impact and follow-through.

Remember when trying to get your head around this - the golf club is only square to the target on impact with the ball (the only time it needs to be) and should not at any stage swing in a straight line with the target - the club contacts the ball at or near the apex of an arc. This is all unnerving, I know, but that's why 80 per cent of golfers, some of whom have been excellent sportspeople, never 'get' golf.

You now know better so welcome to the 20 per cent who have got it or will get it - it's a nice place to be. There is an effortless, predictable, efficient swinging of a golf club.

More next week.

Tony White is the golf operations manager at Gibraltar Country Club, Bowral.

He can be contacted on 4862 8615 or you can visit www.gibraltarbowral.com.au