The Swing, Part 2
The upright-plane takes the swing back up over the shoulder on the backswing and has steep path back to the ball. The flat plane takes the club just outside the shoulder and across the back. In both cases the leading edge of the club will parallel to the left forearm at the top of the swing.
The upright swinger will remain in the hitting zone for a longer period because the arc is steeper. Because of this the golfer will have more control of the shots. The upright plane is harder to master because the rotational movement of your hips and torso is not in the same plane with your shoulder rotation.
The flat-plane swinger rotates his torso and hips and shoulders in the same plane, making it easier to cooridinate and utilize the speed developed by the rotation of the hips. The flat plane is easier to learn, and for the average golfer it will impart more swing speed. The downside is that the golfer is in the hitting zone for slightly less time because of the shallow arc of the swing. This causes slightly less control.
What I recommend is that you learn all the elements of the platform and choose a swing that fits your body type. That will make you a solid golfer.
Much of what we know about the golf swing comes from physics. Not real exciting stuff, but understanding the physics principles involved in the design of the clubs helps our thinking. It becomes clear why we use the same swing with every club. The clubs are designed with different lengths and have different lofts and different lies. This is what allows the golfer to use one swing with the same velocity and achieve different results. The golfer must take the club head away (the backswing) and return the club head (the downswing) in such a manner that it can be repeated over and over with little or no variation. To deliver the desired velocity and the correct ball flight to the ball, the club head must be delivered to the ball with the clubface square at impact. This means that the face of the club cannot be open or closed, or have its loft or lie altered at the time of contact with the ball.
The golf swing must be repeatable to avoid mistakes, and the first step to making something repeatable is to make it uncomplicated. The swing fundamentals are not complicated, but some people try to make them complicated. I think that much of what has been written about the swing has done more to confuse golfers than to help them learn what the golf swing is really about.