Hogan's Pane of Glass

If you have been playing golf for some time, it is likely you have heard of Ben Hogan. He is perhaps the best golfer of all time, and the one who dominated throughout the 1940’s and 50’s. And if you have heard of Hogan, then surely you have heard of his famous "pane of glass" image. This might be the single most talked about image for developing a golfer’s swing plane.

But just in case you are new to the game, haven’t heard of this pane, or have forgotten about it altogether, here is an explanation:Hogan, in his book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamanetals of Golf, talks about a pane of glass inclined from the ball and resting on the shoulders. He says to imagine cutting out a hole in the glass for your head to fit through, and resting that end of the glass on your shoulders with the other end of the glass resting on the ground at a point where the golf ball is. So essentially the glass is on an angle from the ball to the shoulders. From there, he would say that the swing should stay underneath this pane of glass for its entirety. From the backswing through to the finish, the hands, arms, and shoulders should never go out or lift up in a way that would break the glass.

There has been a lot of debate about this image over the years. People have questioned Hogan for it; people have praised Hogan for it. Most are in the middle.
The image of this glass can be good and bad for your swing, depending on what stage your game is in. Before this pane can be addressed, however, and who it is and is not good for, something must be mentioned about Hogan.

Ben Hogan, in his early days, hit a wicked hook. He would hit snap-hooks that would start low and left and end up lower and "lefter." He said these shots were "the terror of the field mice" because of how the ball would scurry so fast along the ground.

Needless to say, it’s important to keep this in mind when talking about Hogan and the points he makes in his book. As great a book as it is, it is, quite frankly, a cure for a hook. When Ben talks about the weak grip, the early clearing of the hips, and this "pane of glass," he is talking about things that cured his snap-hook. And since 85% of golfers throughout the world slice, it seems that for most people, following what is in this book can have adverse effects on their game.

So for the high handicapper this pane of glass is generally not a good thing to think about.

Why?
The #1 cause of poor golf is from swinging over the top. The club approaches the ball from steep and outside, which opens the clubface, which, upon contact, generates an immense amount of left-to-right spin on the ball, which results in a slice. Incidentally, the #1 cause of coming over the top is from looping the club too far to the inside on the backswing. The club whips to the inside, and from there, it has nowhere to go on the downswing but outside and over the top.
So thinking of swinging under this pane of glass will not cure the problem of looping the club to the inside. It will many times just make the problem worse.
Over-the-top slicers need to feel as though they are breaking the glass on the takeaway. Sort of like Fred Couples and Nick Price appear to do. This will get the club working outside more, keep it in front of the body, and create an inside path area for them to swing down on. There is not enough of an alleyway to swing down from the inside if they also swing back to the inside.

A good over-the-top swing thought would be to "break the glass, then reroute the club to the inside."

This image of a pane of glass can be beneficial to some players, however. For those who have a very steep swing overall, or those who are very sloppy with their arms, thinking of this glass can help. It will flatten out the swing by making it more round. It will also tighten up the swing by preventing the arms from flailing all over the place.
But usually this is for players who already have a decent inside move into the ball on the downswing. Just as Hogan did. And that’s the key. If you have a good downswing move to begin with, which Hogan did, then to imagine swinging underneath this glass could be a good thing. You would essentially be making your swing more "one-plane-ish."

Summary
If you are an over-the-top player, who chops at the ball from above the correct plane, you shouldn't think of this pane of glass. You need to get the club working on a steeper plane on your backswing so as to give yourself room to come from the inside on the downswing. It’s simply a matter of reversing the swing shape. Instead of swinging back to the inside, then down from the outside, swing back to the outside, then down from the inside.

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