The Forward Swing Plane Match

When the club swings too far left and gets too vertical immediately after impact, it creates an out-to-in path for a right-handed golfer. As Brian Jacobs explains, when the club gets too close to the toes on the follow-through, the forearms reverse and the ball goes the opposite direction — producing a slice or a weak pull. The fix is training the forward swing to stay on the correct exit plane rather than collapsing left. The pathpal gives you a physical rod to match your shaft angle to, making the correct plane tangible and repeatable.

Place the pathpal in front of your impact zone and set the rod to match your ideal forward shaft plane — typically around 60 degrees for most golfers. Start from the impact position and move into your follow-through slowly, focusing entirely on matching the shaft to the rod angle. Brian emphasizes beginning with just the forward half of the swing before adding the backswing, so you can isolate and correct the exit plane without other variables interfering.

According to Brian Jacobs — who holds an MS Ed with a specialization in motor learning — you absolutely can, and slow-motion repetition is often more effective than high-volume ball striking. His rule: if you can't perform the movement slowly, you can't perform it at speed. Slow reps allow the nervous system to encode a new motor pattern without the interference of trying to hit a target. The pathpal provides the reference point that makes those slow reps productive and measurable.

Brian's mentor taught him that there's no rule that says you have to learn golf from the backswing — it's just the most commonly taught starting point. The problem is that many golfers have a sound backswing but break down completely on the forward swing, getting steep or swinging left. By isolating and fixing the forward swing first, you address the part of the swing that actually determines where the ball goes, then add the backswing once the exit plane is grooved. It's a more direct route to ball flight improvement.

These two faults are closely related but describe different dimensions. Steep refers to the angle of the club's approach — when the forward swing plane is more vertical (closer to 90 degrees) than the backswing plane, the club attacks too sharply from above. Out-to-in describes the directional path — the club moving across the target line from outside to inside. Brian illustrates how both happen simultaneously: a steep forward swing forces the club too far left, which is by definition an out-to-in path. The pathpal rod lets you see the angle mismatch between your backswing and forward swing plane and correct it in real time.