The Shaft Plane Match Drill

Dial In Your Plane for Every Club in the Bag

Sticks: 1
Config: Together
Focus: Full Swing

Drill Objective

Using the pathpal’s versatile angle settings, you can perfectly align the training aid to match the specific shaft plane of any iron or wood. This drill helps you visualize the correct path, ensuring you don’t pull the club too far inside or over-the-top during your swing.

Set-Up

  1. Choose a club from your bag (e.g., a 6-iron as shown in the video).
  2. Identify the corresponding angle on the pathpal base—for a 6-iron, approximately 60° is recommended.
  3. Insert the padded rod into the hole that matches your club's shaft plane at address.
  4. Position the pathpal so the rod is parallel to your target line and aligns with your natural shaft angle.

Instructions

  1. Address the ball and check that your club shaft matches the angle of the pathpal rod.
  2. Take practice swings, focusing on keeping the clubhead and shaft moving along the angle provided by the rod.
  3. Ensure you are not swinging too much to the inside on the takeaway.
  4. On the downswing, aim to swing slightly under or right along the shaft plane to ensure a neutral, powerful strike.

Benefits

Prevents getting stuck
Shallows club
Prevents Inside Takeaway
Improve Swing Plane
Janean Murphy
Janean Murphy
Director of Instruction
Meadowbrook Country Club
  • 2024: LPGA Global Teacher of the Year
  • 2026: Golf Digest Best Teachers in State
  • 2022-2027: LPGA Top 50 Best Teacher

""Wow! I was able to test inside and outside the last 2 days and very pleased with the new design""

Joe Stago
Joe Stago Director of Instruction, GolfTEC Dublin Ohio

""If you’re serious about improving your swing, I can’t recommend pathpal enough. It’s versatile, dependable, and backed by an owner who genuinely cares about his customers.""

Ken W
Ken W Avid golfer

""I find myself using it daily which is uncommon for most aids""

Brad Pluth
Brad Pluth PGA Master Professional
Drill FAQ

Questions About This Drill

Get clear answers on setup, swing feel, common mistakes, and how to get the most out of this PathPal drill.

Set the pathpal to the angle that matches your club's shaft angle at address — Janean recommends approximately 60 degrees for a 6-iron as a starting reference. Hold your club at address and visually match the rod to the shaft angle coming out of the club head. From there, the drill trains you to swing over the rod going back and slightly under it coming down — the over-under shallowing motion that creates an inside-out delivery. Because every club sits at a different shaft angle, the 13 angle options allow you to recalibrate for each club in your bag.

Shaft angle at address varies by club because lie angle and shaft length change across the bag. A wedge sits more upright — closer to 65–70 degrees — while a 5-iron sits flatter at around 55–60 degrees, and a driver sits flatter still. The swing plane is determined by the shaft angle at address, so training on a fixed angle for every club produces inaccurate plane feedback for most of them. Janean's drill is club-specific by design — match the angle to the club you're actually hitting, and the feedback becomes precise rather than approximate.

On the backswing, a correct plane has the club moving slightly above the address shaft angle — this is the "over" reference. On the downswing, the club drops slightly below that same plane as it shallows into the slot — this is the "under" reference. The over-under sequence is the kinematic signature of a proper shallowing motion: the club steepens slightly going back and then flattens as it transitions into the downswing. An inside takeaway that goes too far below the plane on the backswing makes the over-under transition impossible and almost always produces a steep, over-the-top downswing.

When the club rips too far inside on the takeaway, it gets below the shaft plane immediately and sits in a position from which the only efficient route to the ball is back over the top — steepening on the downswing rather than shallowing. This is the root cause of most over-the-top swings: the backswing path forces the downswing path. The pathpal rod matched to the shaft angle creates a visual reference that prevents the club from going below that plane on the takeaway, giving the downswing a fighting chance to shallow correctly.

Most shallowing drills use a fixed obstacle or a single angle — they're designed for an average shaft plane and applied universally regardless of the club being hit. Janean's approach is personalized to the specific club in your hand. By matching the pathpal to the actual shaft angle at address, the plane reference is accurate for that club's geometry rather than a generic approximation. This makes the feedback more precise and the muscle memory more transferable to on-course performance, where you're never hitting the same club twice in a row.

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Full Video Transcript

Open the transcript to review the complete drill walkthrough in text form.

Hi, Janean Murphy here — LPGA/PGA Instructor at Meadowbrook Country Club, and 2024 LPGA Global Teacher of the Year.

I want to talk to you about the pathpal. This is a fantastic teaching aid for working on swing plane.

How the pathpal Works

It has varying holes angled at different positions. You insert the alignment stick at the angle you want — the angle that matches your shaft plane at address — so you can work on your specific swing.

Setting It Up

I've got a 6-iron today, so I'm going to try the 60-degree angle. What you want is for this rod angle to match the angle of the shaft coming out of the club at address. That gives you an accurate plane reference for the club you're actually hitting.

What You're Training

With the rod matching your shaft angle, you can:

Make sure you're not taking the club too far inside on the takeaway

Feel what it's like to swing slightly over the plane going back

Shallow the club by coming slightly under that same plane on the way down

If you're swinging over the top, you'll see it immediately — the club will cross above the rod going back and then come back steeply. The over-under feel is what we're after.

The Versatility

You have a lot of different angle options to match every club in your bag — from your wedges to your woods. Every club sits at a different shaft angle, and the pathpal adjusts to all of them.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.