Ted Sheftic's Plane Trainer Helps Golfers Groove a Better Swing

Ted Sheftic is one of the top golf instructors in the U.S. You don't have to take our word for it - you can find Sheftic listed on Golf Magazine's Top 100 Instructors list.

Sheftic's home base is the Ted Sheftic Learning Center in New Oxford, Pa., and he's worked with more than a dozen LPGA Tour players.

Like many golf instructors, Sheftic sometimes uses training aids in his teaching. And also like many instructors, rather than use an off-the-shelf product, Sheftic often builds his own training aids - ones that fit perfectly his teaching philosophies, methods and his students' needs.

In fact, Sheftic has quite a menagerie of do-it-yourself training aids, some of which can be viewed on the training aids section of his website. Some of these he's shared with other instructors, or marketed in a limited way to golfers and golf teachers.

One of Sheftic's newest creations is the Ted Sheftic Plane Trainer, and this is one that Sheftic believes has great potential to catch on with golfers. He's so confident in its benefits that he's building units, taking orders and shipping off Plane Trainers to average golfers and fellow Top 100 instructors alike.

The Plane Trainer is an attention-getting product, with several moving parts, brightly colored foam padding and white-and-red plastic pipe construction. If one was set up on a driving range, it'd be hard to miss.

Its purpose is, as you likely guessed from the name, to get your swing on the proper plane (although, because its foam-padded arms are movable, it does have other uses, too). Many recreational golfers have the problem of coming over the top; while even many highly skilled players fall into the trap of bringing the club to the ball too much from the inside.

The Plane Trainer helps both players, as we discovered when we took ours to a top golf academy for a demonstration.

The golfer sets up with his ball placed one club length in front of a foam-padded arm that stands straight up. Behind that is another such arm, slightly longer, that is leaned at an angle to mimic the swing plane. The idea is to hit the smaller arm with the backswing, knocking it over, while avoiding the larger arm. Do both, and you'll know you're taking the club back on the proper plane, without getting inside.

Another arm in front of the golfer is another check against an over-the-top swing, and also serves to help those golfers who come too far from the inside (the opposite of over the top), or who push their hands to the right on the follow-through.

The pros we showed the Plane Trainer to thought it was a very effective tool for practicing the proper takeaway. So effective that, when the rest of us headed to the No. 1 tee to get in a few holes, one pro stayed behind to work with the Plane Trainer on his takeaway.

Sheftic says that an in-depth instructional video is in the process of being made and will be ready to ship with orders soon. For more information on the Plane Trainer, or to place an order, visit Sheftic's website.