When I initiate my downswing with a lower body weight transfer,
I tend to lose the club lag early. However, if I consciously allow my
swing plane to flatten by slightly rotating the left wrist skyward and
dropping my arms downward (while shifting my weight) ,
the wrist angle remains hinged, but the
hit is basically ineffective and without club speed. Should the down plane
be essentially the same as the up plane (like T Woods) or significantly
flatter (like Sergio Garcia) ? I'm confused.

You're confused? So am I

But seriously the examples you have given highlight that two different players of very high quality (and you can throw in a few more such as Jim Furyk) can have rather different swing planes and still be as good as they are. I guess that is telling us that there is no one method to suit all in that regard. It sounds to me that you are getting very bogged down with all this and I would strongly recommend that you get some professional (golf) help locally by someone who can see your swing first hand and free your mind of these conflicting thoughts.

New Zealander Eddie Lee's remarkable performance in Shanghai at the weekend highlights the importance of getting back to the basics instead of fiddling too much on the swing. That was a decision he had made a month or so earlier and the results are there for us to see.

QUOTE: Dud @ May 4 2005, 12:33 AM

When I initiate my downswing with a lower body weight transfer,
I tend to lose the club lag early. However, if I consciously allow my
swing plane to flatten by slightly rotating the left wrist skyward and
dropping my arms downward (while shifting my weight) ,
the wrist angle remains hinged, but the
hit is basically ineffective and without club speed. Should the down plane
be essentially the same as the up plane (like T Woods) or significantly
flatter (like Sergio Garcia) ? I'm confused.

If you are losing lag early then it is not the fault of the weight shift, that is hand throwing the club at the ball usually allowing the club to pass the hands way before getting to the ball.

Lifes easier with a zero or single shift plane action, just less moving parts. If you go back and forward on the same plane its easier to replicate time after time than back one way down another. But you need to find your plane for sure on the downswing.

I sympathise, I too am one of those people who can't think of too many things at once. I really have to think about linking my lower and upper body to get the hips moving first, but then forget about what my arms and hands are doing (and vice versa). The thought I use to keep my wrist cock as long as possible is to think about pulling the grip down toward the ball and the angle takes care of itself. If I think about keep my wrist cock then I end up doing a Sergio and keeping it cocked too long and then having to make a desperate snap to get the club to the ball, and then it goes anywhere.

I do agree however that having the same swing plane up and down is preferable (two extreme examples are Tom Kite and Stuart Appleby) as you have more chance of keeping upper and lower in sync. Having a big shift in swing plane might work for Sergio, Fred Couples et al, bu they hoit a few more balls than most of us. Dropping the hands to get the swing inside can tend to generate a big hip release and this is generally a trouble for hackers as your lower body gets too far ahead of the hands and can block you out and you have to then start making all sorts of mid swing corrections to actually hit the ball. See recent stories on Tiger's new swing - he has slowed his hips down to allow his hands to get past.