I am toying with getting a little more wrist hinge and getting the club working a little more vertical on backswing to help flatten the club on the downswing.
The purpose for this move is to avoid getting too inside on takeaway. I start with my lead wrist fully uncocked (Bryson Dechambeau like).
Am I going to get myself in trouble with an earlier wrist hinge and more vertical club on backswing (think leadbetter A swing). My goal is to work more toward back and down on same plane, but to break old habit, trying to do opposite.
I think I get what Russell is saying. There's a propensity to take the club back too low and flat for some folks when rotating the shoulders in the backswing. That said, Tom's backswing videos cleared that up. The upper area of the left arm stays connected to the pec on the takeaway. At the 9 o'clock position the club face is pointing more downward, and from a DTL view the club head appears outside the target line. But as the shoulders rotate back, NOT an arm swing, the club head travels to where Tom shows in his videos.
If someone comes from taking the club too low and inside, this will feel more "upright", or "vertical". I got into a "too flat" backswing and started to get my right elbow stuck on my side on the downswing.
In summary, Russell is (I believe) describing Tom's backswing method. It's possible it just took some time to "sink in".
@Russell Hogue, PhD & @Nocona Colt Abernathy - I'm very much enjoying your dialogue here. Russell, I don't know whether you have a copy of the S&T book by Plummer and Bennett, but since this conversation has moved to the setup I thought I'd share a couple of pages from the book on this topic (below). Far too many folks take the setup for granted, but it will make or break their swing before they even start the club back. Some very important features are described here, and barring any physical limitations I dare say they are non-negotiables. (I also address some of this - particularly the bending of the knees, pushing out the butt, and inclining the hips and upper torso towards the ground/ball in this KFC Club member video.)
Not extremely under plane, but enough it causes inconsistency. My goal this next year is to get down to a 0-2 handicap. Gotta make a few changes.
As long as the ultimate objective is to get back and down on matching planes, then it is fine to exaggerate a feel, position, or motion in order to neutralize a ghost of swings past. So while neither the DeChambeau/Moe Norman-esque address position nor a two-plane move are compatible with Stack & Tilt, they are allowable as a temporary bridge from old to new provided they are recognized and treated as such. (Heck, in one of my YT episodes I even use Matthew Wolff as an example of a means to build in the feel for the shallowing the downswing path through an extremely out and up takeaway!)