[golfbulldog]

I am not sure if the following is correct but see what you think...

Homer stresses the importance of the sweetspot plane. The plane between PP3 and clubhead sweetspot. The trouble is that it is invisble... except when the clubhead is turbed to the inclined plane - when shaft plane acts as a surrogate for sweet spot plane.

The crucial thing about sweet spot plane is that it is the plane that you feel rather than see... but if you want to "see" it then use shaft plane as an approximate.

The dowels "look" like a shaft and there is no distraction of clubhead so it is a good way to learn the concept of alignment rather than position... this alone is a leap of conceptual thinking that you have already made!

But in "swinging " a dowel... you won't really feel much because of the lack of clubhead mass... maybe if you added a point mass ( round lump of lead) at the tip of the dowel and swung it then you would feel and see the elusive "sweetspot plane".

typing "off the cuff" at the moment so see what others say ...