address position

I Gave Myself A Chance

March 7, 2009 by admin

“I gave myself a chance” was Moe’s way of describing how he prepared himself to play and perform his best. This was the way Moe maneuvered his golf game and his life. He prepared himself and played golf from a place of preparation and process, not an expectation.

Whenever I play golf events and tournaments, I only have one goal – to be ready. That’s it. I don’t place expectations on my score or try to hit every fairway and every green. My only expectation of myself is to be fully prepared. Then, once prepared, I go through the process of playing one shot at a time.

We are now approaching golf season and many of you are just weeks away from your first round of the year. Are you ready? If not, how do you get ready? In this article, I want to help you learn to prepare yourself to play golf.

Only one word describes the type of practice necessary to prepare yourself for your first round, the word is: FUNDAMENTALS.

You must start some fundamental/basic training practices so that when your first round arrives, you are able to play your best golf. Let me describe exactly what fundamental practice is and how I work on these fundamentals.

Fundamental practice is the foundation of a great golf swing. To start this preparation, you must first ask yourself how is your address position? This is the best place to start. As Moe said “If you don’t have a great address position, you ain’t got nothing”. How true this is and this fundamental starting position starts with your hands on the club.

The Grip

You must make sure your hands are correctly aligning the face and shaft from the two lines we describe in our Single Plane teaching. I developed the GGA Training Grip/Club for exactly this purpose. It solves my grip issues and helps me get the club-face aligned.

Learn more about the “Feeling of Greatness” Training Grip/Club HERE

Arm alignment

Furthering your address position, you must work on how the arms align the club with the body. We call this the two-line address position consisting of the club aligned with the lead arm and the club aligned with the trail arm. I usually use a mirror to check this position.

Check out the Single Plane Position Trainer HERE

Arms aligned with Body

Next, you must align the two lines with the body referring to the pivot point where the club is beneath the nose (Face-on view) and the club aligns through the mid-spine intersect™ point. These lines can only be accomplished with the proper leg position (straight with a slight bend in the knees) and the proper bend from the waist. I use a mirror to check this position also.

Stance Width/Ball Position

Next, I make sure I am standing the ideal width with the correct ball position. I developed the GGA Alignment and Ball Position Trainer to help me make sure I have this issue correct each time I practice.

Find out more about the Alignment and Ball Position Trainer HERE

After I have reviewed my fundamental address positions, I am ready to begin a few target ball-striking sessions.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you start your best year of golf ever.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us anytime.

Good Luck.

Winter Stretching – Single Axis Golf Stretch

February 14, 2008 by admin

This stretch is done from your single axis address position but a golf club is not needed. It is best done in a mirror the first few times so you can check positions. From your single axis address position (and simulated grip position) slide your trail hand up and grab your lead wrist. Slowly move to into your backswing making sure you are:

Keeping your lead foot planted on the ground Maintaining the flex in your trail knee Keeping your lead arm straight Maintaining your spine tilt

Stop when you feel mild tension (you could literally feel it anywhere, I’ll explain in moment), pause and begin your slow, deep breaths. After two slow, deep breaths use your trail hand to extend your lead arm out slightly further, MAKING SURE that none of the above has been compromised. Hold this position for at least two more breaths. Extend your stretch one more time as long as you don’t break down any of the above positions. Hold the stretch for 5 – 10 slow, deep breaths.

Depending on your specific flexibility issues you may feel this stretch in any number of places probably along with your lead side: your lead hip flexor; your lead side/rib cage; your lead shoulder; or your lead triceps area. Someone with tight hip flexors will often reverse pivot during their swing to compensate.

Use this stretch to find your tight spots and personalize your stretching routine to improve your swing.

All of the stretches we have covered to date are geared towards helping set up to the ball correctly and swing the club like Moe.

Dave

Troubles and Solutions

January 20, 2007 by admin

It’s time to make some progress on your golf swing.

The latest “Troubles and Solutions” DVD is designed to help you further understand your golf swing. The purpose is to have you make comparisons and “check” your golf swing against the ideal model (Moe Norman’s single axis swing).

There are 5 Places to spot Trouble in your golf swing

The Grip is the first place to check. How is your grip?

Remember – a good grip is a key to a good golf swing.

Trouble – if the grip is too strong (rotated too far to the right for right handers or left for left-handers), the club head will be shut at impact. You will make compensations in your impact position/swing, etc.. to make up for this improper grip.

Check the V’s formed between the thumb and forefingers – are they pointed to the correct spots – Remember as discussed in past e-tips (many times) – fingers of lead hand, palm of trail hand, but more importantly – the shaft should line up with the lower part of the trail arm – which leads to:

Address position puts the club on the single plane.

How is your address position?

Check that the shaft of the club lines up with the lower part of your trail arm.

Trouble – when the lead arm is NOT above the trail arm (from down the line view). The lead arm SHOULD be above the trail arm at set up. If not, will many times cause the “over the top” or outside to in downswing.

And from a face on position – a straight line if formed from your lead shoulder to the club head. Check the angle of your shoulder’s at set up.

Trouble – they should not be flat – they should be at an angle (tilt) backward. The lead shoulder should be above the trail shoulder at set up. If the shoulder’s are flat – most of the time, the lead arm will NOT be above the trail arm as described above.

This IS A SINGLE PLANE SET UP.

The club shaft and club face should move on plane.

Are the shaft and club face on plane?

Note – the shaft of the “bisects” the trail bicep muscle in the backswing. Also note, the hips and shoulders ARE turning in the backswing.

Trouble – lack of hip or shoulder movement in backswing will typically cause a “steep” angle in the backswing and then an over the top (outside to in) downswing.

Note – the club face should have the same angle as the back of your lead hand at the top of the swing – also note, the lead hand/wrist is relatively flat at the top of the swing.

Impact should return the club to the address plane.

How is your impact plane?

Notice at impact, feet are down, lead arm is DEFINITELY above the trail arm, shoulders, feet and knees are square (hips are OPEN) – this is “facing ball at impact”. This is proper impact position for a single axis swing.

Trouble – if the shoulders are open, feet are up, lead knee STRAIGHT – you have, or are, come over the top (outside to in) in your downswing.

Work on facing ball at impact position.

You should be stable through impact and into the finish.

How is your stability? Are your feet on the ground?

With a proper single axis “on plane” swing, stability should be produced through and past impact. Notice – feet are still down, KNEES ARE STILL FLEXED – including forwarding knee – the shaft of the club and trail arm form straight line – the hands ARE RELEASED.

Trouble – it is basically impossible to acquire this position if you have poor grip and/or poor set up and/or poor takeaway and/or poor impact position. Working on these positions and parts of the swing allow for proper and stable release and finish.

When you begin looking at your golf swing correctly, you will begin to find out how you can understand your troubles and begin to have the correct solutions to solve the problems.

Moe’s Secrets

August 20, 2005 by admin

I am still learning from Moe. Every time I watch his golf swing on the hours of footage we have, I listen to his comments and his thought on the simplicity of his swing and technique. And even when I practiced with Moe he would say things that seemed unreal. There was a time when I thought some of his ideas were a bit outrageous and yes, sometimes crazy.

Over the years, I have learned to tame that judgmental part of me. I have learned to take a new approach to learning to swing like the best that has ever struck a golf ball. Here are a few thoughts that might help you with getting your mind straight before I get into some “radical” concepts.

First, take nothing Moe says for granted. Most of Moe’s ideas of the golf swing were his way of explaining the unexplainable. Moe was doing his best to describe his feelings. Second, try not to judge it until you understand it. There are many things in the golf swing that don’t make sense but once you finally understand them they are almost common sense. Have you ever experienced that? (This is where you ask yourself how you could have been so dumb?)

So, let me introduce you to a few concepts that I want you to experiment with and see if they can help you swing like Moe.

Club Behind the Ball

Remember the pivot point? This point is a reference point for the golf club as it relates to the body. This relationship is critical when swinging the club into the correct impact position. The pivot point relationship establishes and ideal address position relationship. Notice that the pivot point relationship at address places the line of the lead arm and club shaft in a position where the club head is in the center of the feet but depending on the club you are hitting, the ball is not there, it is forward of the club head.

Also, notice that from the Down The Line View (see pictures) that the club is also in a perfect single plane. This pivot point relationship and subsequent single plane are related. Moe’s genius is reflected in his ability to do what no other golfer has ever done, place the club behind the ball to simplify swinging on plane.

If the goal is to establish the plane at address and impact the ball on this plane, then you will find it important to experiment with the pivot point relationship, which will mean placing the club behind the ball.

The Coin

Moe placed a coin 27 to 40 inches behind his golf ball. Moe claimed that the club would go back low to the ground and touch the coin before it came off of the ground. By doing this, you create the correct arm distance from your body to the golf ball. This arm distance or “width” is a major reason for correct arm motion and speed. By moving the arms correctly, the shoulders also move correctly on plane. The “coin” seems to help the entire first move in the golf swing, a common question we often get asked by our students.

The Club Never Goes Behind You

Now picture this, the address position is a relationship formed with the area I call the pivot point creating two perfectly straight lines, the lead arm and club shaft and the trail arm and club shaft (down the line view). The shoulders are in position accordingly on plane. The spine is tilted as the arms are in front of the chest in perfect harmony. Now the club moves in the backswing, these relationships maintain, the club stays low to the ground (over the coin) and then the hands hinge the club up onto plane. The entire motion is poetry. Simple. Perfect. The hinge of the hands Moe describes “an upward movement, never around like a pendulum” states Moe, once again his feelings coming through in a metaphor.

Moe’s golf swing was a combination of biomechanical precision with perfect design for the task of hitting a ball taken to the degree of mastery. When Moe described this kinetic poetry, his thoughts, sometimes abstract, were gems when it comes to understanding his golf swing and “The Feeling of Greatness”.

Good Luck in your continued pursuit of Moe’s single plane swing and please let us know if we can do anything else for you.

STORY FOLLOWUP

Remember the last E-tip about Court and his progression with his game… here is a follow-up e-tip I received from him the next week.

Tim, Thanks to both you and Todd for a great 3 days. I hit about 300 balls Sunday while going back and forth watching the tape. By the end of day, I think I got it. Today on the course I shot 74 (2 over) 12/14 fairways and long, 13 GIR, 32 putts, no 3 Putts, 3/4 up and downs, 1/2 Sand saves,13 pars, 2 birdies, 2 bogies, 1 dbl. The double came on #17 as I got to thinking about the even par round I had going. Short par 3, didn’t release the club and it went high and right into the water. The big deal I think was walking into my shots for setup, thinking target, and more confidence than I ever have had. The other thing is I just never got into trouble except for the one water hole – taking trouble out of the equation. I have shot better rounds, but I have never played better golf.

Thanks again. Talk to you later, Court

How to Cure the Shank

August 20, 2004 by admin

The dreaded S word. Some refuse to mention the word around anybody that has played golf. Many regards it is another four letter word. Almost every golfer has experienced it, especially in the most critical moment at the most critical juncture in a round. And once it happens, you might as well forget about the rest of the round. In the back of your mind on every shot, on every hole, you will be thinking about that dreaded shot to the right.

The shank has quite a few nick names, the lateral, the hosel shot and my favorite…the hosel rocket. So what causes the dreaded lateral? Most people think that it is standing too close to the ball. The fact that the hosel is coming into the ball might make that true but the funny thing is when you move further away, you still Shank the ball.

The reason you shank the ball is that you have lost your space between you and the ball. From a Club Mechanics (club movement) standpoint, your hands and arms have lost the room to swing the club between you and the ball. How does this happen?

The reason you lose this space is due to swinging the club too flat in the backswing. When you do this you steepen the shaft in the downswing. When you steepen the shaft in the downswing you lose the distance you had from the ball.

Correcting the Shank

The only way you can have the club too flat in the backswing is from an over rotation of the hands and forearms. In other words, the hands and forearms rotate causing the club to be flat. The goal is to move the hands and arms correctly so that the club moves on plane in the backswing or even more steep in the backswing. This will allow you to flatten as opposed to steepen in the downswing.

In order to move the club correctly in the backswing you must move the club back without turning the forearms. Here are the steps for making an on plane move in the backswing.

From the correct address position, turn the shoulders and allow the arms to move also. This initial movement will move the club approximately 5 feet but you will notice that the clubface still moves square relative to the plane. This indicates that the forearms are not rotated and that the club movement is exactly in proportion to the torso movement. In other words, the club is still “in front” of you, not rotated “behind” you.

From that initial movement, you simply hinge the hands upward. This upward movement moves the club on plane.

The feeling of this movement is that you are standing in your address position with your butt against a wall. When you move the club away, the turn of the torso moves the club back and then upward. The club feels as though you could never hit the wall. This movement will keep the club from getting flat in the backswing.

So next time the dreaded s-word sneaks into your swing, don’t panic. As long as you know what causes it, you can get rid of it as fast.

Good Luck.

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