Golf instruction

Why changing proves difficult

September 10, 2011 by admin

Over the past 7 1/2 years of my time learning, and now teaching the Moe Norman Single Plane swing to golfers worldwide, one of the most common frustrations that arise is the difficulty of making a change in the mechanics or movement. Through years of observation, I’ve found that it’s not due to a lack of desire to make the necessary change(s), nor necessarily from a lack of effort.

Sometimes, I’ve seen making changes be difficult due to lack of flexibility or mobility in a necessary body part, however, those things can be overcome a majority of the time.

I’ve always found it fascinating that when a golfer is presented Moe Norman’s Single Plane swing, and understands the golf swing as a motion to achieve an ideal impact position, they’re desire to use and match Moe as the ideal human model is very, very high. I mean, the Single Plane swing just makes sense.

But the question still remains, Why is changing or making changes to the golf swing, difficult?

To shed some light on the answer to this questions, I want to take you back to your childhood. The first question I have for you is this: How did you learn to tie your shoes?

Funny questions, I know, but think about it for a minute. Tying your shoes today is a mechanical process that you don’t even think about to accomplish. You just tie your shoes, right?

As the father of a 7 year old boy, this story is current for me, as we’ve been working with him to teach him to tie his shoes for about 9 months now. (Maybe he’s just a slow learner, or maybe he’s more interested in wearing shoes now with Velcro, but I digress).

When you learned to tie your shoes, you had someone show you how to do it. You watched as an adult demonstrated how to tie the shoelaces. Then, maybe they took your hands and tried to guide you through the process. And then you tried it on your own, and although you likely can’t remember, you probably didn’t ace the tying on your first solo try. As time passed, and you continued to practice the task of tying your shoes, you first were completely incompetent at completing the task, then you gained some competency, then, with practice, you gained mastery.

Now, thinking back on learning to tie your shoes, do you still tie your shoes to this day exactly like the person who showed and taught you? I’d be willing to be that you do.

So let’s bring that story into the context of our golf swings. As we do, let’s first think about the process you went through as a child learning to tie your shoes.

First, you had a model. Someone showed you how to do it.
Second, you watched the model demonstrate the task, likely over and over.
Next, you tried to imagine yourself completing the task
You then tried the task by yourself and likely failed miserably
And you continued to practice the task, failing, correcting, and failing, until at some point, you were able to accomplish the task.
With more repetition, you then mastered the task, and it became a subconscious habit.

When it comes to the golf swing, my belief is that we can have no better model than Moe Norman. The greatest ball striker to ever live is a pretty good model in my book. Many reading this will have watched Moe’s swing, or even purchased instruction from us about learning the swing, like the Single Plane Solution. And if you’ve watched Moe’s swing, have the instruction, you likely have tried to implement what you’ve seen, and this is the point that most golfers get stuck.

Some of the most comical comments I get from golfers go something like this; “I purchased your DVD’s, watched them yesterday, and tried Moe’s swing on the course today, and it just didn’t work.” The unfortunate and sad part of that comment is that the golfer skipped about 4 steps in the learning process, and made a judgment on those results.

Changing any dynamic bodily movement must go through the learning process, and in my years, this is where most golfers cheat themselves; they don’t submit themselves to the learning process, and lose any chance of making truly significant and positive changes to their games. It’s a sad reality of this game, however, for those who understand that there is a process of learning and submit themselves to that process, the rewards are great.

In conclusion, in order to get past the difficulty of making changes that most golfers have, you simply have to return to your youth and understand that you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. The process of learning doesn’t exempt us because of age, experience, or wealth. It must be adhered to, and for those that do, regardless of age, experience, or wealth, the rewards they reap are worth the effort and time that the process requires.

To your success,

Scott

The Evolution of Simple

October 30, 2010 by admin

Skills, such as playing a musical instrument or striking a golf ball are complicated tasks learned through repetition. The brain requires a certain amount of reinforcement and repetition to retain a sub-conscious – non-thinking action that we call “skill”. When it comes to the amount of reinforcement and repetition, there is no “simple” way to give the brain the number of experiences. If it takes 100,000 repetitions, for example, you must put in the time to give ourselves at least this many experiences. Even Moe, who I once asked why he kept practicing even at the age of 70, said “To make it (his swing) stronger.

Repetition of a task makes the skill stronger. This might seem a bit discouraging however, studies show that anyone who diligently practices two hours a day, can master any skill in five years. This evidence alone should be enough to get you off of your couch. But when you do, another question arises – “Where do I start?” And the answer to this question is the evolution of simple.

Simple is a term often used by the golf instruction industry to attract customers. Once the customer buys in, however, he often finds himself once again confounded by the amount of effort it really takes to achieve a good golf swing. To me, the golf swing is very simple however, my learning process was not. I put in many hours and I would be lying to you if I said that it was easy. When I asked Moe how he learned to hit a golf ball so well, he answered very profoundly, “hard work, it takes hard work”.

So if you understand at the outset that it is going to take time and effort, you are then ready to realize what it means to be simple. Simple, by this definition is the difference between easy and hard. In other words, there is an easy way to do something and a hard way to do something. The goal, therefore, is to use the easy way of striking a golf ball and in doing so, you will be able to achieve a lasting, pain-free, and maintenance-free way of playing golf. Simple means longevity and when compared to “conventional” methods, just makes sense.

Moe Norman’s golf swing is simple for a number of reasons often discussed in our teaching. It’s simplicity, we call the Single Plane, is founded on common sense – the common sense of starting the club on the same plane as impact. What could be more simple than that? And because of the “start where you impact” Single Plane, there are stresses and rotations of the conventional swing are no longer necessary. But be careful. This does not mean that there aren’t any rotations in Single Plane Swing which is often the assumption of those who first observe Moe’s swing.

The fact is that there are the perfect amount of rotations in Moe’s swing. What we call bio-mechanical efficiency. Another way to look at bio-mechanical efficiency is the perfect amount of movement to achieve the task. In Moe’s case, the task was moving a golf club in such a way as to strike a golf ball with perfect backspin. When you look at the golf swing from this perspective, your task is to move the club – not strike the ball. From this perspective, simple becomes more easily understood. Simple means efficient.

With this in mind, you can now begin by modeling Moe’s Single Plane Golf swing and allow yourself to refine the movements necessary to achieve Moe like efficiencies. This means a bit of trial and error and much practice. So as I always recommend, start using video analysis to monitor your movements. This is a sure way to keep on track and short-cut the process of learning a truly Simple Single Plane Golf Swing.

My Story

July 20, 2005 by admin

GOLF FRUSTRATION

I had just returned from the Asian Professional Golf Tour. After competing against the likes of V.J Singh, David Toms and Todd Hamilton to name a few, I knew I needed more consistency and better ball striking abilities. After discussing my situation with some of my tour friends, I decided to search for an instructor who could help me understand the swing and help me become a better player.

I often tell my students that no one has spent more time and money on golf instruction than me. At the time, I was desperate and I needed help. After all, if I couldn’t beat the guys on the Asian Tour, how would I beat the guys on the U.S. Tour? So to get better, I began to travel around the United States spending time with the most well-known instructors; the guys you see on the covers of magazines and on the golf channel today. There is only one word for the results of my attempts to get better. I finally moved to Dallas Texas to work with one of golf’s best instructors and finally, after two years of hard work and practice I can only use one word to describe my results: frustration. That is what I was feeling in late 1993. There is no other word for it. And trust me, nobody was hitting more golf balls or practicing harder than me. But I had reached wit’s end. I felt as though I had absolutely no hope. I didn’t have the money or the heart to continue and I quit playing golf.

Then one day, while living in Dallas, a friend from college came through town. He had a tape of a mysterious Canadian who was known for his unique golf swing and somewhat odd personality. The man’s name was Moe Norman. As I watched the video, one thing, in particular, caught my attention. It was the people watching Moe hit balls. They were professional golfers that I knew in college. There were dozens of them, all watching this amazing Canadian Legend hit golf balls.

Now, before I continue, let me ask you a question. Have you ever had any peculiar events occur in your life that kind of lead you in a direction? Things you might call coincidences or synchronicities? (I hate to call them coincidences because I think all things are purposeful), but have you ever had a series of events occur that kind of push you toward something? Well, during this period of my life, these types of events were occurring in my life. Because at the same time I was visiting with my friend, there was a man named Jack Kuykendall demonstrating his Natural Golf Method at a driving range that my professional golf sponsors owned.

These two events triggered a new hope in my thinking about golf. I thought, “Could there be an easier way to strike a golf ball?” Could Moe Norman have the answers? Maybe I had been searching in the wrong places for the answers to my game.

At that time, I began to look further into Moe Norman and Jack Kuykendall. What I found was that there were some differences between what Jack was demonstrating and Moe Norman. Jack discussed having the hands split apart on the club 3 inches, Moe had an overlapping grip. Jack had his own club design, Moe played with standard clubs that he altered for his swing. Also, Jack used a big grip and talked about hammering a nail while Moe had a slightly larger than normal but tapered grip on his clubs. But, even with the differences in technique, there was one thing in common, the single axis. Jack talked about the science of the Single Axis and Moe Norman was the living validation of possibly an easier way to hit a golf ball.

The Single Axis

These events led me back to the driving range, back to the video room to study my swing mechanics. Could my new knowledge give me the results I was looking for? Could the answer to a simple way to hit a ball be in the Single Axis?

I often utilized video often in my practice because I believed in modeling and not wasting time with poor technique. I had spent so much time looking at other players’ golf swings, it was easy for me to understand how helpful video analysis could be. I figured 10 perfect swings on video are a better use of time than 100 bad swings on the driving range. Besides, the driving range couldn’t tell me anything about my golf swing and I wanted to know more about the club movement. And now after seeing the video from Canada, I wanted to Model Moe Norman.

So there I was, in my teacher’s studio about to defy all of his teachings and put myself in positions that if he saw me would laugh. (I would later find a tape of Moe in my teacher’s office.) But the way I looked at it was that I had nothing to lose. So there I was, standing in front of the video cameras. As I address the ball on the video screen, I lifted my hands into a straight line with the club shaft. I widened my stance, looked down at the ball and made my first single axis golf swing. I immediately went to the video machine to play it back. As I played it back, I, for the first time in my life, found what I was looking for.

Impact Plane

Before I explain what I saw on video, let me explain my “conventional” golf swing. At address you hang your arms below your shoulders. When you do this, you can see that the club is on a separate line than the arms. This is called a two axis system. The arms are on one axis and the club is on another. The golf swing was a combination of correct arm movement, rotation, hinging of the hands and turning of the body. When I practiced and videotaped my swing, I could go back to the TV screen and draw a line on the club shaft at address. Then, I would play my swing and draw a line on the club-shaft at impact. The address line was always above the impact line. In other words, it was higher than the original shaft line at address. This meant, in conventional terms, that the club was starting on one plane and impacting on another. The problem with this “two” plane type of swing is that because the club starts on a lower plane, it must steepen into impact. This steepening of the club shaft meant that the upper body must lift to allow for the different impact plane. The upward and backward movement of the body is a difficult move and it takes coordination, timing and lots of practice. (I recently explained this in the July 2005 Golf Tips Magazine).

Consider the fact that it only takes ONE DEGREE of clubface error to hit a driver 30 yards off line. And the conventional two axis system makes it difficult to square the face at impact. With such a small room for error, the goal is to create the least amount of deviation of the club between address and impact. The goal is to swing the club on a SINGLE plane.

What I saw on Video

So, when I went to the video studio for the first day to model Moe’s golf swing, I found the answer to simplifying the golf swing.. I simply adjusted my grip, lined the club correctly with my arms and finally reached my goal. When I swung the club, the club impacted the golf ball on EXACTLY the same line as address. I finally swing the club on the single plane. It was so simple. I then realized that Moe Norman, the mysterious Canadian who swung the club what he called “My Way”, had a secret. Moe had unknowingly uncovered the answer to how to a simple single plane golf swing.

When I realized how easy it was to swing the club on plane, I then realized that all of my conventional efforts were, to put it quite frankly, wrong. I don’t think they were a waste of time because without them I would not have searched for a simple way. But I knew that I had to learn a new IDEA of the golf swing.

My concepts of how to swing the club had been drastically challenged. The conventional thoughts of arms hanging below the shoulder, lower body rotations, and shoulder turn were now dramatically altered. I knew that my understanding of Moe’s golf swing and the single plane was just a beginning of my learning process.

Meeting Moe

I must admit. After that first day in the video room, I was extremely excited. I felt as though I had discovered the Holy Grail of the golf swing. I realized that after reading all of the golf magazines, studying the best players in the world, playing on the Asian professional golf tour and then working with the best instructors in the world that I be making one very big mistake. I had been asking the wrong question. I had been searching for what works on tour however the tour is full of many swings that work. When I finally asked one simple question, “Who is the best in the world?” only one name emerged from even the best players on tour; his name was Murray ‘Moe’ Norman.

It was mid-summer 1994 and Moe was performing a clinic in Chicago. I knew that if I was to take my learning to the next level I needed to meet the man behind the Single Axis Golf Swing. I decided to drive to Chicago and meet Moe and watched Moe hit balls in person for the first time. His first three shots from 50 yards struck the target. The fourth shot wets directly under it. By the end of the clinic, Moe was striking drivers at a 250 yard post. I watched as about every 10th ball would strike the post. I can honestly say that I have never seen a greater display of control and accuracy of the golf club. I have never seen golf look so simple. It was the greatest ball striking I have ever seen.

After the clinic I approached Moe. We talked about his amazing display. I told him that I had never seen a better clinic.

And Moe’s first words to me were “I’m the best in the world”.

“There is no doubt” I said “No doubt.”

“Mind if I hit a few of your clubs” I asked.

“Sure, but they’re too heavy for you” Moe said. They weighed a ton. Lead tape covered the heads. But as I swung the club, Moe watched as I hit his 7-iron and then his 5 iron.

“Looks like me without a belly, looks like me without a belly” Moe said.

From that day Moe and I became friends. We played, practiced and performed clinics occasionally. I often visited Moe in Florida when I was either playing tournaments or working with Natural Golf. Our relationship became one of a student and teacher. Moe was extremely intuitive and played golf by feel I learned the things that Moe himself could not explain. As I spent more time with Moe, I learned to “bridge the gap” between his feelings for the golf swing and the mechanical and physical reality. I could never express my appreciation for Moe’s kindness and generosity as I diligently learned to know what he knew. It was for that reason that I have acquired the nickname “Little Moe”.

The important part of this message is the promise I made to Moe during what would be my final round with him on July 4, 2004. He was excited about all that I was doing with my swing and commented to me that he never thought that he would see it but that I had “mastered” his move. That day, I promised Moe that I would continue to be his voice to tell people about his amazing swing no matter what the consequences. I promised him that I would show others how his simple technique could help them enjoy the game just as it helped me learn to love the game again.

Todd

Commentary by Tim… (yup – older brother always has to throw a thing or two in…). Guys – THIS IS WHY WE TEACH THE WAY WE DO!!!! Do we want to teach a 1,000 people – absolutely, but whether we teach only 1 or 1,000,000 our goal is the same – to teach you MOE’S SWING the best we know how. There a many skeptics (and copies) out there (more and more every day) – but to be honest, if I was going to learn this swing…. I know where I’d go….

Please let us know if we can do anything to help you on your journey to learning Moe’s Swing.

Good Luck and Remember – ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE

Difference between NG and GGA

January 20, 2005 by admin

Dear Friends,

This message is written from one friend to another. It’s intent is to be informative and helpful and to clear up the message that we offer. We often get asked the question, “What is the difference between The Graves Golf Schools and Natural Golf”. In this message, it is likely that you will also find the truth. Some of the things I say here are the things that I have wanted to say for a long time.

For the past five years, Tim and I have been developing the Graves Golf Academy with the focus primarily on helping people play better golf. To me, it has been (and still is) a labor of love. I am passionate about Moe as a human being and as a golfer who achieved a golf swing that continues to challenge the convention of the golf world. Each day I am grateful to Moe and the events that have led me down the path to meeting him and eventually developing a friendship and mentorship. The fact is that I would not be here today if it were not for Moe. I had given up on the game. (And giving up on the game meant giving up a large part of my life.) Moe showed me an easier way. He taught me to believe in myself again and he showed me how I too can achieve greatness if I am willing to pay the price. Our goal as a golf instruction company is simply to share what we learned from Moe with everyone who contacts us. But mostly, we feel honored to be able to help.

The ultimate goal of our Academy is to help you get what you need to improve. But on a deeper level, the real outcome is that you enjoy the process and your life improves, just as my life improved after knowing Moe. In my opinion Moe gave my life back to me. After understanding this, I feel that by learning the things that Moe so graciously shared with me, your life will be better and more enjoyable. That is what Moe did for me, and it is for that reason that I feel that teaching others is a privilege and a responsibility that Tim and I do not take lightly.

Natural Golf and Me

But even since the formation of the Graves Golf Academy, I still hold a place in my heart for Natural Golf (although now maybe just nostalgic). In my initial involvement with the company, it had great potential. I have much history there. Between 1994 and 2000, I was so heavily involved with Natural Golf Corporation that I was featured on the Golf Channel’s “Golf Academy Live” teaching Moe Normans’ golf swing. I was also involved in many of the Natural Golf Corporation instructional products including “Golf Reform is at Hand”, “A Lifetime of Better Golf”, “Faults and Fixes” and “Driving for Distance”. This was part of my attempt to work with Natural Golf in the formation of an instruction company.

As a side note, being involved with these productions was great, but Natural Golf only took a very small part of the instructional material we wrote and included this in their products. This is why Tim and I made the decision to produce our own instructional material in the “Total Game Overview” and now “7 Principles Series”. To tell of Moe’s swing, you cannot just tell a part, you must teach the entirety. I felt that needed to be told, not just a part or pieces here and there. As Tim likes to say, “In an hour of our videos, we’ll give you 60 minutes of instruction, no fluff – just instruction.” I was lucky to get 15 minutes in every hour in the NG productions.

My motives were simple. Tell as many people about Moe Norman’s golf swing, develop the finest most instructive teaching method and materials, and help instructors develop their abilities to teach this information. The focus was completely on instruction and listening to students and customers to learn how we could help them.

Originally, Natural Golf was a company teaching “The simplest way to hit a ball on the ground with a stick”. Moe was the validation of the science of Natural Golf. It was a beautiful fit. Natural Golf had the science and Moe was the model. It was an exciting time for me, until 1998.

It was at that time that a major shift happened in Natural Golf. It is easy to see what happened now. But back then, the struggling company had taken on new investors who unfortunately knew little about the business of golf instruction. Their focus became profit margins and golf club sales profits were on the top of their list. With club sales as the main revenue source instruction went to the bottom.

All of my, (and many others) hard work in developing instruction around Moe’s golf swing was becoming diluted. (During a meeting, the CEO even went as far as to say that “we are moving away from Moe Norman as the model for our (Natural Golf) swing.”) The company leadership was distorting the truth. The fact was that Moe did not have non-tapered grips. (He overlapped for all of his competitive life.) Moe did NOT grip the club in the palm of the lead hand. (He gripped the club in the fingers of the lead hand, palm of the trail hand.). All that I had learned from Moe was becoming corrupted by the greed to sell clubs. Natural Golf’s “equipment sales” mania drove them to cram the golf swing into a “neat” little package called the four fundamentals. In their desire to sell more equipment, Moe’s golf swing had become a gambit to sell clubs.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Until the breakage and fitting problems of 2000, 2001 and 2003, Natural Golf clubs were improving. A bit over priced maybe, but the equipment had some merit. The problem was an integrity issue. Was selling clubs helping people learn to play better golf? And the ploy to use Moe as a way to sell clubs infuriated me. It ate at my soul. Selling clubs for Natural Golf stole my enthusiasm for helping people. It was a betrayal. Even Moe, before his death, told me to “Stay away from Natural Golf”. (He must have known. They must have taken something away from him too.)

My relationship with Natural golf became strained. This turning of company focus was a major turning point for me. Between 1998 and 2000, I found myself struggling to figure out if I was doing the right thing. I felt as though I was not being honest. I knew in my heart that I could not deliver Moe’s message from the constraints of the Natural Golf business model. The company began rating their instructors on club sales. In other words, if you sold the most clubs, you were the best instructor. I couldn’t honestly tell Moe’s message and sell Natural Golf clubs.

Now I may be crossing the line here but I challenge any Natural Golf Instructor out there to convince me that they want to sell clubs for a living. If they do, they are not living their own truth. If they are honest with themselves, they will find that what they really want to teach Moe Norman’s swing and help people because that is what they believe in. The problem is that the company created a compensation structure that is heavily (almost completely) dependent on club sales. This “forced” the instructors to focus their intention on selling students clubs. It wasn’t their fault. They were trying to teach, but it was in their best interest financially to sell clubs. As for me, I couldn’t continue to do it. It was not the truth for me. The truth also included letting the student decide which club he/she wanted to hit rather than someone deciding for them.

So, with our trust in living our truth, Tim and I decided to take a step toward what we now know was based on integrity. It was based on our hearts telling us to do the right thing. It was that year that Tim and I took a step back from our full time professional touring schedule and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico and held the first Graves Golf School.

It has been almost five years since that school. And for the last five years, we have been delivering Moe’s message. Our challenge has been finding ways to help everyone in an efficient quick way so that we can help “short cut” the process so that we can save you the trial and error of making all of the mistakes we have made and that others continue to make. And we have also learned many things.

We have learned that teaching golf is an important responsibility. This responsibility is not about a quick fix or selling clubs because we know, from experience, that clubs are just a piece of the puzzle and by themselves, do not reach our (instructor/student) desired outcome.

We have learned that the delivery of the teaching is a critical step. This includes WHAT is being delivered and WHO delivers it. One of the most challenging things for Tim and I is helping everyone who is requesting our help from around the world. We often get approached by students about training other people as instructors so that they can “spread the word” about our teachings. But it is not quite that simple. We believe that great teaching must start at the beginning. Correct information is important. The order you learn it is just as important. The beginning is UNDERSTANDING. Without understanding, you can not go forward. The goal is that instructors lead you down a path of improvement that is founded on solid mechanics and correct information.

Each one of us has had great instructors in our lives. Many of my best teachers did not come with plaques on the wall or graduation papers. This might be the most important part of this message to you. Just as Moe was a great instructor to me, I learned that great instruction comes from the heart of the instructor. It is where the truth comes from. Great instruction is forged with dedication, sculpted with passion and polished with hard work. It is with this form that instruction presents not from the instructor but THROUGH him.

No “certification” can make an instructor, it is not necessary. Real instruction forms in the heart of the instructor through experiences. Once informed, the instructor becomes the messenger because to tell the truth benefits those who hear it and the instructor feels compelled to help others with what he knows. Furthermore, this “message” can not and should not be distorted with any other motivation which includes selling clubs. In a recent conversation with the “Chief” of Natural Golf, I said “…we (the Graves Golf Academy) are an instruction company. That is where we stand. As a student of Moe and his protégé, I teach the fundamentals of Moe Norman a man known for his genius golf swing.

If we, (GGA and Natural Golf) ever have a relationship, it will start and end with helping people learn Moe’s swing.” (And since Natural Golf now offers the Moe Norman Fundamentals Golf Schools, maybe they finally heard me). If they can teach his swing with passion and integrity, I fully support their efforts. Only time will tell.

Now, since our separation from Natural Golf, our instruction is clear and to the point. Our videos are clear and precise information with only ONE thing in mind: helping you learn the game of golf beginning with Moe Norman’s golf swing. In these five years, we have helped thousands of people find a better way to play golf and our instructional videos are extremely well received.

The secret here is just solid truthful instruction with no hidden “agendas. Our goal is to deliver what we promise. This promise is to help you in any way we can whether it be experiences of video production, e- tips, lessons website information or schools.

From one student to another, my advice to you is clear. Go forward with an open mind. Listen. Pay attention to your intuition and the truth will be unmistakable. My hope for you is that in a short period of time, you can “hit from the same tee” as Moe and experience “The Feeling of Greatness”.

I look forward to seeing all of you at a future event.

Sincerely,

Todd Graves Co-Founder, Graves Golf Academy

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