Moe Norman

I told you so – Bryson DeChambeau

July 17, 2017 by admin

Originally published 2 years ago…. Now even more pertinent with Bryson’s first PGA Tour win yesterday.

Congratulations Bryson!!!

Dear conventional golfers and teachers, I’m having an “I told you so” moment. I have to admit it feels pretty good. For over 20 years I have been answering your questions and your doubts regarding the Single Plane Swing and its validity. Questions such as: “Why isn’t anyone on tour swinging this way?” or “If this is so great why isn’t everyone swinging this way?” Some even question Moe the best ball-striker to ever play the game – asking “If Moe was so great why didn’t he win a major championship”. There have been times when presenting my research and science of the Single Plane, people have attacked me saying that Moe was autistic and a savant. That nobody could swing like Moe.

Now that a Single Plane Golfer, Bryson DeChambeau is now a major champion winning the U.S. Amateur – it feels pretty good to see science (and Moe) prevail. They claim Bryson is the best ball-striker in college golf. I am not surprised one bit.

Now, I want to say something before the golf teachers start justifying that what they have been teaching for 100 years is possibly well, wrong. I want to say to conventional teachers you can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim all successful golfers as another “variation” of conventional swing mechanics. Golf swings are different – because they are mechanically and physically different. Bryson’s swing IS different, in the ways you have been doubting and questioning.

Please, don’t try explaining his Single Plane swing with another predictable “variation of traditional golf mechanics”. Stop painting a broad brushstroke over all golf swings. Let’s face it, conventional golf mechanics don’t explain his swing starting from the beginning – his address. Bryson’s swing is biomechanically superior to conventional swings because of the way he grips the club into the hands not the fingers. Bryson aligns the club with the arms into a straight line. From the start, he has violated two basic tenants of conventional teaching; “grip the club in the fingers and hang the arms below the shoulders in an athletic position”.

Conventionally, with Bryson’s address position, there is nowhere for your instruction to go from here. You can’t explain his swing with traditional methods and how he starts and impacts on the same plane eliminating the need to move the club from two planes into impact when you claim that golfers should start with their hands low.

Oh by the way, just so you know, we have been explaining the alignment of the hands and arms for years. This is the basic principle of the Single Plane Swing. It comes down to simplifying the golf swing and eliminating much of the unnecessary movement of conventional golf swings. You must eliminate the angles at address to simplify the golf swing – exactly what Bryson is doing. You simply can’t simplify the swing from the conventional Two-plane address.

I can’t wait to read the stories of how every conventional golf instructor will try to explain Bryson’s swing. David Leadbetter and Hank Haney will probably publish a book about. Bryson winning a tournament makes it is “safe” to talk about it. I am sure that students will ask about it and many instructors in the PGA will probably change their teaching throwing away everything they have taught for the last 100 years. Just remember that Moe Norman figured this out over sixty years ago. And even though he never won a major championship like Bryson, his ball-striking make it very clear that there is an easier way to swing. It’s called a SINGLE PLANE.

Feel Your Swing

July 12, 2017 by admin

I am very excited to announce our latest product – Inside the Single Plane Swing. What inspired me to develop this product was a thought I had over twenty years ago when I first witnessed Moe hitting balls. Watching what he called “the purity of technique”, I couldn’t help but think:“I wonder what that feels like…what if I could just feel that one time?”

Ironically, Moe called his swing The Feeling of Greatness. I was always curious and wondered exactly what does that really mean? Moe explained it as knowing that he was going to hit it well before he actually hit it. His feelings, as with all feelings, were internal and emotional.

Then I spent years finding various ways to feel like Moe. I modeled and practice Moe’s movements. I copied him on video. I stood next to him and even crawled between his legs when he hit balls. I did everything I could to get INSIGHT into his movements with one goal in mind – to feel his swing.

What does it feel like to swing like Moe Norman?

Yet we all experience feelings every time we play golf and go to the range. We feel the club, the movement of our body and the contact with the ball. This is the kinesthetic “feelings” we get. However, research shows that feelings are more than just kinesthetic. Feelings are actually multi-sensory. This means that what we see and hear affects how we feel too.

To give you an example, years ago a group of professional golfers were asked to test beryllium copper irons against stainless steel. The beryllium copper (BeCu) irons made a much deeper sound, almost a thud, when struck where the stainless irons were louder. The professionals confirmed that the beryllium irons felt softer and the stainless felt harder. Then the club-heads were painted black where the professionals could not differentiate between the two clubs. The professionals were still able to differentiate the BeCu irons form the stainless – still convinced that they were “softer” when struck.

Then the researchers made the professionals wear ear-plugs. With the unpaired clubs, the professionals still confirmed that the BeCu irons were softer. Then to everyone’s surprise while wearing ear plugs and with the clubs painted black, the professionals could not differentiate between the BeCu Irons and the Stainless Steel.

What this research shows are that Feel is subjective to sight and sound as much as the kinesthetic sensations of the body. My research shows that when it comes to Swinging like Moe you must use ALL of your senses to Feel like Moe.

As a matter of fact, this is exactly why we have so much success at our schools. When you come to one of the GGA schools there are keys that helps students improve in a very short period of time. One of these keys is that we simply help the student “Feel” something new.

The schools give the student a new “experience” of the single plane swing. There are countless times where students will say “that was worth the price of admission“ when I show them were to place the trail hand or show them the backswing. Why? Because I am not showing them. I am helping them experience.

Experiencing the swing is the KEY to learning the it. Experiencing is Feeling because it incorporates all of your senses – which is why instruction is so valuable and important.

Our latest product “Inside the Single Plane Swing” utilizes multiple approaches to help you Feel the Single plane swing. These approaches include:

New overhead camera angels to give you new perspectives – enhancing your visual feedback
Point of View perspectives, that stand you inside the golf swing to see it happening.
Focus points that help you direct your attention to WHERE and WHEN you should feel your body

In addition to the new perspectives and sensations, Inside the Single Plane Swing includes a Pocket Guide that will help you take these instructions to the range and help you focus your attention on the key areas so you can practice correctly and most importantly – Feel the correct swing while you practice.

The Pocket Guide is our way of helping you take a coach to the range with you.

The pocket guide gives you the experience of a Single Plane coach standing with you on the range while you practice.

I believe this product will be revolutionary in the way it teaches you how to practice, experience and ultimately feel your swing.

Student Testimonial

April 28, 2017 by admin

HI,

I have been using Moe’s single plane swing technique to allow me to play golf again.

I had my first spinal fusion in 1980. Before that I played using the rotary swing technique. My surgeon asked me after the surgery if I played golf? I replied, ‘yes’. He replied ‘No yo don’t, now that you have the lumbar fusion’. I had to wait a year before trying to swing a club. My use of the rotary swing style was impossible with my spinal fusion. No lower rotation since my lumbar was now fused. Sprayed the ball every where. So in 1981, I gave golf up.

I had some success from the surgery but in later years started having more issues with pain. In mid 2005, I started getting epidurals to stop or relief of the pain. I asked my new surgeon if the removal of the surgical knot rods could be removed? His reply was that we do not do the surgery. After that I had to have a cage put in at the thoracic L3-L4 along with a plate and screws. THat relieved some of the pain. My step-daughter who is a charge nurse gave me a reference to a surgeon in LIbertyville, Il, Dr Jonathan Citow. I made an appointment and took all my images along with records. My pain was intensifying. Dr. Citow reviewed my records and images along with a physical, he then stated; ‘You need the hardware to be taken out to lessen the pain. Scheduled the surgery and he removed the knot rods at lumbar, screws & plate at thoracic. The cage had to remain because it was fused already.

After all this, I came across a article about Moe Norman and the single plane swing. I started to review all the videos I could find. I found your videos & DVD. Purchased; ‘Single Plane Solution’, ‘Flexibility & exercises’, ‘The Moe Norman Notebook’. After viewing the DVD’s I tried a swing that I modified for my restricted spine.

I took a few of my wife’s clubs (too short) but was able to hit balls. So I purchased a set of irons and continued my training. I purchased a Cobra driver that I felt comfortable to swing. Added a few Hybrids to help me along the course. Repeating my exorcise and swing techniques with a modified single plane swing using my big muscles the best I can. I now play a fair game and surprise my fellow golfers with my repeatability. Sure my distance is not as far as when using a rotary but I am now 39 years older at 69.

I am having fun again swinging a club on the course. People still asked me why I do not follow through to the end top of my swing. This is limited by the fusion lower and thoracic. My swing allows me to comfortably swing. MY grip technique helps me. I do not overlap but I have found my grip. I just need to keep my body steady with a good stance during my swing using the upper big muscle without allowing the fusions to interfere. I know the length of my swing and restrict myself to those limits, if I do not then my swing is not complete but erratic. And I do feel the pain from a poor swing.

Sorry about the long story, left out some details that would have elongated the story.

Just a thank you to all members of the Graves academy for your videos & notebooks that have opened my experiences with a little modification to the technique to suit my physical limitations.

I have decided to try the new King Cobra One Length irons. I feel the set will improve my repeatability and hopefully my distance will equalize for each club as compared to my varied length ‘Ideas’. MY swing speed is rhythmic with slow back and pause at the top with the top of my end swing at 3/4 because of the fusion (mostly due to the thoracic).

Again, Thank you very much for continuing Moe’s proven technique for a single plane swing.

Regards,

Gary S.

Gary,

Thank you so much for your email about your success with the SPS. You are the reason that we (GGA) continue to innovate and spread our message to golfers around the world. It is great to hear that even though you have had some pretty serious back surgeries, you continue to play and love the game. That, in itself, makes my day.

Keep having fun and swinging like Moe!

Todd

Achieving a Great Golf Swing

April 28, 2017 by admin

A great golf swing is a fine achievement” – Moe Norman

If you and I met in person, there is one thing that I am sure you would immediately recognize – I am passionate about the golf swing. Nothing gets me more excited than what Moe called “the purity of technique”.

Moe did his best to describe the swing: “In and Up”, “Its like a pendulum” and “My arms move underneath me”.

As difficult as it may seem to many, I continue to believe that the golf swing is simple. The body is connected as you rotate in the backswing as your arms move back and up. Then, you stabilize into your lead leg and rotate through as your arms follow though impact. The golf swing is a rotational movement as the arms move around the body. The club follows this movement and gains speed as you continue to rotate.

Moe would often hit 800 balls per day

The golf swing is only Simple if you build it properly.

I don’t believe that learning body movement is easy however. This is because a golf swing is like a house. Its a skill that you construct. It’s an art form that you practice and refine. Moe considered a great golf swing a “fine achievement”. I agree. A golf swing is an achievement because you have to earn it by moving your body.

Most students ignore this very important fact and make a mistake in the first moment they touch the grip of a golf club. They start learning to swing (move their bodies) by swinging at a ball. They want to live in the house before its built.

Teaching the body to move is an important part of building your swing.

One thing I teach my students to help build their great swings to find ways to teach themselves the movements that they are practicing. I often recommend rehearsing the movement to get the feel of the motion.

If you were a good carpenter you would most likely learn from the mistake that most aspiring carpenters make. They measure and make a cut just fraction to short – a costly mistake especially if they are using expensive lumber. They soon learn to measure twice and only cut once.

Rehearsing the golf swing is the golf students way of measuring. However, rehearsal goes beyond just measuring. It involves the bodies nervous system triggering new neuro-pathways in the same way that a child learns to walk. The key to rehearsal is to ensure that you are rehearsing the correct movement so that you can learn to feel what to do. In this way you are using movement to program the body connection to the brain.

But what exactly is feel?

I have yet to find anyone who can define feel or locate it in the body – yet everyone feels their body move. Feel is actually based on a point of reference. For example if something “feels different” you are actually making a comparison to what “feels normal”. Normal is the neuro-program in your brain that already exists. When you change your movement – it feels different because you are engaging “new” parts of your body sending signals to your brain that are outside of your familiar programed network.

Feel is when you move beyond your normal.

Making new movements is the key to change. This is why changing your golf swing is uncomfortable and usually leads to regression in your ball-striking. Keep in mind that I use the term regression only to describe ball-striking results. When you change you are improving your movement. This alters the sequencing of your body too. When you change the sequencing of your body it affects your timing into impact – thus making it difficult to hit the ball well. You will overcome this short-term regression through practice and repetition where you create a newly learned sequence that produces better results.

This takes time.

If I ever experience any frustration with students it shows in the form of impatience. Students want results but they haven’t completed the building process. They expect results when they haven’t finished the construction. When students get too frustrated my brother Tim always says:

“You haven’t earned the right to get frustrated” – Tim Graves

Feeling Moe’s swing with the Single Plane Trainer (SPT)

February 18, 2017 by admin

Jokingly I asked Moe if he would sell me his swing. He said “Sure, for ten thousand dollars but you can’t buy talent” he said. If I could have purchased Moe’s golf swing without having to work at it I would have happily paid him. I don’t like to reinvent the wheel. That’s why the next best thing to buying Moe’s swing was to match him.

I have one word that describes how I learned Moe’s swing: Modeling. I don’t know what that word means to you but it means “copy”. Yes, I admit it. I copied Moe’s swing. He was the notes scribbled on my hand during a test – my cheat sheet.

To be more exact, I picked out various aspects of Moe’s swing positions and movements and I mimicked them, starting at the address position. Once I understood the positions of the swing I put them together and using video and pictures, I mirrored his movements. Eventually, through repetition, I could feel what he felt. Practice wasn’t about hitting balls, it was about learning how to move like Moe.

EVENTUALLY, I starting hitting the ball with pinpoint accuracy. My misses became great!

Moe Norman Said, “You’re only as good as your misses”.

A good on-plane golf swing that can repeat impact consistently is what simplifies the game because the bad shots it produces are still pretty good. That’s the point of putting in the effort to build a solid Single Plane Swing. It breeds consistency, repeatability and the ability to be good when you are average.

I matched Moe’s swing by observing his movements and then matching what I saw. By matching his movements, I began to feel how he achieved his golf swing. Then I developed training tools that helped me feel it so I could eliminate mistakes when I practiced because I quickly learned that what you feel you do and what you actually do are very different.

Here is a word of caution: If you think you are matching Moe – you probably aren’t unless you have video proof or a coach to watch your movements. Personal feelings are unreliable. The goal is to match your movement exactly to Moe’s movement making sure you hit all of Moe’s positions.

“Hit your positions, always hit your positions” – Moe Norman

Moe had a Club to Body Relationship

I always have difficulty describing what I mean by “club to body” (C2B) relationship. I’ll give it another try here. At impact there is an ideal position of the club shaft as it relates to the rotation of the body. Think of it as a single spoke of a bicycle wheel. When you turn the wheel in one direction, the spoke maintains its relationship to the hub or center of the wheel. When you turn the wheel back, the spoke returns back to the exact position it started.

Moe Norman had the same sort of “hub and spoke” relationship with the golf club.

If Moe didn’t hinge the hands, the lead arm and club would act exactly like the hub and spoke of the wheel. The only difference is that he had a hinge where his hands meet the club. The center of Moe’s “wheel” was what I call the “pivot point”, a point above the lead hip. When Moe moved into the backswing and then into the downswing, the club always had a reference to the pivot point allowing him to return the club to the same relative spot – producing a consistent impact point.

Swing Plane is a product of the C2B relationship

One way that I practice Moe’s club-to-body relationship is by practicing with the Single Plane Trainer. The Single Plane Trainer (SPT) aligns the club and lead arm forming a relationship to the lead side of the body. As you take the club into the backswing, the extended SPT maintains this relationship (staying against the body)

Moe Norman Single Plane — Todd Graves demonstrating Moe Norman’s swing with Single Plane Trainer

Moe Norman's Single Plane Swing — Todd Graves Demonstrating Moe Norman’s Single Plane swing

The hub of the wheel, Moe’s pivot point, is NOT the center of the body. It is forward on the lead side above the lead hip joint. The Since the body is more forward at impact that at address, the pivot point has moved forward but throughout the entire swing the C2B relationship has remained.

To maintain the C2B relationship, you must maintain the tilt of your back throughout the golf swing. Think of the wheel and the spoke analogy. You must keep the wheel rotating on the same angle. If you altered the tilt of the wheel, by standing up lifting your back, you would change the plane of the golf club. Maintaining your tilt keeps the club moving around the pivot point on plane.

The GGA SPT

Notice in the photographs that the spine tilt is maintained from address to impact. The GGA SPT has a Feeling of Greatness Single Plane training grip installed to perfect your hand position. With the hands correctly placed on the trainer, it is designed to help you monitor the “connection” of the club to the pivot point throughout the swing motion.

You can find out more about the GGA SPT here: GGA Single Plane Trainer.

You can find Single Plane Training Videos here: Single Plane Trainer Instructions.

Moe’s Swing – A Masterpiece of Movement

January 1, 2017 by admin

If you were an artist describing Moe Norman’s swing you would call it a masterpiece. You would see the geometry of the lines, the beauty of the movement and how there isn’t one wasted brush stroke. You would also see the architecture, the powerful club delivery and the economy of his movement.

Geometry, power and economy – three technical words to describe what Moe called a “Feeling” of greatness. So how do you go from the technical aspects of a golf swing to feel? To use the body as a tool and tech it to or swing effortlessly is a magical feat. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest accomplishments.

As you know, every artist who seems to be performing miraculous illusions on canvas has a few tricks up their sleeve. I believe Moe did as well. I believe his swing motion and movement was based on limitations. Yes, limitations. I believe that what you are seeing when you watch Moe – is a swing that won’t fail.

In other words, Moe is rotating in the backswing and rotating in the downswing as much as he can to his limits. Let me show you.

If I told you to make a backswing but do not let the trail knee move and keep your lead heel completely on the ground your backswing would look something like this:

You see how Moe’s lead foot is on the ground, his spine is tilted and his trail leg hasn’t moved. The trial leg has braced the rotation of his hips. Moe has limited the motion with certain aspects of his body. In doing so, this is the only place he can take the golf club in the backswing – he has reached a maximum.

If I asked you to rotate your hips in the downswing, you might ask “how much”. What if I said “As much as you can” but only under these two conditions: you must keep your trail foot on the ground and you must have you lead knee flexed all the way through your release and into your finish.

By giving you freedom to rotate to your maximum ability but placing limitations on certain aspects (what I call rules), you create the perfect environment for consistency and repeatability. Why? If you do it correctly you can’t over rotate or under rotate your hips and by allowing you to move to your maximum ability, you can amplify your speed.

Take a look at this picture: Moe is hitting into a flexed la knee creating a limit to his hip turn. His trail foot is on the ground These factors create a boundary that allowed Moe to move maximal and masterfully.

Like all artists who understand the mechanics of their art, Moe limited the movement of his body – possibly making this a “secret” to consistency and accuracy.

Join 1M+ Subscribers to get your FREE Video Quick Start Guide that reveals how to hit the ball farther and straighter more consistently from now on…

LEARN YOUR NEW GOLF SWING

LEARN

THE

SWING

START YOUR NEW GOLF SWING