swing

Thank You Conventional Golf

August 31, 2013 by admin

What do I say to all of the teachers of conventional methods, and any golf instructor NOT teaching the Single Plane Swing?

I would say – thank you. Thank you for the job security.

Your job is difficult because not matter what you do, you are at a disadvantage teaching a method that no matter what you do will be difficult for the average golfer to achieve. The conventional, arms hanging below the shoulders address position makes your job almost impossible.

You are also at a disadvantage because the amount of practice it takes to become skilled enough to achieve consistent swings to impact from the conventional address position takes extraordinary amounts of practice, timing and this still doesn’t guarantee success.

Golf is a difficult game – the goal should be to make it easier not more difficult.

The unfortunate part of this conversation is that you, the conventional student is the one who suffers. I see it every day – golfers who are frustrated because of disadvantaged mechanics. They blame the instructors but it’s not really their fault. I Their instruction isn’t necessarily bad – just almost impossible for the average golfer to achieve.

Let me say first of all that, contrary to what many believe, the golf swing is NOT rocket science, even if it seems extremely difficult for many of you. It has become so difficult because you are at a fundamental disadvantage – which can easily be corrected. Here are some of the conventional to Single Plane adjustments that can transform your conventional swing into an easier Single Plane Swing.

1) Move away from the ball and align the club with the arms – on the Single Plane.

This is the foundation of simplifying your swing because it sets the club on the same plane that you impact. It establishes a straight line to impact as opposed to starting on one plane and impacting on another.

2) Tilt your spine away from the target so you trail shoulder (right if you are right handed is lower than the left)

By lowering the trail shoulder, your hands can lead into impact, eliminating the over the top and release early. The Tilt of the spine gets the lower body moving first in the downswing allowing the hands to lead into impact to compress the ball.

3) Rotate the hips but keep the feet on the ground.

Because you are on a Single Plane, you are now able to keep the spine in the same tilt from address, to backswing to impact. You no longer need to lift your body into impact as required in the conventional golf swing. By keeping the spine in the original “tilt” your feet will stay on the ground as you rotate your hips in the backswing and downswing.

Here are a couple of my keys to great Single Plane ball-striking:

1) Build an A-frame out of the legs at address.

2) Brace around the trail leg in the backswing (do not let the knee move)

3) Rotate the hips into the downswing into a flexed lead knee

4) Keep the feet on the ground into impact

One of the “secrets” to the simplicity of the Single Plane Golf swing is how the back (spine) is being moved during the golf swing. The hips control the spine so as you rotate the hips in the backswing around a stable trail knee and then into a flexed lead knee, your spine moves forward but stays in the same tilt from start to release. I consider this “posture” where the spine tilt maintains throughout the swing.

By maintaining “posture” the shoulders also stay on plane where the trail shoulders position (lower than the lead shoulder) can get the hands leading to the left side of the body into impact.

As difficult as it is to describe the golf swing mechanics with words, you can understand that the goal of a golf swing is to achieve a perfect impact position. Therefore, simplifying your movement from address to impact is should be where you spend your time.

If you have learned a conventional method of golf instruction, consider this an invitation to help you simplify your movement and make golf easier. If you haven’t tried the Single Plane swing – give it a try. You might wonder why you haven’t tried it sooner and you might even say what many of our students say – “It just can be this easy”.

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.

Perfect Practice – Moe Story

September 30, 2010 by admin

Hi Everyone,

One of the best times we have at our schools is having lunch with all our students. My staff and our students spend about 45 minutes each school day enjoying lunch (and a good break). It always seems the lunch talk turns to Moe and our stories about Moe. This past weekend was no different – and it reminded me of a story I wanted to share with everyone and maybe it will help your practice a little.

A few years after Todd met Moe, we went back down to Orlando for a few weeks (in the winter) to work on our games for the upcoming golf season. Todd had scheduled some time in his schedule to meet with Moe at his home course in Titusville, FL (Royal Oaks) and continue his work on mastering Moe’s swing.

Early one morning – we traveled from Orlando to Titusville to meet Moe. Todd met Moe at the clubhouse and proceeded to go the range with Moe. This day Todd was working on proper impact with the driver, facing ball at impact and the proper release.

Moe showed Todd what he thought he was doing and they proceeded to practice. I remember hitting a few balls next to Moe and Todd, but was more interested in watching what they were doing.

First – as Todd and Moe practiced, Moe would show Todd his positions, but always referred to his positions very “slow” and seemed to exaggerate them when he showed them… Meaning, he would show the positions in slow motion and make a point to go “beyond” where you needed to in the swing.

Todd started to practice, and I remember Moe saying “Slow down. Bump the ball off the tee. Feel the positions – slow down.”

As most know, it is very difficult to not hit a driver hard… when you put the driver in your hands, most want to swing it hard… but Moe didn’t want any of that. He wanted Todd to slow down, hit it slow, feel the positions.

I remember about that time, I went to the putting green to hit a few putts/chips as we were going to play a few holes later… but I could still see Todd working with Moe from the green.

For the next hour, all Todd did was very short “bump drills/shots” with the driver in slow motion. Only taking the driver to waist high in the back swing and then “bumping” the golf ball off the tee and going to waist high in the through swing. And doing this in slow motion – VERY SLOW.

After an about an hour I went to Todd and asked if he wanted to go play a few holes… he said he was going to continue to practice… I went and played a couple of holes, came back and guess what Todd was still doing…… yup – the slow motion bump drill working on proper positions. Moe had gone in for a while, went to hit a few putts, and returned to watch Todd and make sure he was still working on proper positions… I just remember him telling Todd – slow down, feel the positions… slow motion type of practice…..

Let’s discuss perfect practice a little… what is perfect practice to you?

For most, it is going to the range, hitting a few golf balls and hoping the figure something out.

How many of you practice in slow motion?

How many of you practice in slow motion to feel the positions?

How many of you are confident enough in your knowledge of the golf swing you would know what the perfect positions of the golf swing are?

It’s pretty interesting at our schools. We have our students work on the PVC drill the first day to work on the different positions of the golf swing. For most, it isn’t anything new as they have done the PVC drill many times at home. But to us (instructors), it is interesting as 9 out of 10 students don’t “hit” the different positions correct. In other words, they have been doing the PVC drill at home, but not correct…. what is this doing to their swing?

Perfect practice involves knowing what you are working on. Not guessing.

Perfect practice involves A LOT of slow-motion practice to make sure you are doing correct and allows you to “feel” the positions.

Perfect practice involves a “check system” that allows you to make sure you are doing it right. Maybe in front of a mirror, maybe videoing, maybe having someone else watch…

If you’re really serious about getting better – you will figure out how to practice perfect. Come find us – we’ll give you many things to work on, but more importantly we’ll show you how to practice. So that every time you practice, you will make sure and make yourself better.

Remember – Always Practice with a Purpose.

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.

One Thing at a Time

April 20, 2005 by admin

I wanted to tell everyone a story about a student I (Tim) have been teaching the past few months. Of course, as always, story is to help those who read it…

I have to teach a young man from Edmond, OK for about 2 months now. His father called me in January and asked if I would take a look at his game and determine if I could assist him. This young man (Geoff) is a student at the high school down the road from our course and plays on the golf team (he’s a freshman). The tie I had with his father was I played on a Pro-Am team with him last year in a tournament I play in yearly. He remembered my game and “history” and wanted to know if I could possibly help him. I told him I’d see…

I met Geoff at his golf course and played nine holes with him.

My assessment was as follows:

Pretty good short game – (you guys knew I’d look at that first).
Swing was inside to out with almost no release – reason was very poor balance and body positions would not allow for a good release in his positions.
Because of swing he was hitting weak left shots with almost no distance (Geoff is left handed)
He was having to him mid to long irons to all par fours – his friends his age were outdriving him by 40 yards +++.
His grip was good – his set up – hands too low, head too far forward, weight center (balance) was toward the toes, and very little knee flex because of this.
There were other issues… but most others were minor.

Geoff’s stroke average for the year was 78.5 and best round was 75. So – I told his father we could start working together. I’d do some work with him.

Little history about Geoff –

He has no idea who Moe Norman is.
He has no idea what a single axis swing is.
On his golf team, he plays with many good players including one whose father plays on the PGA tour.

So we started.

The first thing I did with Geoff reviewed the fundamental positions. Geoff had a good grip, so we went to set up. He was leaning way too far forward (toward the ball) on set up. I showed him the correct position, videoed him before and after we made the change to show difference and had him demonstrate to me. He hit about 10 balls the hour lesson – mainly just set up and tried to get comfortable. Then set up again, and again and again and again.. hitting only a couple of shots. I asked him what it felt like, what he saw, etc.. This was the first lesson.

Lesson #2 – I saw Geoff a week later. When I saw him, he was back to his old set up…. (not the one we had worked on). I set him up again in a proper set up (single axis of course) and went through the exact same process of the first lesson – no more.

Lesson #3 – Saw Geoff about 10 days later. He had made great process in the setup. His lead arm was now on his trail, his shoulders were square to the target and his balance was over the balls of his feet – MUCH better than where we started. I checked these positions and had him hit a couple of shots.

Each shot he started from a good set up. So we went on. Geoff’s takeaway was slightly inside and the face of his club was slightly hooded on the backswing. I showed him the proper takeaway and where the club should be at waist high. He repeated that position (probably 200 times) during the lesson – he hit very few balls… I showed him on video, we checked, rechecked, he described the feelings.. etc… Lesson ended.

Lesson #4 – 2 weeks later – Geoff came to the academy. I checked his backswing – was inside and hooded. Showed him the correct position. His quote was he knew where we were supposed to be… I answered “Great – show me”. He showed me correct position in a drill – then when hitting a ball – brought the club inside… I had him drill to correct position again and told him to continue to work on it… that’s it, no more… (To be honest, think Geoff was a little frustrated, but he was starting to get the hint we were not going on until he fixed what we were working on).

Lesson #5 – Week later – Geoff came to the academy. Perfect single axis set up – perfect back swing. Absolutely on plane to the top of his swing… but he was overswinging and his elbow was flying. You should have seen his face when he saw his perfect backswing… Now a dilemma… I knew we needed to shorten up his swing and get his elbow in a much better position (no flying out like Jack Nicklaus). I discussed with his father and we decided to wait – not because he couldn’t handle it, but Geoff had a big tournament the next week and this change was sure to cause a lot of bad scoring (big change and dramatic different feeling in swing). So – I did the next best thing. I discussed where he needed to have his elbow at the top of his swing and why. Geoff understands it was to make sure his elbow was in front of him at impact rather than “trapped” behind him which will happen if the elbow “flies” in the backswing. So we worked on impact with trail elbow in front of him.

Next Week – Geoff’s tournament – Par 70, 30 mph wind, 36 hole Conference tournament.

Geoff shot 70, 69 (1 under) – finished top 5 Hit hit 75% of the fairways and 80% of the greens (yes, he did not putt well……but we haven’t got there yet…)

Reason I tell this story….

As you see – when working with Geoff, I worked on ONE THING and only ONE THING at a time. NO MORE. Not because he couldn’t handle more, but because any golfer who wants to get better has to MASTER one thing at a time, and only ONE thing at a time. If you don’t, you will get nowhere. The entire process will be confusing and misleading. If you progress in this manner – you’ll be amazed how much better you get FAST.

Geoff was an interesting “case” as he didn’t know what I was going to teach next… he hadn’t studied “ahead” as many of those we work with. Not that this is bad (in fact, we think it is great to “read ahead”), but you still must work on one thing at a time. No matter how much you want to skip ahead, it doesn’t work… skipping ahead only causes confusion and problems (big problems) in the swing.

Moral of story:

Get something to study to view the “perfect” model of the swing. Check your swing against this model. You will find the model in the Single Plane Solution DVDs. This is exactly why we produced this instructional material. If you haven’t got it yet.. you are missing what we believe is the best single axis Moe Norman golf swing instructional material on the market… if you don’t believe us – ask our alumni and/or those who already have the instruction material. We GUARANTEE 100%.
Get someone to look at your swing. You can video your own swing (view yourself), send it to us for comments, etc.. or see us or another instructor in person.
Take ONE thing at a time. No matter how good a student you are, you can only work on and master one thing at a time. Some will master faster, some slower… but if you do one thing at a time – you will master the fundamental positions.
Check your swing often and know the model well enough that you know when you have “mastered” a position. You will, you’ll be surprised how fast you can do this and be even more surprised how mastering just one thing will dramatically improve your swing.
Don’t put a time frame on fixing your swing. Some positions will come faster than others, but they will come with time.
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY – as Moe always said….. Good Luck – Remember – Always practice with a purpose.

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