Todd Graves

Body Match-ups and the Domino Effect

August 27, 2019 by admin

Our recent Instructional Series “The Domino Effect, Back to Basics” is an apotheosis of my time in development of the Single Plane 3D – my deepest dive (to date) into measuring the mechanical model of the Single Plane Swing. Single Plane 3D allowed me to quantify the exact positions, called metrics, of the body throughout the swing motion. It also helped me understand body match-ups.

A Match-up is the relationships between body metrics whereby one body movement affects another. For example increasing rotation of the torso decreases the forward bend. Another match-up would be how one body segment affects another. And example would be how increasing pelvis rotation will also increase torso rotation. Understanding match-ups is how the idea for the Domino Effect began.

It becomes overwhelmingly obvious that if you move incorrectly at any point during the swing, you must also proud a “make up” move somewhere in the swing motion. The corrective movements that “make-up” for the mistakes, create inefficiencies. The inefficiencies can devastate golf swings and power. This is why Moe would often stress the importance of what he called “The Purity of Technique.”

It is not necessarily more movement that produces speed. Speed is a result of efficient movement. Great golf swings are powerful because they contain power through efficiency and technique – not effort. One of the most common match-ups can be seen in the movement of the head throughout the golf swing. I am not one to teach that the head stays still throughout the golf swing. Ideal Single Plane Mechanics show that the head should stay in in the same area throughout the backswing and downswing but should move censurably forward after impact. The forward movement of the head after impact allows the torso to continue rotating past the ball – allowing the arms to produce impact and speed at the proper places through impact.

The Domino effect can clearly be observed in the sequence of events through the ball where the rotation of the torso matches the movement of the head. The motion of the arms match the rotation of the torso and so on.

Head movement is just one of the many body motion match-ups evident throughout the swing motion. These match-ups are cause / effect relationships that start at address. To find out more about my latest product that can help you learn the golf swing – from the beginning and avoid costly mistakes, check out The Domino Effect – Back To Basics.

The Domino Effect – Back to Basics DVD

Is Moe’s swing Left or Right Sided?

July 15, 2019 by admin

I hear this question often in one form or another. Here is and example from a recent Youtube comment:

“With the single plane swing is the release a right inward throw or a left outward pull?“ I find these questions difficult to answer with a simple “Right or Left” after spending the last six years studying the “inside” of the Single plane swing with 3D modeling. The problem with the question is that there is never a moment in the swing where the right side and left side aren’t active. Just because the part of the body isn’t moving, doesn’t mean its not doing anything. This becomes particularly obvious when you study motion and the Kinematic Sequence of the body.In other words, if the left side of the body is stopping – the act of stopping is also an activity. Think of his this way. When you are driving your car quickly and you stop, what part of the car is doing the most work? If you guessed the brakes, you are getting the idea of what is happening in the golf swing. Moving one part of the body correctly requires the body to stabilize other parts to accommodate proper movement. Let’s look at the example from the YOUTUBE question about the release. During the release of the golf club the lead arm / hand are slowing down as the bent trail arm is extending. This happens at the correct time (and place) because the Pelvis has rotated into a flexed and stable trail knee. When the pelvis is being stabilized, the lead side of the torso can also stabilize allowing the trail side of the body to keep rotating. You can not “inward throw” or “outward pull” if these variables are not present. There fore, the answer is that “both” the right inward throw and the left outward pull are occurring – it is just a matter of when and where. It is not one or the other. While I have used various analogies to describe specific motions in the swing such as skipping the rock with the trail hand and throwing a frisbee with the lead side, neither one describes the entirety of the motion. I would rather have you think of the golf swing differently. I would rather have you think in terms of backswing and downswing with a change of direction or transition in-between. Where I see the golf swing is largely misunderstood is that in each segment, such as the backswing, various parts of the body are moving and stopping. In other words, it is not one continuous motion. It is actually a series of movements blended into one. Take for example the backswing motion. In the first few feet of club movement the pelvis has rotated 20 degrees while the Torso has moved almost 50.

Take a look at the entire video of this back view. It demonstrates how during the backswing as the body is moving , the trail shoulder stops and the hands and arms continue. This is why Moe would describe the motion as In and Up.

You can clearly see how at a certain point the trail shoulder stops as the arms move and trail elbow folds up. This is why it is much more advantageous to study the movement of the body as it compares the model than generalize the movements.

Bacon Strips not Pork Chops

June 18, 2019 by admin

I recently posted a video on youtube discussing Moe’s address position and the importance of Shaft lean into impact. I mentioned the importance of taking a divot and one of the comments on the post mentioned the following:

“But MOE never took a divot, or very rarely did he. He even said it himself”.

I replied: “Moe took divots albeit shallow. As Moe said “Bacon strips, not pork chops”.

Then he replied:

“Todd Graves – maybe sometimes but I can show you a video where he said he doesn’t take divots and that he could , “ put your Casio watch on the ground and I could hit off of it and not break the grass.” Also, I have seen many of his hitting clinics on video and he rarely ever takes a divot. He said he would sweep the grass.”

Let’s set the record straight.

While Moe might have said he didn’t take a divot, what he felt he did and what he actually did were quite different. I have not doubt that Moe could have hit a golf ball off of a Casio watch face. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take a divot. Moe’s swing was perfectly shallow into impact. He compressed the ball perfectly. Yet, when the ball was on tight turf, he took a shallow divot. Here are some pics that tell the story.

Once again, there is a difference between feel and real and you must be cautious between what you hear Moe say and what is actually happening.

A Swing of Disastrous Distortions

October 24, 2012 by admin

When I watch golf swings, even swings of great players such as Rory Mcilroy, it makes me cringe a bit inside my body. Don’t get me wrong, like everyone who loves golf, I enjoy watching him play golf, hit towering drives and win tournaments. I am a big fan of Rory. But I don’t see how the average golfer can really look at Rory’s golf swing as a swing model. Rory is in his early 20’s. He’s young, flexible and fit. He has hit thousands of golf balls to work through his swing movements and motions. His body has developed around his movements. Do I see some good things in his swing? Absolutely. But one thing that troubles me about paying too much attention to young tour players is that many people will try to model Rory – which can be a big mistake. Let’s look at some particulars.

Without going into a complete breakdown of Rory’s entire golf swing, it is interesting to look closely into his downswing move. Keep in mind that I am not looking for positions here, I am looking for the stress it places on the body in regards to the task of reaching impact. (Impact is the goal of all great ball strikers). The perspective I take is that all golf swings are to achieve a perfect strike on the golf ball. The ability to reach impact starts at address. In other words, if you start in a misaligned position you must adjust during your swing to make an impact. The more misaligned you start the more contorted you swing. The problem here is that contortions are not efficient, repeatable or consistent. And these contortions can be disastrous to good ball-striking. Even worse, they can be extremely painful if you are not a 20-something year old Rory.

If you notice in the third picture in the sequence, you can see the crunched look of Rory’s right arm against his body. His right shoulder is jamming upward toward his head as his arms move downward. As the sequence continues, his lead leg straightens and his body move up as his arms move down – further crunching his shoulders against his torso that is moving upward due to his leg straightening. Once again, I am a huge fan of Rory, but I don’t think that this is the easiest way to get the job done for a 50 year old golfer. What I see here is a great athlete with mobility. Let me compare this with Moe Norman.

What you see from the movement forward is what I call “arm freedom”. You can see with Moe the arms have released as the lead knee has remained flexed. This shows that the arms have gone down with the body contrasting what you see with Rory where the lower body has lifted (straighten left leg) pushing the upper body up as the arms go down – crunching the shoulders and causing Rory to lean backward. This creates a reversing of the upper body or Reverse “C”.

One thing to note here is that Rory is a minimal example of this. He actually shows must less of this distortion than most conventional golfers. And as I have said in previous descriptions, this is all caused by an improper “two-plane” address position. The two plane swing comes in many forms, some more pronounced than others, sometimes in disastrous amounts. In all cases, however, the distortion of the upper body/lower body stress is a problem. I consider it a spatial problem where the conventional golfer is too close to the golf ball to start with. This results in stresses and problems reaching impact.

These things can be eliminated with the Single Plane golf swing of Moe Norman. And when they are eliminated, reaching impact is more consistent and repeatable resulting in better ball striking. The goal is to eliminate the lower body upward push. The way to do this is to get the appropriate distance from the golf ball where you start the club on the same plane at address as impact.

Great Testimonial from our March 6-8th school

March 13, 2009 by admin

We received a great testimonial from our school that just ended here in Orlando on the 8th.

Paul D. writes,

“Hi Scott,

I am sending a quick note to say thank you and that it was great meeting you, Todd and Tim last week. I really enjoyed the school. This was truly the best golf experience I have ever had and I learned more in the 3 days than I have in the last 12 years. I finally have a process that makes sense and I plan on following it as long as I can play golf.

I was on the moenormangolf.com website and looking at the Internet Golf Academy. When I scrolled down, the person in the “before and after picture” looked very familiar :). I am very flattered that you put it on the website. Todd has made me a big believer in using video. It has been very helpful looking at the video from the school that Todd analyzed. I am practicing everything I learned and will be using the internet golf academy to send in videos of my swing for more analysis.

Give a big “Thank You” to Tim and Todd.”

Thanks, Paul, it was our pleasure to meet and work with you last weekend, and GOOD work on your swing and game. Best of luck in that tourney in April!

Scott

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