Looking for Anything to Get Better? Maybe

Written on 6-2-2020.

Okay, I played yesterday, and it was more of the same.  Not consistent, or consistently bad.  I shot a 97.  A 97!  I have been playing golf now for over twenty years.  I started getting serious about having more fun back in September of 1999.  I have had some great rounds.  I have had some real successes.  I have recently said I feel like I am a 3 handicap when really, but I am closer to a 23.  Why have I not improved more?   

I am writing this, because I have recently come across the Moe Norman single plane swing.  It started with an advertisement on FB, since I have bought golf stuff from there before, like the tees and the recent swing aide.  

This looks like it has the potential to give me more consistency.  Good consistency.  Now, am I just another golfer who is looking to find anything to get better?  Maybe.  This really intrigues me, though, so here are my interpretations of the Moe Norman fundamentals.  These come from a YouTube video with Todd Graves, who befriended Moe and learned his swing inside and out so he could improve his own game and then teach it to others.  He just mentioned how to get to impact more simply, with the least amount of motion possible, and that is what...

this swing does.  He is about to go over the steps.  I am going to put them in here.

Tilt your body at address behind the ball, because it resembles impact.  The club is already lined up to the impact plane.  Put yourself in the impact plane.

There is no way to hit the ball badly, he says.  Hmmmmmm.

Okay, that video didn’t really go through the steps.  These steps come from a video on YouTube called The Single Plane Golf Swing-The Perfect Swing System.  He is talking about getting good results on the range by adjusting the swing on the fly.  He says that is bad!  You develop bad habits when you do that.  

Todd Graves is talking about Dominos, and each part relating to each other like Dominos.  Just follow the rules and instructions.

Rule #1: Single Plane Address.  Two lines must be created.  Club and lead arm due to tilt of the body (from the point of view facing the golfer), and the right hand alignment that stops the over rotation (from the point of view of what he calls down the line).  

Rule #2: Stay in Your Bends.  Maintain the side bend.  Move into the lead knee. 

Rule #3: Transition/Impact: Lead Knee Flexed and Feet Down.

Rule #4: Release: Feet Down/In Posture.  Extend and stay in your bends still.

Rule #5: Release/Finish: In Posture/On Plane.  Knees flexed and feet down.  

That’s it.  Or, should I stay, “That’s it?”

When you follow the rules, the club moves correctly.  It moves on a single plane.  This produces a one swing plane.  Not two.  Simple.

Keep following the rules.  

Here are some tips on ball position for the single plane swing.  For the driver, it should be straight up and down.

For a wedge, it should have shaft lean (about 10 degrees) , because it brings the face into a better position at impact.

Narrow stance moves the lead shoulder before the ball.  Wider stance for a utility club brings the lead shoulder almost in line or a little before the ball.  Even wider for a driver for launching!  The ball position is five inches from the lead foot for irons, and he only moves his trailing foot back and forth to make a wider or narrower stance.

I just watched another Todd Graves video on a shorter back swing.  I knew it.  I knew mine was too long.  He said most have 85% back swing, and 15% forward swing for a total of 100%.  It should be 75% back and then 35% through for 110%.  Why is it 110%?  Not sure about that.  I really need to shorten my back swing.  Simpler.

Now, I am watching a video on a non-rotational release.  It is not a rolling of the trail hand.  The trail hand should look more like it is skipping a rock across water, so it should never roll the wrist over.  

How can Moe’s single plane swing stay square and also rotate?  There is no rotation in the trail hand.  You are not flipping the club or rotating your hands.  I think of when I first learned from Mike Stark.  We worked on a strong grip, and then he had me pausing at the top and flipping my hands violently/quickly through impact.  That was so long ago, and it worked…for a while.  You still get extension by your torso rotating.  It’s like I said above, setting up to skip a rock across water.  A long extension with a square club face.

Now, I am watching how to feel Moe’s swing with a broomstick.  He says you need to take a divot.  I knew it.  Compressing the ball is the goal, as well as keeping that club face square as long as possible.  The ball won’t have any other option except going to the target.  The swing pivots around the lead side of the body, and you want to recreate that at impact.  It’s not around the middle of the body.  Just move and un-leverage.  The pivot point is on the lead side, and it is just under the ribs.  Under the ribs is my own interpretation and observation.

The next one I am watching tonight is one with Todd Graves and Chandler Rusk, and Chandler is saying it’s really important to emphasize address position.  Todd is using Chandler to show us the correct position.  Chandler is younger, and he has switched from a traditional swing to the Moe Norman swing.  He is an instructor for Graves Academy now.  

The torso is left/open, but a club laid across his arms point to the right of the target, or the front of his shoulders are closed.  Open the torso, and the trail arm is in line with the club more.  If the position is right, it will be more smooth, and it will be better for the Domino effect Todd was talking about.  Up the plane, down the plane, and swing through.

Another video is about saving your back.  Chandler and Todd are talking about how the conventional swing creates standing up and being closer to the ball.  When that happens, there is a compression and a shearing motion.  Chandler is saying when he turns into his lead knee, the hips rotate as far as they will allow, and that in turn speeds up the torso, and that in turn speeds up the arms and the hands.  There is no compression.  That is what saves the back with a single plane swing.  They just stabilize and swing hard.  Keep those feet on the ground throughout the swing, basically.  Epic Flash Driver from Callaway is his driver, and he did a little endorsement for it at the end.

Todd is talking about timing in the video called The Stop and Go of Single Plane Swing Speed.  In order for something to accelerate, something else has to stop.  The lead shoulder slows down and stops which allows the arms and hands to accelerate.            

Enough for tonight.

Until next time…