Getting Serious About the Single Plane Swing

Written on 2-21-21.

        It’s another Sunday, and I am making the time to do some writing today while watching the Genesis Invitational.  I want to catch up how everything’s been going, since I paid for one month of the Single Plane Gold Membership, because I have been doing a lot of work.  Yesterday, I completed every drill and every rep that they have asked me to for the first eight lessons of the 14 Day Perfect Practice Plan.  I will paste it in here again to show the updates…                       

2-10, Lesson 1-50 reps of replace the shoulder with right shoulder

2-11, Lesson 2-20 reps of feeling the side tilt with the single plane trainer (my single plane trainer)

2-12, Lesson 3-20 reps of getting into ideal address position with proper grip and a focus on the two lines being created

2-13, Lesson 4-20 reps of using my single plane trainer to point at the golf ball 5’ back and 1’ back, just the one piece takeaway motion

2-14, Lesson 5-20 reps of 3 positions (0 to 1 to 2 with 2 being at the top of the backswing with my single plane trainer pointing at the golf ball 5’ back and 1’ back from there two times, once on the way back and once on the way down

2-18, Lesson 6-To impact 20 reps with single plane trainer thing, so positions 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4, lead knee braced and trail arm bent

2-18, Lesson 7, 20 reps with perfect impact club with my impact bag, positions 0, 1 2, 3, and 4 into the bag (ball underneath it) with some velocity from 3 to 4

2-19, Lesson 8, working on 20 reps of positions 4, 5, and 6, impact (into a flexed lead knee, lead arm completely straight, trail arm still bent, but only slightly, and side tilt still going on) extension (straighten trail arm after the ball, and it naturally rolls over), shoulder height/finish/hold at top with focus on staying in your bends

I chose to skip my treadmill workout, too, to make sure I got in every rep.  It was physically taxing, and although I wasn’t super focused at times, it took me three hours.  I was steadily working through it, though, and I just took breaks in between sets.

Overall, it’s been excellent, and I like...

how I am going through a regimented schedule that is “perfect,” and that builds from one element to the next.  Only perfect practice makes perfect. I remember learning that from Duane Lewis with his shooting camps and the Shot Doctor Successful Six.

I sent in videos to be reviewed by a SPA coach, and it’s been Clay Farnsworth who has given me feedback on every one.  It’s been wonderful feedback.  The first videos I sent in were from the golf course.  I did a pitch shot from a couple of feet off the green (my mistake), and I did a full swing from off the mats on the range.  The pitching motion video was a “mistake,” because it was from just off the green, and Clay wondered why I wouldn’t be chipping from there.  The reason was I found a good position to video my pitch that was level.  I sent an e-mail to explain that, but I don’t think anybody read it.  So, I got feedback about chipping when I wanted feedback about pitching.  I took the feedback on chipping, however, and sent in another video on just chipping from the living room.  I will talk about that feedback in a moment.

Here’s what I learned from the feedback on the full swing.  I have been dying to get some information on that since I started this change, so it was great to hear what someone (a pro on the single plane swing) thought of how well I was matching the model, especially after nine months of attempting to learn myself with the book and all the YouTube videos.

The biggest takeaway was my ball position was wrong.  He saw right away that it was too far back, and he reminded me that the golf ball needs to be five inches inside my left heel.  I decided right then that I would either buy their alignment and ball position trainer or get my homemade one correct once and for all.  I chose to do the latter.  

The second bit of feedback on the full swing was about my grip, and he said it was too strong.  He asked me to work on my grip and address until I “couldn’t get it wrong.”  He gave me links to lessons on those in an e-mail, too.  He said my motion was good, just not efficient yet.  He said I had a good, powerful swing.  That was great to hear something encouraging.  

I could also benefit by a better A frame at address and less lean towards the target side.  Finally, I had too much knee bend at address, and I stood a little too far away from the ball.  All of the drills I have been doing will help to correct those few things.

On chipping, I would say the biggest takeaway was that my feet, knee, and hip alignment positions were off.  I used my yellow trainer attached to an old shaft to line up my feet for my chip shots for the video, but he immediately saw that it was greater than the 10º they recommend, so I was more open than I should be, and that has a bad domino effect.  Once again, he recommended some videos to watch, and once again, I chose to make my own chip shot alignment tool.  It’s a hodgepodge of Gorilla Glue Duct Tape, kitchen flooring trim, some other trim that I used on my ABT, and stickers for feet and ball positions.  I found a way to get the measurements right by finding those trainers next to a golf ball.  I learned that a golf ball is 1.68”, so I used that measurement to see how long 5” was.  That’s 1.68 x 3 approximately.  With that five inch measurement, I could figure out how long everything was supposed to be on those trainers.  I used a protractor to make sure the angle was 10º, too.  I think they turned out really well, and I saved $200.00 by not buying them.  Since I have those lined out pretty well, I can do the drills with confidence.  

One thing I learned about the alignment and ball position trainer that I didn’t know before was that it was 33”.  The one I made first was closer to two feet, so that made a big difference when I made the new one.

The next video I sent in had me doing the drill that doesn’t require a club.  I fold my arms across my chest and go through the positions with my body to mimic the swing motion.  It’s the only drill they recommend we do 50 times/day, so it must be vital to learning this particular swing.  I thought if I can do this correctly, it will accelerate my learning, so I sent in a video to get feedback on it.  This drill makes me sweat and stretches me, both physically and mentally.

Once again, I got really decent feedback.  The best feedback about this that I was wondering about after I sent it in was do I tilt and then bend over or bend over and then tilt.  I really didn’t know.  I was leaning towards bending first, which wasn’t the way I did it in the video, and I was right.  So, bend over first and then tilt.  Got it.  

The other thing he said was that my head tilt should match my side bend, so I tilted my head a bit too much.  I should just keep my head and neck still when I go into my side bend/tilt.  Yet another tip was that I bent forward way too much, so my shoulders were steeper than the model.  He put me next to Chandler for comparison.  I could really see that with the down the line view.  

I have many things to work on, don’t I?  Or, with a few simple corrections, I could be right on track.  I, of course, will think positively.

I made one more training aide recently, so that would be $300.00 saved.  I made a better Single Plane Trainer by removing my 3-wood from the old one.  I cut that same white dowel into two pieces, and inserted the larger end into the shaft of another old grip.  I am sure happy Don gave me those used grips and shafts when he was finished putting the graphite shafts on my club heads.  They have really come in handy.  I then taped the smaller part of the dowel (just over 4”) on the other end for a better and safer pointer.  I measured out to five feet on that, too, so I could use it for placing the golf ball in the proper position for the correct swing path for the drills used for lessons 5, 6, and 7 mostly.

I have totally taken a break for today from all of the drills, so I could write about it here.  It’s been a pleasant break, but I look forward to going back at it again tomorrow.  I am going to watch lesson 9 now.

It’s been serendipitous that I can’t go to the range or the golf course during all of this.  I’ve seen snow on my yard since I started all of this at home.   

Until next time…