"I Don't Know How To Swing It Badly"

Dear fellow golfer,

Where was I ...

Oh, right.

I was an hour and a half late to practice with Moe Norman, stuck on the Bee-Line, and Moe was not happy about it.

"Ten o'clock. Where have you been, pal? Where have you been?"

A Coke and a few minutes of small talk later, he finally settled down, and we headed to the range at Royal Oak.

Moe pulled out a seven-iron.

Then he turned to me and said:

And to prove it, he hit the next one perfectly holding the club in his left hand only.

I've never forgotten that moment.

Moe had hit millions of balls, and every one of them had carved the same pattern deeper.

One pattern.

No backup swing. No bad version to fall into. Like riding a bike.

So I asked him the obvious question ... how did you learn it that well?

"Hit your positions, practice your positions."

Then he said the part I almost missed.

"Not just your swing positions, but all positions."

At the schools

My coaches were spending the day on the wrong thing

When we started running Single Plane Golf Schools, I noticed a problem.

My coaches were spending their range time fixing setups.

Ball too far back. Stance too narrow for the club. Standing too close.

Fix it, and a few swings later it had drifted again.

That's time we should have spent on the swing, and it's the reason students came to us in the first place.

So I built one simple board and put it in every student's station.

When your address is already right, you're putting your brain into a learning mode.

You stop fixing your setup and start training your swing.

What's new

One new letter on the board: H

Here's where I see even good students come undone.

They're disciplined with their irons. They check ball position. They take it seriously.

Then they pull out a hybrid ...

... and set up "about here."

New: H for hybrids

When we built the original ABT, hybrids weren't nearly as common as they are today. Now a lot of you carry three or four of them.

So the new ABT has a dedicated H marking for your hybrids, right alongside the marks for your irons, fairway woods, and driver.

Every club gets its own spot now.

A hybrid is a little longer than the iron it replaces, so it wants a slightly wider stance. Guess, and you're either cramped or reaching.

Moe never guessed. Neither should you.

Distance from the ball

The mistake almost nobody measures

Most golfers stand too close to the ball with the driver.

Too close, and your body has to lift to get out of the way. That's where over-the-top moves come from, and it's hard on your back.

Hook a yardstick into the back of the ABT, and in ten seconds you know exactly where you are. Thirty-six inches with the driver.

Get used to that, and it's massive.