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The Moe Norman Backswing
In the beginning the arms are correctly positioned and straight, the handle is in the correct alignment to his body and both hands begin the takeaway. The forearms, upper arms, and shoulders move together. Moe’s club-behind-the-ball address position is encouraging biomechanically ideal movement due to the proper alignment of the club and lead arm. From this address position as the club moves away, the handle/body relationship remains constant.
The triangle of the arms moves as the hips begin to turn. The slight hip turn allows for the lower spine to remain in place. About midway in the back-swing, when the club-shaft is parallel to the ground, the wrists begin hinge creating a leverage angle. Often you’ll hear that referred to as “cocking” or “loading” the wrists. At this point, the trail arm begins to fold at the elbow lifting the arms to a shoulder height position.
Notice also as the shoulders began to move the torso did too. And as the torso moves the hips rotate slightly to allow the shoulders movement and the lower spine to remain positioned.
The lead knee is moving toward the golf ball as his hips rotate. The folding of the trail arm as the lead arm maintains its straight (rod ) position, shows how when Moe's lead arm is parallel to the ground, the club is forming an "L" or leveraged position.
At the completion of the backswing, the wrists have become fully leveraged, and the back of the lead hand is flat where the back of the left hand aligns with the left forearm. The spine tilt is maintained throughout the motion.
The DTL (Down the Line View) of the Backswing
The Down the Line Sequence of the back-swing shows what Todd and Tim Graves (Graves Golf Academy) consider the single plane. The single plane relationship begins where Moe addresses the golf ball. As Moe moves the club away, the club moves inward due to proper arm movement where the hands begin to hinge the club. When the club hinges, the club is considered "planed" where the shaft angle matches the original shaft angle at address. The Graves Golf Academy considers this the first check point to swing plane.
The club is on plane, a result of correct hand, arm and body motion. Moe described this arm, hand hinge and arm movement as: “Up, not around.”
The Top Position
The top of the back-swing demonstrates perfect bio-mechanical club positioning where the club and club-face are moved onto plane. The spine has remained positioned as the hips have turned for increased arm motion. The shoulders have moved to position the arms where the wrists are hinged in a leverage position as the lead arm “rod” is straight and the trail arm “speed producer –claw” is folded.
 Technically perfect, Moe's top of the backswing position demonstrates the single plane club position where the club face mirrors the back of the lead hand (parallel). The trail arm is folded and the lead back of the lead hand aligns with the forearm. The lead arm crosses the chest as Moe's spine has remained in position. Note how both feet have maintained their position flat on the ground.
From this position, the downswing can move the club correctly thorough impact. The backswing movement is dynamic and the following downswing is a continuation of this motion.
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