I recently received this email from a teacher named Mike Blum. According to his profile, he is a former Retired PGA golf professional/ PGA teaching professional… At Wilcox Oaks Golf Club

There is the PGA mentality you deal with every day. I have highlighted my responses in bold and italic as a point of discussion.

Mike: No one is ever going to be like Mo Norman. How to swing like Moe, you would have to strip down everything you’ve ever learned or tried to hit a golf ball would take you forever to get it dialed in.

Todd: I disagree. Unless you have taught Moe’s Simple Single Plane Swing, you could never make this assumption. At one short point in my teaching career, I taught both the conventional swing and the Single Plane Swing. I got to the point where it becomes so difficult to explain the traditional approach. I realized I couldn’t help them. It felt dishonest to teach something I knew was inferior. I abandoned teaching the conventional swing for the Single Plane swing – which is why I started my company.

Mike: We can’t make anybody be a Moe Norman a Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Jim Furyk, Bubba Watson. With his feet flying all over the place, or a Dustin Johnson with his club closed at the top. We cannot emulate those swings all those people are from the lucky sperm Club you are gifted beyond belief.

Todd: I am not trying to make anyone be like anyone. I surely don’t think people will practice like the players you mentioned. I am not even trying to make people like Moe Norman. I am only showing that Moe’s mechanics are easier to repeat. I want to simplify everyone’s swing to make the game easier, so they don’t have to try as hard to be good. Everyone will take those simple Single Plane mechanics and be unique. I swing like Moe, but I am not Moe Norman.

Mike: You can’t change the makeup of the person leg length body length back length It can’t be changed especially after the age of 50 as this gentleman implies.

Todd: I don’t suggest changing people’s bodies, but I have science that shows that Moe’s golf swing is more efficient, easier to learn and easier on the body.

Mike: My motto in teaching is you have to dance with the girl you came with they’re all different we can make them a little better but we are what we are this method trying to hit like MO would cripple the average Players golf game.

Todd: I would never hire you if you said “I can make you a little better”. My students want transformation. Something that produces major results. My results show notable changes. The students who commit to learning Moe’s swing find the game easier and have less stress on their bodies. I would have to say that conventional thinking of “dance with the girl you came with” sounds hopeless. I would say “Build an easier swing through better and simpler mechanics.” In other words, “let’s learn a better way to dance.”

Mike: Mo was a recluse that could have done well on the PGA tour it wasn’t his style. In the early days to see Mo hit balls, you had to sneak around peek through trees and bushes. Only later in his life did he accept money from Titleist as he was at one point living out of his car.

Todd: What does being a recluse has to do with anything. I didn’t have to peek through trees. I walked right up to him and said: “You’re the best I have ever seen; how did you learn to do that?” My friendship started there and lasted until he died 10 years later.

Mike: Mo was a great ball Striker, but we can’t strip ourselves down to do that. Teachers like this are grasping at straws and confusing many people who are enjoying the game as they play now.

Todd: What? Grasping at straws? Nope. It was just stating facts and research. Mike, I don’t see your research. Confusing people? Have you read Golf Digest lately or watched the Golf Channel? Have there ever been two magazines that haven’t contradicted each other? Have current teachers ever NOT contradicted themselves? Here is a comment from a recent convert (actually three converts) to the Single Plane swing:

“My brother took his son to two different PGA pro’s over a period of 3 years. They contradicted each other’s instructions. After the time they even denied their instructions. My brother and his son both started the Graves program and now play fantastic golf. I have begun the Graves program, and have seen significant improvements in my game.”

– Andy Harmon

Mike: Those hands are way too low the angles would be much better if hands are lifted, the player would stand taller creating a taller swing and would be more on the plane. NO ONE WILL EVER BE MOE!!! in my 25 plus years of teaching I have never tried to make a player strip all of his ability to hit the ball with my 1000 frame per second camera and 5 shots per second on still can we work with what the student brings to the table and tweak it a bit. Not change it all. Michael Blum retired PGA golf professional. Coach high school golf fused at 6 levels in back and neck. Not much golf left but lots of teaching still in me.

Todd: Tweak? Crap. I don’t tweak. I rebuild. Students who come to my instruction are not looking for a tweak. They are looking for something that works. They are looking for results and transformation. Most golfers are frustrated because what you teach is dogma that has no basis in science. None. Nobody has ever proven that the conventional swing is the best way YET the entire PGA stands by it. Why hasn’t anyone taught outside the box and asked: “Could there be an easier way”? Instead of tweaking something that is inherently flawed.

If you want to get a tweak, you can contact Mike.

If you want the game to be easier, and transform, you know where to find me.