I had been struggling with the setup, alignment and posture for the last three years in my quest in learning the one plane swing. I learned that my main impediment was a right thoracic scoliosis. This occurs with the concave curve of the thoracic spine pointing to the right; it tilts and rotates the shoulder girdle such that when I am "aligned", my right shoulder is above and behind the left shoulder. I'd like to know if there are others who have to struggle with this handicap and whether instructors have encountered pupils with scoliosis and how they can assist in overcoming this anatomy. Mild scoliosis is common and little info is available on the internet. Thanks.

Larry, I’d recommend that you visit with a certified instructor who can evaluate which swing system is best for you relative to your condition. Our objective is correct and repetitive impact, and if you approach your swing with that ultimate aim in mind, you’d take your body reality as a given and modify how you position and move it in concert with your arms to achieve that aim.

Let’s say that a player’s body influences him to address the ball in a way that would cause impact to be too steep, resulting in ball flights like slices, chops and chunks, for example. He may be able to modify his address or swing his arms to compensate for that influence, by introducing a shallowing aspect that gives him solid impact. All golfers at every level have features in their swings that cause them to deviate from a neutral swing circle. They achieve correct impact by balancing these opposing features and they achieve consistency by minimizing their deviations. I’m not an expert on scoliosis but I’d expect that you can accomplish the same outcome with the assistance of a Plane Truth certified instructor.

Dave:
Thanks for the feedback and your expert commentary on the forum for past few years. Ironically, I live in what should be the epicenter of one plane swingdom: I'm in Murrieta, California, playing on Tom Pernice's home course and the tracks that honed Rickie's Fowler's game. There are no certified instructors within hundreds of miles of our town and no plans for any of the local pros to obtain this skill set.
As for scoliosis, I did not realize I was afflicted until I tried to learn one plane swing. There is no disability with mild cases and no symptoms but aligning your upper body from the neutral position is impossible. The thoracic spine curve tilts the shoulder girdle toward the target and rotates the shoulders closed when standing up in neutral position. This has resulted in more steep swing planes and its cartload of pulls, hooks, etc.
I think this is unrecognized problem in many golfers: there are 5% of people with clinical scoliosis (curves greater than 10%) and if you add in leg length discrepancy with causes a compensatory scoliosis and milder cases I bet that this affects a significant minority of golfers. It happens more often in taller people (could this explain the over-representation of shorter heights on the tour?) Setup instruction is definitely under-emphasized but key to success (Jack Nicklaus' words: golf instruction is 50% setup, 40% mental and 10% swing). I speculate that difficulty in setup/posture, etc. may be physical. There is virtually no info on scoliosis and its affect on golf instruction. It wouldn't be difficult for the Hardy team to measure shoulder position, alignment at rest and see if this is a frequent problem in your students. Again, thanks for your excellent observations over the years and hopefully propagate the number of certified instructors in So. Cal.

Larry, if you don't mind driving an hour or so south to San Diego, you'll find a well informed instructor there by the name of Justin Hicks (http://www.hicksgolf.com/). Justin has attended numerous Jim Hardy teaching seminars, is very well grounded in the one plane swing system, and a very good teacher. Justin's top priority is helping his students play better golf and I'd be optimistic that he can help you.

Hi Larry,

Art:

Matt is great to work with. I am sure you will enjoy your time in Arizona

 

Hi Larry,