What have I learned this year??

Hello all!! Thought I'd do a blog this evening and talk about some of the things I have learned this year. It's been an exciting year of learning for me. To be honest this is only the start of the journey, and I cannot wait to see where it goes. I went to the Belfry in May to do my level 1 certification Plane Truth Instructor course and the information delivered to us was, I believe, unarguable, logical, easy to understand and easy to apply.
The problem is that there is an older generation of golfers out there (pro and amateur) that are very stubborn and refuse to accept that times have changed and the game is being taught differently now because simply we KNOW MORE!
For example, I learned this year that there are 2 sets of fundamentals to the golf swing - one plane fundamentals and two plane fundamentals. They are totally different and must be taught differently, there is not a 'one swing fits all' theory as many seem to think but each individual has a swing that fits themselves. 1 plane swingers bend over and swing their arms around their body on the same plane as their shoulders (Matt Kuchar, Fred Funk, Lee Westwood, to name a few) and 2 planers stand upright and swing the club up and down in front of their body (Davis Love III, David Toms, Tom Watson ie the 'traditional golf swing'). If you can honestly say that these two types don't have different swing shapes then it may be time to consider the possibility of learning something new.
Let me give you a concise example: turning the body at the start of the downswing. Classic golf instruction says that you must not do this. Correct, if you are a two planer! If you are a 1 planer, very incorrect! The 1 planer is swinging their body and arms on the same plane so they must turn as hard as they can to get power. In a 2 plane swing, if the arms are above the shoulder plane and they turn the upper body hard - then YES this will slice the ball majorly. Try it yourself! Here is a classic example of a piece of information that is incorrect for one swing type and correct for another. Imagine trying to teach it to everyone you see! You may fix 50% of your students but that will be it.
Are you a one-planer or a two-planer? One will feel more comfortable and if you learn to apply the relevant swing elements to your swing type, you can't help but improve.

I know I have spoken about the two different swing types so far but the biggest thing I have learned is how to analyse impact. This is where I believe is the most important, yet misunderstood are of golf instruction. I have learned that a swing does not have to be pretty to be effective provided it produces an impact that is CORRECT and REPETITIVE. I have definitely given poor lessons in the past in which I have focused more on making a swing look attractive than actually concentrating on the faults linked to the impact. I believe that by learning to correctly diagnose impact (through divots, ball flight and sounds) that I can help pupils improve immediately! This is a Plane Truth mission statement. We don't want people to improve in 6 weeks while in the meantime they play badly with a swing that feels alien. We want to improve their impact NOW ie with the next ball and once they do this, then practise can help their more correct impact to become reptitive.

I would urge all serious golfers to have a look at the Plane Truth Website now. Look at the blog, forums and other areas to find out about the Plane Truth and it's philosophies. I would urge any golf instructors to have a look at the instructor programme too.
Any questions welcomed folks.

All the best,
Lew.