The Hubbard I decoupling approximation ͓J. Hubbard, Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 276, 238 ͑1963͔͒ is extended by introducing a k-dependent self-energy which describes a mobile correlation hole of opposite spin propagating along with the electron in its way around the lattice. The theory, despite its simplicity, ͑1͒ becomes exact in the strong-coupling limit; and ͑2͒ reproduces with great accuracy the ground-state energy, the double occupancy, the on-site correlation functions, and the effective hopping for all the values of the Hubbard Coulomb repulsion U. It also gives reasonable spectral functions leading to ͑3͒ a single-particle Green function showing the well-known spectral-weight transfer between the Hubbard bands as soon as the electron density deviates from half-filling, and ͑4͒ a momentum distribution as well as magnetic and charge structure factors in qualitative agreement with quantum Monte Carlo simulations, slave-boson calculations, and conserving approximations like fluctuation exchange and parquet. On the other hand, as in most decoupling schemes, liftime effects and the near-Fermi-level additional structure characteristic of strongly correlated electron systems are missing. ͓S0163-1829͑99͒02408-X͔