Jim Hardy: Innovator

The one plane swing and the two plane swing have always existed. Well, they’ve been around at least as long as golf has been with us. The same thing could be said about the law of gravity. Yep, the natural phenomenon by which objects of mass exert attraction upon other objects of mass has been around since the dawn of time. It’s perhaps the most fundamental law of physics upon which much of science is based. It wasn’t until Sir Isaac Newton divined the law from actual observation of gravity’s presence that we were able to begin to understand how this world works. And that is crucial.

Much like Newton and gravity, golf expert Jim Hardy was the first to articulate the notion that golf swings fall under two major classifications: the one plane and the two plane. Jim Hardy noticed that most golfers attempt to time and perfect the turning of the body with the swing of the arms. This is the two plane swing, and Hardy characterizes it as almost unnatural. It is perfectly usable, as some of the game’s greats – like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods (before converting), and David Toms – have employed the two plane swing to great success. But Hardy maintains that a more natural rotary motion is possible and even advisable: a one plane swing that attempts to align both arms and shoulders on the same swing plane.

Jim Hardy brings a cerebral approach to the art of the golf swing, and it’s incredibly refreshing. While some may argue that he only articulates what has already existed for many years, I would counter that by those standards, there are no inventors – only explorers. And is that such a bad thing? Invention is the driving force of humanity, and it can technically be reduced to the discovery and harnessing of forces already at play. Gravity wasn’t “invented,” but before Newton articulated it we didn’t understand our world. Jim Hardy didn’t invent the one plane swing, but his articulation of its concepts has improved the game of thousands of golfers the world over.