Jim Hardy’s Gift to Golf: The One Plane Swing

Jim Hardy has, for as long as he can remember, always loved golf. He played it as a child, played it in college, and he was a pro for many years. But, in all honesty, Jim Hardy derives pleasure and satisfaction from golf in a very different way than most: he teaches other golfers and improves their games. In a way, it’s like he serves a higher cause – to profligate good golfing tips! And when it’s played well, golf is a poetic sport of incredible beauty and grace. Jim Hardy simply wants golf to be played the way it is intended: with grace, efficiency, and quiet power.

Jim Hardy introduced the idea of the one plane swing to the golfing world. The swing itself has always existed (well, at least as long as men have been hitting spherical objects into distant holes for sport), but the theory behind its utility hadn’t really been explored before Jim Hardy. He noticed something in the average golf swing: that the “two plane swing,” as it has come to be known, or the standard swing most golfers use without even thinking about it, is actually counterproductive to a golfer’s purpose. In the two plane swing, a golfer’s backswing is separate from the forward swing. That is, a golfer rears back on one spatial plane, and then hits the ball on a different spatial plane. And that switch over, that shift from one trajectory to another, actually wastes power and accuracy. A better alternative, as Jim Hardy has shown, is the one plane swing. In the one plane swing, the shoulders and arms are perfectly aligned for the entire swing. The backswing is on the same plane as the forward swing. As a result, the more natural one plane swing generates more power and with greater accuracy.

The results have been staggering. A few impromptu counseling sessions on the one plane swing with golf pro Peter Jacobsen helped Jacobsen vault his game to the stratosphere. Thousands of golfers all over the world have put the ideas of Jim Hardy to the test, and – almost without fail – they have passed with flying colors.

Additional Resources

Golf Swing Variations (Wikipedia)
Golf Instructions from the PGA
More Golf Tips from About.com