The Plane Truth

There are numerous "also ran" instructional manuals among my collection of books on golf, the contents of which are either long forgotten or dismissed.

Then there are those that introduced solid instruction that I - with varying degrees of success - attempted to synthesize into my golf game.

But then there are those wondrous books that were exciting to read as they contained shiny new concepts, some of which helped me reach new plateaus - books like; Fred Shoemaker's Extraordinary Golf, or Manuel De LA Torre's Understanding the Golf Swing, or John Jacob's Practical Golf come to mind.

Over the weekend I picked up another book which might fit this latter category - Jim Hardy's The Plane Truth for Golfers.

Hardy introduces a radical new concept (radical to me at least). He postulates that there are not one but two sets of swing fundamentals, because there are two different golf swings.

I've heard of a two swing theory before - in the context of a suggestion that there is a different swing for the driver and the irons.

But that's not what Hardy is talking about.

Hardy differentiates between a "one plane" and a "two plane" swing. The "one plane" swing is characterized by golfers who swing the club along the same plane (or very close to the same plane) as their shoulders, while in the "two plane" swing golfers swing their arms up at a more vertical angle than their shoulders are turning.

What makes Hardy's theory interesting is his suggestion that there are different sets of fundamentals for the two swings. While he favors the "one plane" swing, he says that - with practice - either swing is capable of achieving the desired result - consistent ball striking.

Hardy's recommendation is to pick one swing and groove those fundamentals.

After reading the first few chapters I had to find out which swing mine resembled, so I set up the camera in the back yard and took some practice swings. I concluded that my current swing is closer to the "one plane" swing, though my shoulders turn on perhaps a bit more horizontal plane than they should. My setup fundamentals - strong grip, square to closed stance, level shoulders - are also in line with the "one plane" swing.

Since I don't have to change much at all I think I'll give Hardy's "one plane" swing fundamentals a shot. It'll be interesting to see if any of his suggestions for grooving the "one plane" swing lead to improvement.