The Plane Truth Jim Hardy

[zaphod]

Has anyone reviewed this book or DVD. Am considering a one plane swing and wondering if the advice Hardy gives is sound.

[dave.]

Benk is your expert and I like him and the book,although I don't follow mit religously,I am a Hogan man.The advice is simple and easy to follow imo and definately works,you have to work at it though like anything else

[sandwedge]

I read the book and tried to go from a two plane to a one plane. It screwed my swing up and I am back to just swinging like I did before. I would recommend that if you read the book or watch the dvd's that you decide which swing you have and stick with it. Changing it will just screw you up unless you take lots of time to work on the change.

[Borat]

I have the book and it's good. *I don't follow it* because I just swing naturally, at the top of my BS I would be classed as 1P (by Jim Hardys definitions) but my downswing isn't purely 1P, I have 2P fundamentals. I don't have much intention on changing this atm.

It's a cheap book and definetely worth it, it's a good read even if you don't change your swing, you'll definetely learn alot! AND it will help if you're (more of) a 1P and someone gives you 2P advice...

[zaphod]

Thanks for the review. I'm with you as my swing is too ingrained to do major surgery however fine tuning would be good. If his theory is true 1/2 of golf advice is good and 1/2 bad for me. Which explains my confusion. Again i do not believe in forcing a swing upon someone but rather working with what they have. It is a cheap book ( around $20 from Amazon.com). DVD set is about $85 on ebay and is harder to turn the pages. I see myself as a 1 planer with some hybrid downswing also.

Thanks again

If I buy this it will be my 10-15th golf instructional book and maybe adding to the confusion factor but the pursuit of the silver bullet is both my nemesis and holy grail. .

[cypressperch]

to think that someone is going to come along with a way of looking at the golf swing that is truly revolutionary. There are many who have studied the swing and written down what they have found. Ben Hogans book is the most famous and has proven its place as a truly great book. There is nothing in John Jacob's books (including THE GOLF SWING SIMPLIFIED) that goes against Hogan. The Jacobs book is my golf bible because I do think it simplifies things as much as they can be.

Hardy mentions Jacobs, but I do not believe that Jacobs would go along with the idea of two sets of rules about how to swing, one for one-plane and one set for two-plane swings. The idea that a two-plane swinger should be more of an arm-swinger and a one-plane swinger more of a big muscle swinger just does not hold water for me. David Toms is a two plane swinger and he has his arms and hands along for a ride created by the coiling and uncoiling of the big muscles. The golf swing is a turning of the hips, a turning of the shoulders, and an arm-swing ("two turns and a swish"). Jacobs takes that simple explanation of the swing and builds on it to help anyone create a good swing and he never makes a distinction between one and two plane swings. Differences in swings are more the result of physical differences and tendencies of individuals who can be following the very same set of golf fundamentals. Hardy's dividing is not necessary, and for many it has mixed things up unnecessarily.

Having said all that, some seem to have benefitted from Hardy's book. I would not be surprised if those benefits came from the parts that are no different than what has earlier been written about the swing rather than all this stuff about different planes.

One thing that got me about Hardy was when he said that there are two types of swings. One is the one-plane. Any swing that is not a true one-plane swing has to be a two-plane swing. Given that, I would suggest that Vjays swing is about as close to a one-plane swing as there is but it actually comes up a tad short of being a true one-plane swing. This would make Vjay's swing a two-plane swing like Tom Watson's in a very strict sense. I just do not think Hardy has a truly different concept that is helpful. What I believe is the truth is that there are fundamentals of the swing that one can learn and that this learning will lead naturally to a "fundamentally sound swing." Our swing may not end up looking like Hogans or Retiefs or Byrons or JOnes, but it will be a good swing and it will be OURS.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[dave.]

I think you need to read the book and watch the DVD to make your own mind up.As great as Hogans book is I do believe that Hardy is easier to follow due to more detailed instruction.Hogan doesn't talk at all about what the big muscles are doing and I disagree that he hasn't come up with anything radical,he has come up with a few of his own concepts and identified his own 'swing' using his own definitions,twist and throw or whatever.

Personally,I use bits of them all,Hogan and Hardy.I get to mechanical trying to follow it religously,you end up having to analyse your swing and you cab get into all sorts of bother figuring things out ...........and that doesn't suit my game.I love the mechanical side but know deep down it ultimately hurts my game.

But I really like what he says and can relate to the mechanics of it.The base concept of using th ebigger muscles and asking a beginner to make a full turn AND NEVER STOP TURNING is sound to me.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I've started to think about the idea in a way that's more tactile to my thinking.

Instead of one-plane, I think of it as connected. Instead of two-plane, I think of it as disconnected.

A connected swing keeps the upper front arm close to the chest during the backswing; in order to do that you have to rotate around your spine. A disconnected swing will let the elbow increase the separation away from the chest and that allows a player to get a fuller swing without as much rotation as there is in a connected swing.

To work with a connected swing, you have to have decent flexibility down in the core area.

[zaphod]

Again thanks for all the advice and conversation. It really has helped me sort out what I am seeking in swing theroy. I need a security blanket or towel "Hitchhiker' Guide to Galaxy" to return to when swing flaws creep into game or when renewing my game after Wisconsin winters.

What I'm hearing is the Plane Truth is not ground-breaking but does present, in a reasonable manner, basic ideas. As long as those swing fundementals are not too rigid perhaps I can use them to get feel back into the game witout rediscovering the wheel each season. I definitely like the connected swing as it has a better flow and chance for repeation for me.

I am very comfortable with a 7 Hcp and am unwilling to go through the process of retooling my game at practice range. So a maintence program is in play.

BTW saw an interesting article commenting on how ours brains are hardwired in terms of repeative sports actions such as golf or bowling. Animals which need to repeat motions such as walking, chewing etc which do not require much concious thought have those motions hardwired in lower brain-spinal complexs. Therefore the actions are very exact but sacrifice adjustibilty. We Homo Sapiens exert much more concious control of our actions therefore amplifying our ability to adjust to conditions but losing precision. This explains why one day the swing is on and the next off.
We gain the ability to cut or draw the ball but lose that ability to execute exactly that same shot in a temporal enviroment. A bit falalistic but we as humans also seem to enjoy games of "chance" Iron Byrons we are not.