The Single Plane Swing

Tiger Does It Single Plane Style
By: Bruce Munch
Head Professional, White River Golf Club

I imagine that unless you were visiting another planet last weekend, you know that Tiger Woods just won his 12^th major championship by winning the PGA Championship in Medinah, Illinois. At the start of the final day, three players had a chance for 4 rounds in the 60’s. At the end of the final day there was only one. To no ones surprise it was Tiger, winning by 5 shots.

If you remember, when Tiger first turned Pro in 1996 he won two tournaments his first year. After that he started working with Butch Harmon to improve an already successful swing and although he kept winning, at the end of 1997 and all of 1998 he won only one tournament and everyone talked of the “Tiger Slump”.

Once he mastered his new swing with Butch, he went on a tear starting in the end of 1999 that lasted through 2002 and included the “Tiger Slam”.

He subsequently started working with Hank Haney on a new and improved swing and again in 2003 and 2004 people talked of a “Tiger Slump”.

In 2005 he had “LEARNED” but not “MASTERED” his new swing with Hank Haney but still ended his slump by winning the Masters and the British Open. This year I think he has “MASTERED” the new swing and his victories in the British Open and now the PGA included two of the most amazing final rounds I have ever seen.

When I heard that Tiger had started to work with Hank Haney, I wondered why. About that time I happened to see Peter Jacobson and Jim Hardy on The Golf Channel talking about the one plane swing. I got Hardy’s Book, “The Plane Truth for Golfers” and I liked what he had to say. I subsequently heard that Hank Haney was working with Tiger on Jim Hardy’s theories of the single plane swing. I figured that if Tiger likes it and I like it, it has to be the way to go. J

I never teach anything to a student that I don’t first try out on myself so I set about making changes to my swing to incorporate the fundamentals of the one plane swing. It took time. During the first year, for a while I got stuck between the two-plane swing I had worked on for years and the single plane swing that I was adopting and it wasn’t pretty. As Hardy says “The single plane swing and the two plane swing are like oil and water, they don’t mix”, but I was determined to learn it if I was ever going to teach it and with a lot of work I finally got it and last winter in Florida I played some of the best golf I have played in years.

Remember during the “Tiger Slump” when interviewed Tiger said he had not mastered the swing changes yet, they were working on the range but he had not learned to take the new swing to the course. During that time he had moments of brilliance followed by some horrendous misses, but he persevered. I remember telling a few people, “When Tiger has this new swing, I mean really has it, the other players may as well stay home”.

Ever wonder why the LPGA has so many successful youngsters on tour? People like Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Michelle Wie, are all single plane swingers.

On the surface the two swings don’t seem that dissimilar and in fact the club position at the top is similar. The differences are subtle but critical.

In the two-plane swing the player stands more upright and after completing the initial turn in the backswing, there is a noticeable lifting of the club. The forward swing involves a dropping of the club, followed by a forward turn. Although this swing has been proven very successful over time, it requires better timing than the single plane swing and I believe that is why it was expected to take young players time to succeed on the pro tours.

In the single plane swing the player assumes a little more spine tilt at address and takes the club away as though swinging along a large hula-hoop that starts inside the ball and passes through the shoulders. Since there is no lifting of the club, you don’t have to drop the hands to initiate the swing, you just turn back along the same plane as your backswing.

Needless to say, this is a gross simplification of the two methods but you will hear lots more of the single plane swing in the future. If you are interested you can go to oneplaneswing.com and you will come upon a great article by golf instructor Chuck Quinton. In addition, last night I just saw an ad for a DVD set from Jim Hardy called “The Plane Truth for Golfers”.

Those of you who have taken lessons from me will remember what I tell all my students after a swing change. “You don’t own this new swing, it is just borrowed. You won’t own it until you get to the range and do it correctly a few thousand times”. So don’t be dismayed if you take a lesson and don’t get instant gratification. Stick with it, Tiger did and look what happened.