As the golf season grows near, people want to talk to me about their golf swing. You’d think after all these years I’d be sick of talking about how to swing the golf club, but I probably enjoy it now more than ever.   

The latest fad in the world of golf swings is the “one plane swing”.

Tiger Woods changed his swing from a “two plane swing” to a “one plane swing”, so of course everybody thinks that’s what they need to do. In a nutshell, the two plane swing means that the downswing is on a shallower plane than the backswing. The reason that people like a shallower downswing is that it promotes hitting the ball from the inside out. Most people hit the ball from the outside in (a steep downswing) which leads to slicing, shanking and other poor shots. A good swing is a sweep, not a chop. 

Tiger played very well with a two plane swing …he was the best player in the world. But a few years ago he retooled his swing into a one plane swing. What was his motivation? Did he resent the credit given to his coach Butch Harmon? Did he need a new swing to minimize the strain to his injured left knee? I sure don’t know – though I suspect it was a combination of both of those reasons. 

The reality is that Tiger was and is the best player in the world with either swing. So … the one or two plane swing is not the secret to his success. The secret is – Tiger is in better control of the golf club than anyone else, period. That is what you need to work on – developing better control of the golf club.  

There are many ways to improve your control of the club – but they take work. Hit shots – full shots and chip shots – with one hand. Also, hit shots only holding the club with your thumb and forefinger. The more hand control that you develop with the golf club, the more consistent you will become. 

I had lunch last week with a good friend and his son who just lost his right arm to cancer. Great family and they’re dealing remarkably well with this difficult situation. Well, the son wants to play golf – I couldn’t be happier about that. So I also invited another good friend who lost the use of his right arm in a farming accident many years ago. This friend has won the State Disabled Golf Tournament 6 years in a row – he can really play. During lunch, we talked about how there are many ways to play golf – to me, one of the beauties about the game. Do you think my buddy worries about the one plane swing? No! He’s trying to find ways to hit the ball with one arm – and he’s getting better every year (though a senior golfer). 

Golf is a great game – we’re all lucky to play it. And there are many ways to play golf. But if you want to improve, work on hitting shots with one hand. If you’re fortunate enough to have two hands, think how good you’ll be after training each hand. Most of us take for granted what we have – let’s make the most of what we have.