About Jim Hardy

Perhaps the truest compliment a physician can get is when another doctor comes in for a checkup. In a sense, that’s who Jim Hardy is to the golf instruction community. Teachers all around the world come to seminars conducted by Hardy to hear his original thoughts on the golf swing. It’s a knowledge built from forty-four years around the game, a career that has included playing on the PGA and Champions Tours, designing and managing golf courses, and conducting tireless research on swing mechanics.

Hardy was named the National PGA Teacher of the Year in 2007, has been nominated to the Teachers Division of the World Golf Hall of Fame, is ranked in the top 10 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 50 Greatest Teachers, and has been on the biannual rankings list for more than two decades. And for more than twenty-five years, he has also been on Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 Teachers in America” list.

Perhaps the thing that Jim is most well known for is his revolutionary concept that all golf swings are either on one plane or two planes. Years of research on this subject prompted him to write the best-selling instruction book The Plane Truth for Golfers in 2005. In the years after its debut, “one-plane” and “two-plane” became household phrases for golfers. Both professionals and amateurs embraced the concept, and the book’s success spawned a hugely popular DVD series and a second book, The Plane Truth for Golfers: Master Class.

A native of Hutchinson, Kansas, Hardy earned All American honors in 1966 at Oklahoma State University, and then competed on the PGA Tour full-time from 1968 Until March 1974. When his playing career ended, Hardy immediately dove into instruction. Among his students have been Frank Beard, Dave Stockton, Carol Mann, Donna Caponi, Hollis Stacy, Brad Faxon and Mark O’Meara. He currently teaches PGA Tour and Champions Tour professionals Peter Jacobsen, Scott McCarron, Tom Pernice, Bob Tway, Olin Browne, Duffy Waldorf, Chris Tidland, Joe Ogilvie, Scott Piercy, Don Pooley, David Eger, Morris Hatalsky, Mitch Adcock and Graham Marsh. Among the nationally recognized golf instructors who have studied under Jim are: Chris O’Connell, Mike & Sandy Labauve, Martin Hall, Krista Dunton, Carol Mann, E.J. Pfister, Giulio Tadiotto, Duncan Woolger, George Porter, Rick Sellers, Mark Miller, Roger Gunn, and Kevin Roman.

In the spring of 2009, Hardy, who has been conducting teaching/playing seminars for golf professionals for seven years, launched a new Instructor Certification Program. In addition, he unveiled an interactive instructional website – the first of its kind – designed to support instructors with the solutions to any ball-flight or swing shape fault their students might have.

Hardy lives in the Houston area with his wife, Marilyn, who is a plus-2 handicap and who has competed in local, state, and national tournaments, including two U.S. Women’s Opens. His daughter, Rachel, 14 is a multisport athlete and an excellent junior golfer.