During last weekend’s Wachovia, I caught a side by side swing comparison of Tiger and Vijay. When I saw it, the sequence immediately stuck me as a perfect example of Jim Hardy’s One Plane and Two Plane swing concepts. Tiger is the one planer, keeping his lower half still, while winding his upper body in a huge arc. Vijay stands in the two planer’s inverted K, and twists his hips to keep up with his shoulders. Tiger finishes standing straight; Vijay ends in a “C”.

In his book, Hardy takes pains to emphasize that both swing types are perfectly legitimate (although he does favor the one plane slightly), and that great champions have used both methods.

You can see the differences when you watch the video below:

The online version of Golf Tips Magazine has some good advice on improving your putting: focusing on a spot just ahead of your ball, rather than on the ball itself. This helps keep you from pulling up through your stroke.

It’s golf show season here in Michigan (and, I suspect, in many other places, too).  And these shows are often a great place to get good clubs at a tremendous discount.

Unfortunately, the reason some of these clubs are so inexpensive is that they’re cheap knockoffs. But how can you tell?

Here’s a tip: if you’re shopping for clubs at one of these shows, carry a small magnet with you. It’ll be useful for determining whether a club really is what it says. Magnets won’t stick to titanium, so if a driver says that it’s got a titanium face and a magnet sticks to it, be suspicious. Magnets also won’t stick to zinc or aluminum. So if an iron claims to be steel, and a magnet won’t stick to it, be suspicious.

Zinc-Aluminum alloys often are used in beginner clubs and in knockoffs.

Forget the lob wedge. When you’re just off the green, your best bet is often running the ball with a low chip using a 7 iron.

The Naples Sun Times has some good tips on this most useful of shots.

This week I decided that I’ve wasted one too many shots trying to loft a high wedge shot to the green and instead skulling it to the other side. No more. I’m now going to chip and pitch my way to the green, in classic British Open style.

So I got out my Palm Pilot and called up the notes that I took a couple of years ago while taking lessons on chipping and pitching from my pro friend. Here they are:

Feet more together. Weight toward front foot. Keep hands ahead of the ball. Use a long putting stroke. Do NOT use hands to try to hit the ball. You target is the landing spot, not the hole.

It’s been working very well. I’ve played three rounds this week, and have not used a wedge on any shot closer than 60 yards or so (other than in sand). I’ve also not skulled any shots and flown the green. I have left a few short, but I’m still feeling the range.

It helps that I have not faced any shots thirty yards short of the green in high rough. That’s a shot I’m sure I can’t pitch out of.

The seven is my favorite club for chipping, but I’m also using the eight, nine, gap wedge and pitching wedge, depending on the distance and what I’ve to to clear.

A friend watched my little display and commented that he couldn’t do it because he couldn’t convince himself to leave a shot short of the green. He had no confidence that they would bounce on and roll.

That’s a fear that I had to get over, too. But when the ball comes in low, and you’ve struck it hard enough, it’s going to skip and run.