Leadership Beyond the Drawing Board

Few figures in the golf industry can match the depth and diversity of experience held by Jim Hardy, principal of the Houston based firm Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design. A veteran of both the PGA and Senior PGA Tours, Hardy has long been recognized not only as an accomplished player but also as one of the nation’s most respected instructors. In addition to his playing and teaching careers, he spent the 1980s leading a construction management company that helped shape several of America’s premier golf course communities and destination resorts.

Hardy’s design philosophy was shaped early in life through his experiences at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas—one of the world’s most revered classic golf courses. This traditional influence carried into his professional work. After several years on the PGA Tour, he founded a successful golf course development and management company responsible for creating more than 60 golf related properties, including Barton Creek, Ventana Canyon, Shadow Hawk, Conway Farms, and Bonita Bay. Through these ventures—and through collaborations with legendary architects such as Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Arthur Hills, Robert Trent Jones Sr., and Rees Jones—Hardy developed a comprehensive understanding of the many variables required to bring a golf course from concept to completion, including environmental considerations, entitlement processes, budgeting, construction, and project management.

Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design was born out of Hardy’s longtime relationship with his student and PGA Tour professional Peter Jacobsen. Their first collaboration, The Oregon Golf Club in 1990—host of the Fred Meyer Challenge for six years—set the tone for a series of acclaimed designs to follow. Since then, the pair has produced numerous award winning layouts, including Moorpark Country Club in Southern California and the Golf Club of Houston, the host venue for the PGA TOUR’s Shell Houston Open beginning in 2003.

A PGA of America Life Member, Hardy continues to enjoy international recognition as a swing coach. Golf Digest has ranked him among America’s 50 Greatest Teachers for more than two decades, and Golf Magazine has consistently included him on its “Top 100 Teachers in America” list for over twenty five years. In 2007, he was honored as the National PGA Teacher of the Year and has since been nominated for the Teachers Division of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Hardy is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking concept categorizing all golf swings as either one plane or two plane—a theory that reshaped modern golf instruction. His widely acclaimed 2005 book, The Plane Truth for Golfers, became a bestseller and established him as a leading voice in swing mechanics. He has since expanded on this work through three additional instructional books: The Plane Truth for Golfers Master Class, Solid Contact, and The Release: Golf’s Moment of Truth.