Sorry for the horrible pun in the title. It’s just that I have planes on my mind lately. I recently picked up a copy of Jim Hardy’s book The Plane Truth for Golfers Master Class. As I chewed through it, I started to become extremely intrigued with Hardy’s teachings about the one-plane and two-plane swings. Then, I stopped over to Birdie Dreams this week and Nick had a perfectly timed post about his foray into the world of one-plane swings. I discussed the concept of swing plane at length earlier in my swing plane edition of the golf glossary. After getting through the one-plane swing section of Hardy’s Master Class, I realized that maybe I was missing out on something by failing to read his first book, The Plane Truth for Golfers, to understand more of the background on the concepts. I fixed that problem immediately and have halted the Master Class and have started the first book. Out of order or not, I’m blown away with what I’m reading so far. There are several

The year is just about over and it was a great one. I didn’t accomplish many of the things that I set out to accomplish, but the road map is becoming more clear as each day passes. I accomplished some of the things on my to-do list, but fell short in some places too. I’m going to talk more about that in the next couple of days. As for Life in the Rough, it has turned out to be great fun. It’s been a valuable learning tool for me, and it has been fun getting input from so many readers on the various subjects. I wanted to highlight some of my favorite posts from the year (well, since April), so new readers can catch up on the things they may have missed. Stack and Tilt By far, the Stack and Tilt has been the most popular topic here. When I first read about it in Golf Digest and decided to try it out and write about it, I never realized it would be so popular.

I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or happy holidays if one of the others this time of year is your thing. In a brief survey of the situation, I see that Santa didn’t bring a new set of irons or a plane ticket to Scotland, and it’s not 80 degrees out. So, my list didn’t pan out. However, I still have my family, friends, health, and happiness and that’s what really matters today. I wish all the same to you. -Mike

 This contest is closed.  Click here for the result. Since the holiday season started, I’ve taken time to write a letter to Santa and also give some gift ideas all under $50. Now, it’s my chance to play Santa. I have a brand new dozen Titleist Pro-V1 golf balls to give away to a Life in the Rough reader. I thought it would be fun to run a contest. To enter, simply drop a comment on this post telling me your most memorable golf moment. It can be memorable for any reason. It could be funny, sad, thrilling, or uplifting. It can be a father/son moment or a personal best. It can be a hole in one or a near miss. Any golf moment that is most memorable to you is fine. Here are the conditions and rules: Entries will be accepted until Saturday, December 15, 2007 8:00 am EST. Please, only one entry per person. You must provide a valid e-mail address with your comment. This will not be shared or used for any

Some of you may have seen my letter to Santa earlier this week. I thought that was going to go directly to him, but apparently, in ended up on the internet thing and everyone saw it. I thought there was some kind of magic involved or something, but whatever. Anyway, some of my previous suggested golf gift ideas for Christmas were pretty extravagant, so I wanted to do a separate list. This time, all the items are $50 and under. Santa can check in if he wants. I’m not writing him another letter. Here are eight more golf gift ideas for Christmas, all $50 and under. I’m big on the mental game, but understand that some golfers don’t like to read golf books. No problem! Pick up the Dr. Bob Rotella CD collection. It’s an audio collection of his books: Golf is a Game of Confidence, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, Putting Out of Your Mind and The Golf of Your Dreams. Pop it into the CD player on the drive to work