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HOGAN The Fundamentals of Ben Hogan
HOGAN The Fundamentals of Ben Hogan
1912 - 1997 Turned Pro – 1930
Retired – 1971
PGA Tour Wins – 64
Major Championship Wins - 9
Instruction - Concepts - Implementing the skill - Transferring the skill to the
ball - Playing
Hogan’s Performance
1942 - 1948 1950 - 1956 1951 - 1953 1953
128 Events
42 Wins
33%
40 Events
13 Wins
33%
15 Events
9 wins
60%
8 Events
5 wins
63%
0 HDCP Median
+ 4 HDCP Median
4 HDCP Median
Interviewer poses question to Nicklaus- “Is Tiger the best
Ball Striker you have ever seen?”
Nicklaus – “No. No. Ben Hogan easily.”
Mr. Hogan Left Us With Two Books…..
….along with… A Secret And Thousands of Swings
We will be covering Mr. Hogan’s concepts in Five Lessons & looking back at Power
Golf
The Grip Fundamental 1
Hogan’s Fundamental Grip
" In Five Lessons Hogan gave us a modern grip.
" And a few hints….
Grip
" The Grip is essentially club face control.
" The club face controls the starting point of the ball.
" Any extension of the club away from us will be felt in the hands.
" Wrist Release Patterns are “autonomic responses” and because of this the grip is fundamentally important.
Grip Hogan’s placement of his hands on the club really created the same alignments we look for in a neutral swing today: The Leading Edge of The Club and Lead Arm Matching Up
And Hints of Extension (aka width or extensor action)
Five Lessons Page 29
" “ This union of left thumb and right thumb pad strengthens the welding together of the two hands and it serves to add real reinforcement to your grip, particular at the top of the backswing where poor grips are most likely to deteriorate.” Ben Hogan
" “The greatest pressure in the right hand is in the two middle fingers.” Power Golf, page 5
Top of Swing Change
Extension or Width Affects Needed Clubface Closure- Affects Release Position of Wrist- Affects Lag of Club Shaft- Affects Stability of Club Face- Affects Power- Functional Shoulders are needed -
SUMMARY Lesson 1 The Grip
" The Golfing Machine
" AMM 3-D
" Mac O’Grady
" Mark Blackburn
" Rob Noel
" James Letitz
" The Grip
" The Pressure Points in The Grip
Lesson 2 Stance and Posture
Stance and Posture
" 8 Major Joints Stacked
" Neck Between The Feet
" Advocated The Feet Being as Wide as The Shoulders
Mr. Hogan and The Feet " Advocated Trail Foot
Perpendicular (Power Golf advocated both toes pointing out a bit
" Advocated Lead Foot Slightly Open (22 degrees)
" Hogan- “It is an automatic governor” for hip turn and “It makes it easier to feel the muscles that should initiate the hip turn.”
" Power Golf- “Toes should point out slightly”
Medicine Calls It This Which ONE Is Better For The Back Foot in Golf?
Medicine Calls It This Which ONE is Better For The Rear Foot In The Golf Swing?
With a Little Help From The Feet, Ankles and Knees- The Bulk of Rotation is Put On This Structure – Of Course With Accompanying Muscles
Mr. Hogan was Setting Up Internal Rotation into The Rear Hip….
……..With His Feet……
Power Golf 1948
" “About 85% of my weight is on the right foot and leg.” Page 42
" Nothing of This Sort is noted in Five Lessons. 1957
" THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOADING THE HIP VIA MUSCLES LENGTH TENSION RELATIONSHIPS AND LOADING THE RIGHT FOOT.
Power Golf-Left Five Lessons- Right He gave us foot position and a Hint of Loading The Hip
The Arms “The Upper Part of The Arm should be pressed very tightly against the side of the chest.”
Page 48
A Famous Image…..
" Elbows pointing toward hip bones (also mentioned in Power Golf)
" “Press them as close together as you can.” Page 48
" Video evidence suggest Mr. Hogan didn’t do this to an extreme though
Talking Connection? " “’This Swing,’” you will feel
more and more surely, is “’is bound to go away from the ball and back through the ball very nearly the same way every time.” Five Lessons Page 50
Demonstrating Connection
Medicine Calls It External Rotation of The Shoulder “In my case, I consciously work to build up so strong an adhesion between the upper arms and the chest that a person would have to exert a really terrific amount of force to wedge them apart.” Five Lessons 48
Demonstrating External Rotation at Top and Finish “As it folds close to the body, the elbow should always be pointing toward the ground. It helps, you will find, if the upper part of the right arm adheres as closely as possible to the side of the chest.” Five Lessons page 48
Stance and Posture
Hogan’s Posture &
Modern Day Posture IMO – The ulna deviation and slightly taller body was due to shortness of clubs and lie angle as a general rule…….
But…….
But Mr. Hogan did move deep (Power Golf) into the line from this posture just as many of the modern players on
the PGA Tour….but later he couldn’t stay there.
SUMMARY Lesson 2 Stance and Posture
" Utilizing Address Feels That Re-Enforce Swing Feels
" Lots of Connection!
" Emphasis put on Loading Rear Hip!
" Egoscue
" TPI
" Books and Resources of Human Anatomy
Lesson 3 The First Part Of The Swing
" Waggle
" “A Bridge”
" The Sequence Of The Backswing
" “..for the novice is to know they don’t start back so closely together that their action is unified.”
" The Trail Leg
" “..preventing the leg from sagging and swaying out to the right and carrying the body along with it.”
" Introduction To “The Plane!”
" “..the plane serves the golfer as sort of a three-dimensional road map.”
Waggle A Bridge Between Committing To The Shot and Hitting The Shot- “As you waggle so you shall swing.” -
" “During the waggle, as he previews his shot and attempts to telegraph his mental picture from his brain to his muscles,….
" ….the golfer makes the little adjustments necessary to be perfectly in balance for hitting that particular shot from that particular lie.”
Hogan didn’t take practice swings on the course…
" Mr. Hogan’s waggle was his practice swing
" Mr. Hogan gives advice not to groove the waggle because it “takes instinct to plan and play a golf shot, and your preparation for each shot must be done instinctive.” Page 67
" The waggle was obviously also his way from freeing up the mind for the shot at hand. Today we referred to it as a “routines” or “preshot routines.”
" “What it amounts to is that you address the ball with some movement, or waggle as the tournament professionals call it, and then go smoothly from the waggle into the backswing via the recoil from the forward press.” Power Golf, page 33
“During The Waggle The Shoulders Don’t Turn.” Page 69
" Mr. Hogan again using address feels to convey his next point which is…
" ..the sequence of the backswing
" ..and the amount of turn of the upper body over the lower body
Science calls it Kinematic Sequence and Mr. Hogan would get peer approval for his
efforts to explain it years ago.
“When the hips are turned back to the left, this tightens the muscles between the hip and the shoulders just a notch more….” Page 74
" “The tighter the tension in these muscles, the faster the upper part of the body will unwind (as the hips turn) and transfer its speed to the arms and the hands.” Page 74
" “As regards the right leg, it should maintain the same position it had at address, the same angle in relation to the ground, throughout the backswing.” Page 75
" So Far Five Lessons is Screaming Connection-Tightness- Utilizing the Length/Tension relationships of muscles!
The Right Leg Maintain the Same Relationship during backswing…. Not quite
If he executes his backswing properly, as his arms are approaching hip level, they should be parallel
with the plane and….
..they should remain parallel with the plane, just beneath the glass, till they reach the top of the backswing.” Page 77
Tour Players today aren’t too far away from Mr. Hogan’s images of the backswing plane…However Mr. Hogan was
“flatter” than most. Most assuredly due to his emphasis on connection.
SUMMARY Lesson 3 The First Part of the Swing
" The Waggle as a “bridge” and independent for every shot.
" Concept of “Connection” still very prevalent.
" Building from the foot positions Mr. Hogan keeps the right leg in a position that it prevents “sagging and swaying”
" The sequence of the backswing that grows from his previous lesson.
" Introduction of the backswing plane
" Concept of “Connection” still very prevalent
Lesson 4 The Second Part of the Swing
" The Downswing Plane
" The Role of The Hips
" Pronation and Supination
The Downswing Plane " “The golfer gets on the
downswing plane when he turns his hips to the left to initiate the downswing. The plane for the downswing in inclined at a shallower angle than the plane of the backswing, and its lateral axis points slightly to the right of the golfer’s target.” Page 88
" “The inside out phase of the swing is important at all times during the swing, but particularly when you are playing irons.” Power Golf Page 35
I was expecting to see arms swinging out to the right!
Instead he was just “feeling” like he would approach from the inside.
cog
cog
cog
cog
cog
cog
cog
cog
ADDRESS
HALF WAY BACK
TOP
impact
By moving the bottom of the swing
forward Mr. Hogan… ..was “sensing” the plane being flatter and shifted more to the right!
It was the biggest difference in his swing from Power Golf To Five Lessons….
Hogan addressed the importance of hitting the ball from the inside in both Power Golf and Five Lessons.
The Hips
" “THE HIPS INITIATE THE DOWNSWING.”
" “To begin the downswing, TURN YOUR HIPS BACK TO THE LEFT.”
" “THERE MUST BE ENOUGH LATERAL MOTION FORWARD TO TRANSFER THE WEIGHT TO THE LEFT FOOT.”
Power Golf vs Five Lessons " “The first movement in the
downswing is turning the left hip to the left.”
" “When your hips are turned to the left there will be enough lateral movement to put your weight on your left foot..”
" Power Golf Page 34
" “…TURN YOUR HIPS BACK TO THE LEFT. THERE MUST BE ENOUGH LATERAL MOTION FORWARD TO TRANSFER THE WEIGHT TO THE LEFT FOOT.”
" “The path the hips take on the downswing is not the exact same path they traveled as they were turned on the backswing….their ‘arc’ should be trifle wider..”
" Five Lessons page 90
Mr. Hogan did in fact turn his hips…just not from the same place as the pictures in Five Lessons described.
Hogan described it to John Schlee as a Turning Point.
Schlees getting to his “turning point.”
“Once you are on the turning point…once you are fully loaded this deep into the swing, there is little chance that you can go wrong. With the target turn,
you feel an aggressive spinning motion of the left knee, left hip and left shoulder level left and out of the way.” Maximum Golf page 133
Turning Point and Level Left
" Hogan held true to the hips turning back to the left to start the downswing before and after the wreck.
" After the wreck he was on a “turning point” and “turning level left.”
" These two modifications would have increased the angle of attack and shifted the horizontal swing plane “more left” or “less right”
Supination
“Hit the ball as hard as you can with both hands.” Page 99
" “The left wrist begins to supinate at impact. The raised wristbone points to the target.” Page 103
“By pronating his left wrist just before impact, a golfer expends his clubhead speed before he strikes the ball.” Page 103
" “It helps the player develop a properly wide forward arc.”
" “The wider his arc, the more room he has in which to build up clubhead speed.”
" “It helps you to strike the ball absolutely clean, before the club takes turf.” Page 104
“Don’t be afraid of swing too hard. Many golfer are, you know. They figure that unless they restrain their power, they’ll magnify their errors.
I see it just the other way.” Page 108
“My advice to the beginning golfer is to go ahead and hit the ball as hard as he can right from the start.” Power Golf page 53
Cohesive Chain Action
" “On the downswing the correct order of movement is hips, shoulders, arms, and hands. As each component part enters the swing, it adds it contribution to the multiplying speed generated by this cohesive chain action movement to the left.”
SUMMARY Lesson 4 The Second Part Of The Swing
" Getting on the downswing plane by turning the hips back to the left.
" Having enough lateral weight shift to get to a turning point.
" Supination during the impact interval.
" Hogan’s weight shift moving the ball back, increasing the angle of attack.
" Hitting The Ball Hard!
" Downswing sequence – Chain Action
Lesson 5 Summary and Review
" 25 years in golf
" “In golf, you know, you learn some things very early and other things surprisingly late.”
" “On the winter circuit…I would be up in my hotel room night after night studying my backswing plane in the full-length mirror…” page 113
" “I spot it a half inch to an inch inside the left heel toward the right foot. You can, to be sure, play the ball a shade farther forward or back – it varies from individual to individual, depending on the spot that is the lowest point in his swing.”
" “ A no. 5, is used in these pictures and the ball is played from a line which is extended back would run two inches inside the left heel.” Power golf page 23
" -SAME FOOT ALIGNMENTS IN BOTH BOOKS…a little D-PLANE!
“I believe it comes to eight”
" “He must initiate the downswing by turning the hips to the left.”
" “He must hit through to the finish of his swing in one cohesive movement…”
" “He must start to supinate his left wrist just before impact.”
" “Waggles Properly.”
" “Starts back with his hands, arms, and shoulders and lets his shoulders turn his hips..”
" “Stays on his plane throughout his backswing..”
" Provided a “correct stance and posture and a correct grip.”
SADLY THIS IS WHERE IT FELL APART FOR MANY..
" “Put in 30 minutes of daily practice on the grip.” page 33
" “..let me recommend using a full-length mirror as the best means of checking your moves.” page 60
" “In fact, the more I think about it, the best way to learn golf is a great deal like learning to play the piano: you practice a few things daily, you arrive at a solid foundation, and then you go on to practice more advanced things daily, continually increasing your skill.” page 57
" “a half hour a day for a week to practicing the backswing.” page 81
" “Practice the waggle – perhaps 10 minutes a day.” page 81
" Page 82 “Training Exercise”
" “Devote perhaps a half hour daily to the hip turn and the hit-through movements.” page 108
“I am hopeful that these lessons will accomplish two things. First, I trust they will great increase the average player’s enjoyment of this incredibly fascinating game by enabling
him to become a real golfer with a sound, powerful, repeating swing.” Page 109
" “And second – I hope that these lessons will serve as a body of knowledge that will lead to further advances in our understanding of the golf swing.:” Page 109
Mr. Hogan achieved his second hope for sure
" He gave us a great description of Kinematic Sequence
" He introduced “connection” in a big way
" He grew the notion of “planes”
HE TOOK THE SLACK OUT OF THE SWING!
“Each new chunk of valid information paves the
way to greater knowledge.” Page 109
The End
