Gary told me the secret to great ball striking was “a total release of the club, but with no fear of a hook.”
What impressed Hogan was Revolta’s use of the waggle as a precursor and mini simulation of the coming golf shot. The waggle established the clubhead’s path on the backswing and an overall swing rhythm or tempo. Revolta showed Hogan how to change the waggle according to the varying golf shots required in different circumstances.
This inconsistency ground him down, and he finally took a “sabbatical” from the rigors and distractions of the tournament schedule in order to analyze his goal swing at home in private.
Vivid belief in the shot image. Before Hogan hit any shot he narrowed his focus. He burned an intense, vivid image into his mind of the trajectory, spin, and landing spot of his shot. This belief that you could hit the shot required was the most important key to success, more important than any swing mechanics. If a player could vividly picture and then execute his swing with total confidence, the chances of pulling off the shot were extremely high, even if that person’s swing mechanics were not great. That’s how powerful the mind was.
Hogan said the takeaway is a recoil from the forward press. The first move in the backswing is actually a slight move toward the target, then the club rebounds away.
His lower body was so powerful and coordinated that it looked like he was about to run down the fairway.
Hogan hit more golf balls than almost anyone.
His practice sessions always included at least some severe slice shots.
Putting on blinders. Hogan perfected the ability to shut out all outside interference. Hogan looked like he was playing alone. He barely knew who is his playing partners were. He played the golf course.
Hogan said that he could create in his mind huge walls down the side of each fairway that could not be penetrated by stray shots.
Everything about his appearance was as sharp as could be. When he showed up at any tournament he was the best-dressed man there. His look and body mannerisms he employed were absolutely meant to intimidate the opposition. He walked like an athlete. He walked with confidence, and he was in perfect condition. You never saw Hogan mope, whine, or make excuses.
Ben Hogan was like a general planning the perfect military operation as he set up his game plan for a major championship. Hogan planned better than anyone in the history of the game, and then he was able to execute the shots necessary to follow the plan.
Hogan wrote that the shoulders would turn on this plane line. The left arms would stay under the pane of glass or ideally brush against it at the top of the backswing.
Hogan said the downswing plane was less steeply inclined than the backswing plane. The shaft fell to a shallower plane. He also waned the plane to aim slightly more to the right (inside out), with its bottom edge slightly elevated, which is largely a visual illusion.
He played a short iron with an open stance, which, combined with a more upright angle, gave his shots a blow downward and left (great ball strikers make divots with their irons that point slightly leftward).
Although Hogan wrote about immediately turning his hips to the left (the illustration shows this with a large rubber bans attached to Hogan’s left hip), he actually wrote that “there must be enough lateral motion forward to transfer the weight to the left foot.”
As long as you made enough lateral motion, you cannot move the hips too fast. The faster the better. But first your have to get onto that left leg.
Hogan was adamant that golfers of every level limit the use of the hands. He wanted no conscious manipulation with the hands. The hands and wrists do not roll.
The downswing arc is inside or more narrow than the backswing arc.
Don’t be afraid to swinging too hard. I can hit the ball straighter if I hit it hard and full.
From a solid setup position, the club is taken away from a very slight forward press of the body (a slight bump toward the target).
Hogan made less body movement with short irons than he did with his long irons, fairway woods, and drivers, and he also set the club earlier with short irons than he did with the other clubs.
His waggle varied for the type of shot he wanted to hit. As he said in his writing, he never wanted to “groove” his waggle. The waggle also had much more to do with how he wanted to see and feel the approach of his club, hands, and arms into impact than most people realize.
Pressure points:
- The back 3 fingers of the left hand.
- The middle 2 fingers of the right hand.
- Between the left thumb and the lifeline of the right hand, the major connection point of the 2 hand.
With the shaft leaning back away from the target, the grip will appear stronger. The farther you move the shaft forward the weaker it will appear.
The rotation of the chin was definitely a swing trigger for Hogan, as it was for Nicklaus.
The right elbow is not pinned to his body, which is an old and obviously incorrect myth about Hogan’s backswing.
There is no conscious cocking of the wrist at any time. The cocking of the wrist is gradual as you proceed with the backswing.
Hogan felt and wrote that the head did not move, but in reality it did. What really happened was that Hogan kept his head centered on top of his spine.
Hogan always swung the driver past parallel.
The left knee is still very flexed, because if it were snapping straight at this point, the tendency would be to pull or “spin” the golfer out of position too far to the left.
On a driver swing Hogan wrote that “85% of my weight was on the left side at impact.” He put a very big emphasis on the inside portion of the right foot, or the right instep. It was a power move. Hogan wrote that he would consciously push off the right instep for more power.
Tiger has had that drop and sit-down action his entire life. Most great ball strikers do in the backswing and almost every single one on the downswing. The sit-down is a key move in any great swing.
Look how Hogan’s right arm hangs out and away from his body, very much unlike the drawings in Five Lessons, the ones with the rope tying his arms together. This rope image described what Hogan felt rather than the actual orientation of his arms at address.
- The takeaway.
- Halfway back.
- Three-quarter backswing completion.
- Top of the backswing.
- Move down to the ball.
- Impact.
- Post-impact extension and early follow-through.
- Swing finish and rebound.
He wanted the right leg to be the brace of his backswing. Ken Venturi always emphasized to me this idea of a braced right leg accepting the weight transfer in the backswing without sliding. Ken actually wore a right shoe that was modified. He had the shoe built with an insole that sloped or angled inward. Hogan wore an additional spike on his right shoe.
Feel is important. It might be the most important key to playing golf. What Hogan wrote might not look exactly the way he felt it, but how he felt his swing was completely “correct” for him.
This describes exactly why writing about the golf swing from an overly scientific perspective is often self-defeating, and might actually become a swing killer.
Just having someone scientifically write out the moves and then asking students to follow them mechanically is an extremely weak way to learn to dance. Being able to write out a dance step perfectly does not mean the writer can do that step. Conversely, not being able to write it out oneself does not mean you cannot do it.