My Swing (Hogan Project)

My goal.........to see how close I come to duplicating the Hogan swing. I've been at it for a few weeks now. I'm making very slow progress each week. Hopefuly, I'll have this accomplished withing the year, but who knows how long it will really take!

Here's my baseline video:

Many out there say it is not possible, because he had a secret.......I say there is no mechanical swing secret, just mental secrets and secret feelings. All the "secrets" are in his videos!

Wish me luck!

One of my playing partners asked how the project was going and who I was using as a teacher. Told him I am working on the address right now and that I have no teacher.

At this point, I only listen to my eyes. That's my secret. If someone gives me a book with a description of how to do a dance move, it will be from their perspective, from what they feel. My perspective may be totally different. I may translate what they are saying as something way off base. Plus they will surely leave out an intricate detail because to them, the detail is so much a part of a common human move, that they will expect everyone to already know of it.

If they give me a video to duplicate, I can break it down into mini moves, and just get in a mirror till I am spot on.

So my hypothesis is that I cannot duplicate hogans swing by reading the book or someone telling me how to do it. I just have to break the address onto 1 inch mini moves. Same for all the rest.

The hogan videos are my #1 training aid. Without them, this project is impossible

An example of how I translate the address position is not quite what Hogan put it. If I had to describe it at this point:
- My head is turned about 5 degrees to the right of center.
- I am looking at the ball with my left eye.
- My chin is down.
- My upper back is slumped with a curved spine.
- My right knee is bowed inward.
- My left foot is turned slightly open to the target, and left knee bowed a bit inward.
- My shoulders are rounded forward; feels like
- Feels like someone has jumped out of a horror movie with a Rambo knife, and has jammed it direct into the middle of my shoulder blades and upper back.
- My right elbow feels like it is bowed out about 5 feet, but video shows it to be only 1 inch.

Take 2 video.

7i DTL

Takeaway is much too far inside.
Transition is over-the-top
Pivot doesn't keep moving.

During practice, if I pause at the top for 2-3 seconds, everything comes together nicely; no over-the-top.Gotta figure out how to make the same result when making a full, non-stop swing as is in this video. Whew......I have a loooooong way to go. I do notice a difference in my follow-thru....its a lot higher; I can no longer swing a hybrid, or 5w, or 3w in the basement because of the club now hitting the ceiling. This was not happening in the past.

In the 'Take 3" swing, focusing on the takeaway. Trying to understand why right shoulder keeps rising while taking it back. Gotta do more to keep right shoulder down.

The funniest part of this video is swing #3, where I wanted to really FEEL my elbow jabbing me into my side during the downswing; doing this caused the club to move in towards me, which moved it away from the ball. I hit it just off the toe, and ball went flying sideways and bounced like a pinball around the garage, including into the ceiling above, which is our master bedroom, where my wife is lying in the bed. lol, I thought I had put my eye out. This is where my Mom would have said, "Mr. Anthony, you know we don't hit or throw in this house!!

The part you don't hear is when my wife yells "What are you DOING down there????? The sane people are trying to SLEEP!!!!!!!!"

LOLOLOL!!! I may have to set up a secret camera while I'm practicing to catch her hilarious reactions and comments!

Just got off the phone with Kim. She gave me a speech about having consideration for her sleep. I said "I did consider it lol........I considered that if the birds are chirping, and the sun is up, it's Hogan time!! Do you think Hogan laid in the bed when there was daylight?? lol" Then she requested that I pllllleeeeeaaaase move her truck out of the garage when I am being Mr. Hogan. She then reminded me of the cracked windshield on my own truck. Yeah, I cracked the windshield, but I wasn't practicing; I was doing something totally different………. I was in need of a golf fix (kinda like a drug fix lol). Here's the story:

It had rained non-stop for about a week, and I couldn't get out to the course. I checked the forecast every day hoping to get a round in at some point. The stinking forecaster said the rain would be over late Thursday nite and Friday would be "partly cloudy." Sooo, I took off work on that Friday. Cleaned my clubs and packed my golf bag that Thursday nite. Got up early Friday morn, had a champions breakfast, and headed to West Pines course for a well-needed round of 18. Left home and the skies were clear as spring water. Got closer to the course and it started to get dark. Parked my truck, and it got reeeeeeeal dark. It was about 10am and there was 1 other vehicle in the parking lot. My thinking was “I’m not letting a few dark clouds scare me away…..there WILL be some golf played today!!” Opened my door, put my foot on the ground, and the bottom of the black clouds above fell onto the earth like a stinkin waterfall. I was sooooo determined to play that day, that I got my clubs out, and splashed my way into the clubhouse. I walk in with my shirt and pants glued to me cause of the typhoon outside. The guy at the counter was locking the place up and said “Ummmmmmm……buddy, not gonna happen today. It’s a dang hurricane out there.” Of course, I didn’t hear him, cause I NEEEEEEED to play some golf. I just stood there cold and dripping onto his carpet. I said something stupid like “well, it may just pass over.” There was a television to the right of the counter that had the severe weather beep at the bottom of the screen with a splotch of red over about 3 counties. I stared at him, stared at the tv, stared at the range, stared at the parking lot, then just walked out in disgust. Didn't even say bye. (My apologies to the guy at the counter....my disgust was really for the weather man!) Got back in my truck and headed to Walmart to buy some wiffle balls to hit in the garage. Bought a few bags and headed straight home. Got home and the monsoon was still spitting on everything. I pulled into the garage and set up my "indoor range." I started hitting the plastic, wimpsy, flimsy whiffle balls towards a wooden target about 30 yards from my garage door. (I was hitting in the opposite direction as I am in the Take 3 video). I put up a target and had a pretty good time hitting it, but the balls just made that "whhhhhrrrrrllllllllll" sound with no real bang. I had a splendid idea.......and this is where i went wrong........I thought that since I was hitting the wimpy whiffles direct to the target, with EVERY club, EVERY time, that I would do the same if I hit a real ball. The precautious, adult side of my brain said that I should not hit a hard a$$ed golf ball into the wooden board, but into a nice, thick, safe, bed comforter. Soooooooo, I went upstairs and got one out of the closet. I got a bungee cord and tied it to a couple of yellow hooks that I screwed into the girders. Now if you can picture this, the comforter is MUCH larger than the wooden target on the wall behind it, so logic should say that I was being safe. I teed a Pro V1 up, grabbed my driver, and swung like I was at a Remax long drive championship. I must have been ramped up with adrelanine, cause I pull-hooked it into the concrete brick wall above the washing maching; the ball missed the giant comforter, ricocheted towards my truck, and right into my windshield, which left a nice sparkly crack. The funny part about it was I just stood there trying to figure out what I did to hook it......lol didn't even care about the $300 windshield I just destroyed lol. I can barely type this right now.......still laughing about it LOLOL!! The not-so-funny part of this is, of course, I ended the indoor driving range session, and forgot to take down the comforter. Kim got home and had all kinds of questions about why her comforter was bungeed to the wall. I told her I was "thinking" about hitting a few balls, but I didn't think it was a good idea (wink-wink lol). I eventually told her about it a couple of years later when we had friends over for dinner. We were all sharing funny stories of our marriages. My wife actually laughed about it; I told her the cracked windshield came from a hail storm.

I haven't fixed the windshield yet....maybe I'm keeping it that way as a reminder lol.

Here's my 'Take 4' video. Was experimenting with the famous Hogan concentration drill.
8-22-11. 10:45pm before bed. 7i DTL and FO

After watching this video, I laughed out loud that I had worked for an hour on getting the takeaway kinda in the range I wanted it to be in, and was satisfied for what I had put into it. Then I make a final recording of the full swing (the 'Take 4' swing), and I am nowhere near what I practiced for the hour. Old habits are hard to get rid of. New habits take time and repetition. Will do a few swings in the a.m. and make sure I have an understanding of what the takeaway should feel like..........then practice it for a month......or two......or six...............or thousand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v;=c7GPdyU_xyo

In the 'Take 5" swing, still focusing on the takeaway. Didn't have but a minute to swing this morning; had to take daughter to school for a special function. Once we were about to walk out the door, I literally ran to the basement to get 60sec worth of takeaway on video. This is actually the best way to see what your real swing looks like, just grabbing a club and doing one, single swing, rather than rehearsing with 25 swings to "practice" for a video. I proved this to myself last nite; I did about 200 takeaways until it looked good, then took a 20min water/food break. I came back to record 1 last swing to confirm that the takeaway was perfect, and my muscles lost their memory while I ate grilled chicken, brown rice, and green beans. Or maybe there's something genetically engineered into todays foods that automaatically erases all Hogan swing thoughts lol.

Analysis: still don't understand the correct feeling. Right shoulder is still rising. When I slow things down and compare to Hogan, his right elbow appears to bend the instant the takeaway starts. Mine takes a second for the bend action to start. Even with this "wrong" move of mine, my club is very close to the plane line, but if I'm gonna match Hogan. I need for right shoulder to NOT rise.

Next practice session, I'm gonna focus on the right elbow bend and tweak it till it's right. That's the hard part; what feels right to me does not match what I am trying to do. Just another lesson of "what you feel is not real".

Comparison of me vs Hogan.
- My right elbow is not bending early enough.
- Once my right elbow gets behind my body, it is pointing up. Hogan's is pointing down.

Basically, Hogan's right shoulder is flat during the takeaway, and mine is heading upright.

Got tired of working on the takeaway for the past 2 weeks. Wanted to play around with the full swing. I apologize to everyone following me, as I am not supposed to be thinking about impact till sometimes next year! Couldn't help it...........It has rained for the past week and I can't get to the course. Had to get some swings out of me. Also experimenting with a new camera angle.

I saw a still photograph of Hogan at impact and had an "aaaahhhhhaaaaHHHHHAaaaaa" moment. His supinated left wrist got me veeeeery curious, and I began experimenting with a few things.

My swing has changed dramatically in the past few weeks. I am absolutely smashing the ball into my homemade range. The ball sounds different when hit by the club, and the canvas "pops" when the ball pounds into it. When swinging in my basement, I now cannot complete a full swing because of the club wanting to fly up into the air during the follow-thru. Tearing a nice hole right into my HVAC ducts. I've GOTTA get to the course!!!

Swing is still nowhere near Hogan's, but I am understinding a LOT about his mechanics now!

My goal is only to duplicate the Hogan swing. This is not based on doing what Hogan's book says, or doing what Hogan said, or doing what Hogan's caddy or closest friends said........only to do what I see in his videos.

This is a point that I've had to make a lot over the past month regarding this project.

My method is as basic and simple as can be. Break the video down from all angles. Practice each and every move in a mirror and camera until I have an understanding of what they should look like, then transfer this look into a personal feeling. This is the most important part of the project............finding my own personal feeling. Practicing the waggle and playing it back 1,000 times till I am close, then understanding what the muscles in my arms, feet, back, shoulders, quads, etc feel like while I am doing it. It all becomes muscle memory.

Same concept as giving an 8 year old kid a Michael Jackson or Elvis DVD. After watching is for a few days or weeks, they can jump up and do most of the moves. spot on. No training class, no book, no understanding of what Jackson or Elvis' "intentions" were. Nobody told them what the 5 fundamentals were of moving like Elvis. They just saw it and moved as he did. They probably won't go out and sell millions of records and have hit music videos, but they are able to accurately do the Jackson or Elvis moves.

Same concept as an actor playing a major role, having to duplicate the person to make it believable enough for the audience. Think of any movie you saw where the actor was so convincing that when you left, you commented on how believable they were, from even the smallest details. There are also MANY actors that screwed it all up too, only mastering one particular part of the persons persona; they were spot-on for a minute or two, then lost mental focus and became themselves for a few moments, which just ruined everything.

All my golfing career, I have been told of the "golf bible" written by Hogan. I have never read his 5 Fundemantals book. Once I get as close as I can to his movements, I will purchase the book and read it in detail. I want to see just how much the book matches the muscular movements I have put together. If I am able to match his mechanical movement, I am succeeding.

I have coworkers that are stunned that I haven't read the book yet. One guy actually brought his into the office and slammed it on my desk. He said "BHP" (that's what he call's me now) "how the heck are you going to duplicate the swing and you haven't even read the instruction manual??? What the hell???? You are going at this all wrong. Take the book and keep it as a gift." My response was "thanks for the kind offer, but I kindly wish to submit into evidence the many, many statements from a gazillion Hoganites around the globe saying that they have read the book and they understand what it says in context, but their swing is nowhere near that of Hogan."

So my theory is that if gazillions have depended on reading the book or the magazines to understand/discover the secret move, or secret thought, or secret whatever, and no one has seemed to have accomplished this, then I must take a different approach. I don't want to become person number gazillion-one.

The book would probably help in understanding his method, but I want to gain an understand by actually carrying out the movement I see him doing. I am not sure if my method will help or hurt. I read another post last nite from a guy that is wanting to understand the Hogan "starting down/transition" theory. He said he finally got his hips to move like Hogans on the downswing, and his ball striking improved a great deal, but when he looked back at the book, Hogan said something about the hips start the downswing. Since he was making his move happen using his left foot, he said that he couldn't be right because Hogan said the hips were the way to go, so he tried focusing more on the hip "because Hogan said to"; his swing went to crap shortly thereafter. Said he was back to the drawing board to "gain more understanding on the Hogan hip move."

What the heck???? If his hips started to look like that of Hogan, even if he was mentally thinking of his left foot, why toss it out because the "instruction manual" said otherwise?

And I proudly state that I have put together many projects without ever reading any portion of the instruction manual. My wife can attest to that lol. May have taken me a couple of cylinder heads to realize that if I crank down the rocker arm bolts too tight, the hydraulic lifters will get smashed lol.

Felt like experimenting with the impact area. Here, I am playing around with one of my custom-designed hip n elbow drills.

Tomorrow, one of my golf buddies is coming to town for the day. I FINALLY GET TO GO TO THE COURSE....YEEEEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!!!!!!!!! I get to see what the ball does coming out of the grass instead of from my basement floor. The downside..........I still don't have an iPhone to take to the course to do any recording. Hmmmmmm, I wonder how I would look setting up a laptop on the first tee box??

Yea Reading is over rated man.... Plus that book is going for 10 bucks so pretty expensive.

I will never understand why someone would want to swing like hogan.  Granted he has some good moves but, noone is the same and noone on tour swings exactly like him now.  He worked harder than anyone to maintain that swing. In my opinion I would go with something that has a little less up keep.  Another thing that baffles me is people I always see worshiping hogan and trying to copy him are high handicaps so how does this justify a good swing for us mortals?

I took a survey of all the golfers I came in contact with. At the course, on the range, at work, at the mall, at football games, etc. I asked, "who was known to have the greatest golf swing of all time.......ever?" The name "Hogan" was the winner. So, this is the swing I will work towards. This project has nothing to do with scoring or handicaps.....just to see how close I can come to matching the movements.

Check out Jonathan Byrd. He has a lot of similar positions in his swing.

Thanks Mike. I took a look at Byrd. You are right....there are some similar positions. But there is one glaring difference that I will be focusing on when I get to that phase. The impact area. Hogan was an "angle hinger." His right elbow was bent and stuck to his hip. I don't know how to hit this position yet.

This shouldn't be a thread.

It should be a regularly scheduled program on The Golf Channel.

Well, I finally got to the course on this past Saturday morning and it was outstanding! However it didn't start out that way. I left home an hour early to get plenty of time on the driving range and chipping green. As I drove up, there was the usual Saturday morning line at the 1 ^st tee. I parked, and then walked to the pro shop to pay for 9 holes and a large bucket. I propped my bag against a wall outside the pro shop door, and walked inside to another long line of Nike and Taylor Made capped Men ready to whap at a few balls. As I walked in, there was a grey-haired elderly man sitting at one of the tables. You know, whenever I play at a municipal course, there's ALWAYS one of these dudes somewhere around the place lol!! I stood in the line for about 10 minutes; the elderly dude walked out and stood outside smoking a cigarette. He came back in….and that's where it all started…He said "Hey young buck, that your bag out there?" I said "YES SIR!!"with a LOT of enthusiasm, cause I was excited about getting out of the basement to the outdoors. He responded with "what chu know bout persimmon woods? You don't know nuthin bout that old school stuff." I laughed it off and said "they're just clubs…nothin special………..I'm tryin to learn a little something with them." He chuckled back and said "yeah, don't nobody round here know nuthin bout real wood clubs." That comment got the middle-aged guy behind the counter started. "He he he he…….yep, if you got persimmon in your bag, that means you know something bout the game." These types of comments are what I don't like to hear; people labeling me as some type of "good" player just because I have some wooden clubs in my bag. I paid for my 9 holes and large bucket, and quickly laughed myself right out of there; too much pressure lol. I need to get a special shirt made that I wear to the course that says "I am not a good golfer. I am working towards the swing mechanics of Ben Hogan. I wear these Khaki pants, white shirt, and Hogan hat to help make it easier to analyze and compare my swing to his. I swing with wooden clubs to keep a certain swing feeling, and cause I like how they look. I really have no idea what I am doing. Please do not watch me right now because you will be very disappointed. But you should see me in about a year……..I may surprise you!"

I immediately went to the range and started with my impact-elbow-hip drill. I'm still trying to get Kim to come up with a snazzy name for it; my hope is that it will allow her to become a part of the project. There was one guy on the range with blue shorts and a white shirt. As I walked towards the hitting area, I saw him swatting at balls. From a far-away distance, looked like he was only moving his arms and shoulders, but the ball was flying off the ground like bullets! As I got closer, I noticed all the intricacies of his swing compared to what I am trying to accomplish. Veeeeeeery different; his hips didn't move at all, but he had a consistent strike and the ball was going long……much longer than me. I dropped my bag on the ground and………it started again. He asked how I was doing, then said "whoa, you got real wood clubs lol??" I said, "Yep, just tryin something different today." I always use these clubs, but this is my common response so nobody is waiting to see anything spectacular from me. I worked on the impact-elbow-hip drill for about 15 minutes without a ball, then eased a few balls into the mix. Took some 60% effort swings; the first few went straight, but right, because I forgot to supinate the left wrist and pull the left shoulder back. When I did remember the left wrist/shoulder, flight was in the middle and acceptable.

I then went to the chipping area to do what I enjoy the most: to see how many I can chip in. Today it was 2 out of 20 minutes worth. I made it a point to over-exaggerate the impact-elbow-hip drill while chipping each ball. Looked just like what I am doing in the 'Take 7' video, except it's a small chipping movement, but same head down/hip thrust/left foot stomp/left knee snap/left shoulder roll-around. I probably looked ridiculous out there lol. My right side began to pain a little, because I am getting so crunched, and because it is a movement I have never done before a couple of days ago. As a bead of sweat began to drop from my nose, I wiped it on my sleeve and looked up towards the clubhouse back door. There was the old guy still puffing on the cigarette with one hand in his pocket staring at me. He yelled out "yah, I see ya down there…….you know what you're doin young buck lol……. I yelled back "nah, not really……I'm still tryin to figure it out!" That's when I picked up all the range balls and headed over to the upper putting green to check the green speed, but mainly to get out of his view lol.

Greens were medium speed. I waited for Bruce and Larry to arrive. While I waited, I sat at a bench on a hill above/behind the 1 ^st tee box and watched the crowd of 5 carts and lots of walkers. I took note of everyone's practice swing and real swing, pointing out what they are doing that is in line with my goal. I noticed the younger guys (18-30ish) seemed to swing as hard as they could, and most of their balls curved right. Most of the older veterans (50-60ish) swung smooth and easy; most balls went down the middle or drew left. Note to self: get the mindset of an old veteran!

Bruce and Larry finally arrived and we met at the first tee. The crowd that was initially there had teed off and were well into the 2nd hole. It was surprising that it was not busy at 10:22am on a Saturday morn. First thing Larry says when he walks up is "MAN! You got real wood clubs. LOLOLOL! I gotta see this! You might make me get mine out of the closet!" Bruce says, "uhhhh, it will surprise you….I wish he would get rid of 'em….he's taken my money for the past month lol!" Bruce was right, but my improvement had nothing to do with the club, just the mechanics I am working on. We toss up a tee to select hitting order; it's Bruce, Larry, then me. Bruce hits a driver that pushes right, but is in-bounds. As we laugh aloud and comment on how lucky he is to be in bounds, 4 carts pull up and 3 more walkers with push carts. A minute ago, there was no one around, now the whole world. But I didn't mind because I had been on the range practicing my drill, and on the chipping area doing the same, so I had an idea of what the new swing feeling was. Almost my turn up at the plate! Larry is doing a bunch of practice swings and getting ready to hit his driver; his ball went towards where Bruce's was. Then it started again. One of the older lookin dudes standing behind his push cart said "you swingin real woods my man?"

I said "yah, just figured I would try somethin different today." He asked what it was and if he could see it. I handed him the 3wood and he swung it a few times. His buddy laughed and said "you can barely swing that $300 nike in ya bag. What you gonna do wit real wood!?" Then of course he told his friend, who started commenting about the clubs, then the guy next to him, then a wildfire lol. Everybody was talking about wooden clubs and how the game has changed. Then the worst part: the dude in the hawaiian looking shirt said "come on, give my man his club and let him do his thing. He didn't bring real wood out here for nuthin. Trust me, I saw him on the chipping green swingin it just like Ben Hogan. I ain't lying….."

I tried to offset the comment by saying "lol nooooooo, it's just the hat. My swing is nowhere near Hogan lol." This is when I wanted to be at home in the basement with just me and the crickets and spiders. If you've seen my post about the Taylor Made Tour bag, you will know what I am talking about. I seem to have issues with people expecting me to do a certain thing or perform a certain way based on the type of equipment or clothing I have on. When I finish the Hogan swing project, I'm gonna start a Ben Hogan Golf Mindset Project lol…..how to cancel out the gallery on the first tee box! I walked up to the white blocks and tried my best to stay focused on the elbow/hip/impact drill. Dropped a ball on the ground and did a few practice drills. I didn't swing all the way around my body; just enough to keep the elbow/hip/thrust feeling. I don't tee balls up if I'm swinging 3wood or smaller, cause when I'm on the fairway, no tees are allowed. I treat the tee box as just another fairway; gives me more fairway practice that way. I walked into the ball just as I've practiced the past few weeks. I did the waggle a few times, then set my left foot forward of my right about 1" closer to the target line, then right foot perpendicular to target line. The right knee was bent in a little, just as I had practiced. With my head down, I took the club back, and loaded my right side, and swung through with the elbow/hip thrust feeling I had practiced on the chipping green. I don't remember seeing the club make contact with the ball/ground (I gotta look into this…….as I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen the club make contact with the ball….what the heck am I looking at when I swing???? Maybe my eyes just roll around in my head or something lol!!!! Gonna get one of those high speed cameras and put it on my eyes !). Well, surprisingly, the ball went straight right with a nice high trajectory and landed just a little farther than Bruce and Larry. It was on a side-hill about 10 yards from OOB. I think it went right because I forgot to supinate during the downswing / impact area. One thing I do distinctly remember is the feeling of the drill movement during the swing, and that as I saw the ball heading on an ok path, I did the Hogan finish, where he falls back on the right heel, then steps forward on the left foot towards the target; kind of an out of balance adjustment he makes.

The Hawaiian shirt guy then says "I TOLD YA! My man can swing that wood!" That's about all I did was swing it. Really all I did was get lucky under pressure lol. Wish I had that on camera to analyze. Want to know what my left wrist/hand was doing at impact, as well as the overall areas I have been working on night and day.

I got better with the supination as we played along. A quick note on this supination attempt; I'm not sure if I should be trying to do this or if I should be doing something else to make it happen on its own. I'll know when I officially get to that part of the project. After a while, the swing started to feel "natural". Now it definitely wasn't perfect. I had my fair share of mis-hits and flubs, but overall, it was gooooooood because based on "feeling", I was doing what I had been drilling all week. My 9-hole score of 44 was nothing to be writing home about, but I did beat Bruce by 13 strokes…..again lol.

WOW! Can't believe I've rambled so much! Sorry for throwing so much at ya in one post.

More good news….THE IPHONE HAS BEEN ORDERED AND IS ON ITS WAY!!!!!!!!!