"Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" by Ben Hogan

[alansmithdc]

How do I create maximum separation?

[alansmithdc]

In the above video, I noticed his right foot is flared out. Not like the right foot position he advocates in Five Lessons where he said such a foot position would cause too much hip turn on the backswing. Hmm. A contradiction.

[Jon]

David Leadbetter, discussess this on page 34 of his book (The Fundamentals of Hogan) and acknowledges that in all the photo's he has seen of Hogan at address, he does seem to turn the right foot out a little.

[alansmithdc]

Perhaps he had to flare it out a little bit as he got older. I took your advice on the secret being in Five Lessons. I think I found how to create maximum seperation, torsion, in the golf swing. Sure enough, Hogan shows us how to do it. Just like "Little Grasshopper" in the old television show Kung Fu, with David Carridine, I went back to the teachings of the master. Thanks:)

[yimpydimpy]

My favorite (and only) golf book I have and I love it. I probably skim through it once a week with a complete read maybe once every few months. I always find something that helps me out.

[alansmithdc]

I know. It is amazing how one can learn something new every time one reads it. It is the Holy Grail of golf. I videotaped my swing. Truthfully, and I'm not bragging, because if I can do it, anyone can do it, but I am making all of the same motions Hogan did in his swing. My friend, a great golfer who easily hits it 300 yards, straight down the middle of the fairway, not into the trees lining the fairway, agreed that I was making all the same motions as Hogan. It is funny. Looking at all the videotapes of golfers who claim to swing like Hogan, or teach a method to swing like Hogan,none of them look like a Hogan swing. I have only found one golfer, Luther Blacklock, http://www.lutherblacklock.co.uk/previews.php?preview=1 who resembles Hogan's swing. But even Luther's hip action is not like Hogan's especially after Hogan 1957. Perhaps I need to write an instruction book, film an instructional DVD, teach at world class resorts around the world, and have a show on The Golf Channel called The Smith Project. Where I take 15 plus handicap golfers and have them swinging like Hogan in no time.

[alansmithdc]

I have been pondering the meaning of "Dig it out of the Dirt". Taking a literal meaning to the phrase, , we are too dig the golf ball out of the dirt, using the blade of our golf club as a shovel. I know others say it means to practice a bunch. But, if we are all practicing the wrong things, then what good is it too practice a lot. I find when I try to dig it out of the dirt with the blade of my iron, I get a nice sounding contact with the ball and a nice straight ball flight.

[Keep It Simple]

I have only found one golfer, Luther Blacklock, who resembles Hogan's swing. But even Luther's hip action is not like Hogan's especially after Hogan 1957.

I don't see much resemblance to Hogan's swing at all. A better example is Ryo Ishikawa's swing.

[Jon]

I have been pondering the meaning of "Dig it out of the Dirt". Taking a literal meaning to the phrase, , we are too dig the golf ball out of the dirt, using the blade of our golf club as a shovel. I know others say it means to practice a bunch. But, if we are all practicing the wrong things, then what good is it too practice a lot. I find when I try to dig it out of the dirt with the blade of my iron, I get a nice sounding contact with the ball and a nice straight ball flight.

"Dig it out of the Dirt" Is this a quote from the book?

[tm22721]

According to Hogan afficionados who shall remain nameless, Martin Ayers has supposedly gone beyond Hogan using Hogan's recipe of constant experimentation. I am not enough of an expert to confirm their assertion. But DOCF has finally dropped me into high single digits after a frustrating two year plateau. I know it gets much harder from here.

[alansmithdc]

NO. Got it from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/27/sp...l?pagewanted=1

Hard to tell from the camera angle, but it looks like Ryo may break the glass on his back swing, especially near the top.

[Jon]

NO. Got it from the NY Times.

Thanks Alan, interesting article, puts Hogan into a little better perspective.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Life magazine published an article in Ben Hogan’s secret in its August 8, 1955 issue. In it, Hogan said his secret, which came to him when he was laying awake one night trying to figure out how to stop hooking, was the old technique of pronation - rolling the hands to the right on the backswing and back to their original position at impact. He made two further adjustments. The first was to weaken his grip by one-eighth to one-quarter inch. The second, which he said was the real meat of the secret, was to cock, or cup, the left wrist by four to six degrees on the backswing. Doing all this opened his clubface to the “widest possible extreme at the top of the swing” and made his swing hook-proof. No matter how hard he swung, the club could not close fast enough to square up at impact, leaving him with a lovely (his word) fade.

He also said, “I doubt if it will be worth a doggone to the weekend golfer and it will ruin a bad golfer. With the club so wide open at the top of the backswing anybody who fails to close it properly on the way down will push the ball off to the right – or worse yet, shank it off to the right at a horrible right angle. But it will be a blessing to the good golfer.”

None of this, by the way, is mentioned in Five Lessons .

[alansmithdc]

I am trying to find the article I read. It talked about Hogan revealing the true secret after the Life magazine secret reveal. I think Sports Illustrated made the offer. But when Hogan wanted more money than the offer, they turned him down. Just adds to the Hogan Mystique.

[The Recreational Golfer]

It was Golf Digest. The whole point of Hogan's secret, and his motivation for developing it, was to prevent himself from hitting the right-to-left ball. It was his genius that elevated that correction into some of the best ball-striking in history.

[Topdog]

This book is a classic.

Written nearly 60 years ago and with just the right amount of instruction for each section of the swing not to bog the average golfer down with to many swing thoughts.

Lots of nice /simple drawings to help explain different swing possitions.

It is still a great book in 2010 so it must have been like a golfing bible in the 1950's.

This book and the man himself will live on for every in all who have read it.

[alansmithdc]

Hogan talked about opening the clubface throughout his backswing, cupping his left wrist and moving his left arm across his chest. When I attempt to do this manuever, my hands end up well below the swing plane. Any thoughts?

[The Recreational Golfer]

Where does he talk about that? None of that is in Five Lesssons that I can find. There is a good backswing sequence on page 121 that you can copy, though, in which you can see how he does points 2 and 3. Not sure about your first point, though.