I know there is a Hogan thread, but thought I would start a more general thread of thoughts that come to mind from time to time on golf swings from the steel age.
This Hogan swing has always fascinated me. My understanding is that it is preaccident/post secret.
He is firmer at the top than when he gets older. He moves his weight more vigorously to his left (when he moves it), and couples that with lightening fast pivot. The teacher does a good job of isolating that. And he cuts it left better than he does later. This is holding the X while cutting left better than any other swing I have ever seen!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVUNjq6Urrg[/youtube]
One of the key things I noticed is that as he moves from transition into the down swing, his hips bump left but his head stays back increasing his spine angle (deepening his bow to the 4:30 line). The analyst is saying he is moving his weight onto his left side at this point, but I see it as he is beginning to pressure into his right foot. Applying pressure while maintaining the right leg angle will cause your hips to bump left. This is where I used to get in trouble because I would allow my head to follow my hips and get my weight over to the left too early and come OTT.
Les,
I agree on the weight transfer. It shifts when he pivots, not before. I noticed you put up a swing on SITD. One thing that will help you is mod 2 with the board. I suspect it is a flexibility issue, but you want to feel down in that inside of the right foot, and resist having the heel pop out and around. Lengthening and stretching the inside muscles of your right leg will help you there. A good checkpoint at the finish is you don’t want your right heel to be outside the toe. Many of the greats never have the heel come up to the level of the toe.
Grady,
That swing was actually from back in November before I started the program. It was illustrative of the issues I used to have before starting this program. Just a way to be constructive and help me understand just what the heck is all this C-Motion crap. Now I understand it better.
One thing I think I am understanding about that is the left side “takes care of itself”. I can see that to a degree, but if you don’t actively work the pivot and holding off the release, one would never reach the nirvana of retaining shaft pressure through the finish.
Here is close to where my current swing is:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtx-y0_hEo[/youtube]
That is better, but I want you to try and swing all the way to the finish and maintain that pressure on the inside of the foot. It is ok if you roll over to the ball of the foot and the heel comes up, just don’t let the heel roll over.
Here are you:
Here is our first fearless leader:
Now our second fearless leader, actually pressures the right foot behind the left. That is taking it to a whole nuthr level, but there is no way to come OTT with that move:
In my view the right side of the body never gives up the 4:30 line. The left pulls the upper torso around, but the right side is always oriented down that line IMO.
Thanks Grady. Yes, when I took that video my thoughts were, “where the heck is my Mod 2”? I continue to work on that with lots of Mod 2 and Mod 3 drilling.
The stills you show of John and Bradley are showing great intentions and I will attempt to incorporate those.
The basic ABS point that I think is valid is you NEVER give up your pressures all the way to the top, and it is a good intention to hold on to them as you watch the ball in flight. Believe me that is a workout to do a range session doing that. The core, the muscles along the insides of the legs and the pressure in the hands to hold wristcock and point the club straight up to the sky rather than around or behind you.
I had to laugh at the comments over in Thunderdome where they were saying if you could lift a club you had enough strength to hit properly. No way you can hold onto these pressures and counteract the forces with wimpy forearms and no core strength.
Guys, sorry if this is a little basic, but can someone describe better the pressures that we are trying hold onto? Are they the pressures I feel when i rotate my forearms to get the club around me/to the 430 line? I guess a feel that I have been having success with lately is to really feel like I am rotating my forearms cw hard in transition, and keep this forearm rotation and accompanying wrist c0ck held all the way thru the strike. It almost feels like I am having my left palm facing at the ball on the way down, and I am giving literally zero thought to how I am going to release the angles thru mod 1, but for whatever reason my body seems to be able to do that automatically, and I have been hitting it better and better as Mod 1 has gotten stronger.
In Mod 1, the big pressures I felt was just the pressure of the club against my right index finger. That is for me a key feel in that is how I know I am pressuring the shaft. I try to hang onto that feeling all the way to my finish. In Mod 2 we begin to develop awareness of lower body pressures as well. And I am finding in Mod 3 that these ground pressures I am feeling I also need to hang on to all the way to the finish. I am finding as I progress through the modules that I am eliminating any slack feelings in my body at every portion of the swing.
Also, I like your description of how you feel the left hand facing palm down. I use the opposite feeling of my right palm face up as long as I can until it is time to fire the hands. All good stuff.
Raven’s this would a good one for John or Bradley to comment on, but I will take a shot. The pressure you feel when you CW in transition is very correct. However, from there (p3) you begin the firing sequence by rotating CCW and then fire the pivot. To square it with just the pivot would be a complete hold off block. Some teach that. Those methods have your shoulders very open at impact. ABS has you save that shoulder rotation for post impact. So the firing sequence would be CCW forearm rotation and immediately thereafter pivot. I tend to feel the CCW rotation in my left forearm only and feel the right hold, but others may feel other things. But you must use the ground to leverage the pivot. So you should feel very down in the feet and a real squeeze in the inside muscles of the legs and core.
Thanks guys, this is all very helpful. So would a 35000 foot view of ABS kind of be: Backswing, Transition (which Mod 2 helps with), then get to 430 line, fire forearms CCW (which is MOD 1), then fire the pivot to keep the face more square to the path post impact/not let the club pass the hands (Which I presume is Mod 3)?
Yes, correct,
but this would be for drilling purposes to learn the sequence of the firing.
One could not possibly think about these things on the downswing.
All we ever want to think and feel during the golf swing is the shape and intention of the golf shot.
When drilling, pressure down into the right foot to change the direction of the golf club.
From there with the club on the 4:30 line, feel a strong forearm rotation changing the direction of the club from 4:30 to the back of the ball. From there it’s all torso rotation over to P4. You shouldn’t feel any hand or forearm action from impact to P4.
Thanks a bunch Les, NFBandon, and Lag, this is all very helpful! Also, Lag’s comments touched on another question of mine that I might as well ask: Should I not be thinking about applying the mod work while hitting balls? In other words, is it best to drill to learn the feels of the mods, but when hitting balls, let the feels naturally filter in rather than consciously apply them?
I think building a bridge between drills is a challenge in the program, and I will hit balls with the drills in mind. NEVER think about this stuff on the golf course or when you are practicing playing golf on the range. If you are on the range to work on your swing, however, I think doing the drills with a golf ball in front of you is a good idea.
Mod 1, 2 and 3:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yJclxmIdjc[/youtube]
Haven’t done that in a while. I think I need to go back and do it regularly. 
Robbo left us, but posted this over on Thunderdome. This is a Texas golf great, Jackie Cupit, who played the tour back in the 60s and early 70s. Very nice slotting and action through.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rICC0mGPWVs[/youtube]
Just did a range session today after being about 8 weeks into Mod 3. To me I look more cohesive and am getting much better rotation through the ball. Still need to get more Mod 2 into my swing and start working on some downward pressures at transition. But then that is what the other modules are for.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sptGP04If4[/youtube]
Les Mod 3 has really tightened things up in your swing. Good work.