Thoughts on Ben Hogan

RangeRat · November 12, 2012, 2:48pm

Just a day late for Veteran’s Day…but better late than never…hats off to those both past and present.

Always liked this image about the shoulders internally oriented at address, with a concave chest feel…like naval radar seeking out the enemy.

NRG · January 13, 2013, 12:54pm

“Look at Harry Vardon. I want to critique what I see here and there is a little bit of Harry Vardon’s
swing in every good player that I have ever seen in my life. Let’s start down at the feet. I’m not here
to give a golf lesson, but I’m telling you what I see in people’s swings and what will work and what
won’t work. Look at his feet. His left toe is pointed out; it isn’t in, it’s pointed out. And his right toe
is pointed in; it isn’t pointed out. And even though he’s taken a swing and he’s relaxed his finish just
a little bit, he has his lower body turned to the left. That’s the direction that he’s going and that’s
the direction that his feet are in. He wants to go - he’s a right-handed golfer, as a matter of fact

and he wants to go in that direction. Now he wants to have all of his power in that direction. He
doesn’t want it to back up on him. He’s putting his body in a position and his hands and his arms to
hit the ball straight and far. You’ll notice his finish with his left elbow down, even though the finish
is relaxed somewhat. Now, in order for him to get there, he must rotate the left arm as he comes
through and the left elbow will be down. If you don’t rotate it, it will be out here. Now the physics
book tells us that in order to hit a propellant far and straight, you must have greater speed after you
hit the propellant than before you hit it, or at contact with the propellant. Now, relating to a golf
swing, you must have greater speed beyond the swing beyond the hit, than you did when you hit it.
And the physics book tells us that it will go straighter and farther. Well, I’ve tried that, and it works.
Another thing, I want you to rotate your left arm coming through, and you can even start it back up
here if you want to because you can’t have the speed beyond the ball unless your elbow is turned

your arm, your left arm, is turned. You will hit a straighter ball and it will go farther. If it doesn’t
we’ll sue the physics book … just think about and practice things that have been laid down for this
hundred years…”

slight_fade · January 13, 2013, 2:40pm

NRG, who are you quoting?

dairic · January 13, 2013, 3:09pm

Pretty sure thats from the 2008 Ben Hogan calendar. Included within it is Hogan’s speech from June 1988.

This one I think
amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000WJ0GL … 1_1&sr=8-1

He clearly discribes how he values acceleration through impact and left arm supination through impact and up to the finish.

NRG · January 14, 2013, 4:24pm

Hogan 2.gif

lagpressure · January 14, 2013, 6:28pm

The right arm is not driving straight as most think. The left knee is not locking up either. Two key elements there of
Hogan’s action.

Thanks for posting.

NRG · January 14, 2013, 11:55pm

Another clear view of Hogans right arm through impact.

lagpressure · January 15, 2013, 5:09am

Camera angles can be very deceptive. For instance here, in the second frame we are looking more at the back of the right arm as it moves more in a circle and works left. You can see how hard the left shoulder moves away from the ball. It appears that the right arm is straightening more than it is… but this is because we are looking more at the back of the elbow than the side of the elbow in the first frame.

The great thing you can see here is how everything is moving together. Hips, torso, shoulders, hands are all working in nearly perfect unison. This concept is falling on deaf ears with the modern golf swing. Generally speaking, the body simply can’t turn fast enough to support the velocity requirements of today’s professional expectations. The body works better at slower speeds, but higher thrust. This is what the great ball strikers of the past did.

dairic · January 15, 2013, 7:29am

Here are some swings from 1953 and 1965. Here you can see the right elbow disconnect from the body right after impact. I’ve only seen this when he’s wielding a wood or a long iron. With shorter irons the disconnection is for the most part not discernible.

ben animation.gif

apples2967 · January 15, 2013, 8:06am

I would think, speed, acceleration and dynamics would make it impossible to keep the right elbow glued to the right hip, post impact. IMO

Steve

dairic · January 15, 2013, 4:16pm

It’s interesting because I’ve only found footage of him doing this after his accident. In his Power Golf days his connection appears to be much tighter, although good quality video is more difficult to come by from that era.

lagpressure · January 15, 2013, 6:22pm

If a camera were moving from A to B to C then you would have a more accurate depiction of the right arm.
There may very well be some “daylight” if the camera were on the “A” line.

It has to be understood that the torso is rotating around in a circular fashion, while the camera is not.

What you can compare is how Hogan might look compared to others players, and in this case Hogan I am sure is tighter with the right elbow and less straightening is going on than just about anyone I have ever seen.

lbcyp · January 17, 2013, 3:17pm

I think its impressive how tightly packed he was able to keep the right arm to his body through impact and limit it straightening out especially considering he’s hitting a 3wood here. Its pretty easy to keep the right arm tight to the body and bent post impact with short irons or partial shots but i havent seen not many players do it this well with longer clubs.

lagpressure · January 18, 2013, 6:02am

If you know what to look for…
it is a rare thing of beauty for sure.

dairic · January 19, 2013, 4:30pm

Here’s what I think is 1948 Los Angeles open showing again that that sucker is bent. Seems to be independent wrist roll even with bend arm?

dairic · January 19, 2013, 4:46pm

because he needs to get to this at some point

RangeRat · January 19, 2013, 7:30pm

Flexible wrists and strong hands make for a good combination.

Don’t know if this is a ying-yang symbol, simply a coupler, or a method of controlling forces and slack, but whatever it is, it is solid with flexibility while keeping vertical travel to a minimum. Check out how trains handle slack during both forward and backward travel from the station…interesting stuff if you believe Hogan hit the ball with the caboose.

lagpressure · January 21, 2013, 5:20pm

Pulling the sword from the stone

Paul_C · January 21, 2013, 5:40pm

And would you say that flexing the right knee and maintaining spine tilt late into P4 provides the leverage to pull that club out and around?

nfbandon · January 21, 2013, 6:50pm

Paul C,

Good to see you pop up again. Great GIF isn’t it. I have been watching it over and over…letting is sink in…the aggressiveness is amazing…and he was mid50s here. The sword gets a lot harder to pull with this short an arm travel and this fast a BS.