My New Project To Swing Like Ben Hogan

[hoganswing]

[quote name='Timanator' timestamp='1410201874' post='10085001']
Really good thread, Hogan's lower body dominated that swing. Hist hips turned around pulling everything down and back to the left. The Guy from MSE has a good swing, but it is a different release, and not a pivot dominated swing. Look at the right elbow at impact and the amount of hip opening at impact compared to mr Hogan on the right.
[/quote]

I think if you did a full analysis of that MSE guy you would find a lot of differences to Hogan.

[hoganswing]

Here are my findings on how far away Ben Hogan stood from the ball along with information on what Ben did with his arms and hands at setup.

 

Ben Hogan said in ‘Five Lessons’ that the shorter the shaft, the closer the player must stand to the ball. So with a driver you have the club the furthest away and a wedge is pretty close. Here are some pictures of Hogan doing this.

 

Driver

 

 

3 Wood

 

 

 

4 Wood

 

 

4 Iron

 

 

6 Iron

 

 

7 Iron

 

 

Wedge

 

 

So that's a summary of the distance Ben would stand from the ball. Let's now look at what he did with his arms and hands.

 

In his book, Five Lessons, Ben Hogan covers quite a bit about the arms. He starts by saying that at any time in your swing one arm is straight OR fully extended. He says this must be the case to create the biggest arc possible to get the most distance possible. Hogan taught that the left arm must be straight at address and remain straight through the backswing, while the right arm folds in at the elbow; then on the downswing the left arm remains fully extended and the right arm gradually straightens. At about a foot past the ball both arms are straight, and then the right arm remains straight while the left arm folds in at the elbow.

 

So the left arm should be straight at setup. And Ben makes a special note to say that the arms should NOT be locked or stiff.

 

Next in the book Ben tells us that the closer you have the arms together, the better they will operate as one unit. And there’s an image in ‘Five Lessons’ with Ben’s elbows close together and his arms bound. Here is that picture:

 

 

Before we look at whether Ben did this or not, I want to also mention that Ben said the upper part of the arms should be pressed very tightly against the sides of the chest. And Ben said that he did that so much that a person would have to exert a great force to wedge them apart. He also said that the elbows should be tucked in, not stuck out from the body, and the left elbow should point at the left hip bone and the right elbow should point at the right hip bone.

 

Ben says that you want to press your elbows as closely together as possible, and the pocket of each elbow should face the sky with the left arm being straight and the right arm broken a little.

 

So that’s quite a bit of detail about the arms! But did Ben actually do this? Well, here are some pictures of Ben at address.

 

 

 

It’s clear to me that Ben didn’t have his elbows close together. He may have had his upper arms tightly glued to his chest, but his arms were a natural distance apart. They were not close together like he instructed to do in ‘Five Lessons’. Also, his right arm, rather than being tucked in, was actually on top of his left arm when you looked down the line and was quite a bit away from his side. Here are a couple of pictures showing this:

 

 

 

I will be doing what Ben Hogan actually did, rather than what he said to do in ‘Five Lessons’. But one thing he doesn’t talk about in ‘Five Lessons’ is where to position the hands at address. From the research I’ve done, he appears to have the hands in the middle of his body. Here are some pictures showing this.

 

 

 

 

From my research of what Ben Hogan did at setup here are the points that I will be trying to emulate.

 

1. Left arm straight, yet relaxed.

 

2. Right arm relaxed and away from the body, so it’s on top of the left arm when looking down the line.

 

3. The club/hands in the middle of the body.

[Timanator]

Good stuff!

[ej002]

[quote name='Redjeep83' timestamp='1409938507' post='10070909']
[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1409936289' post='10070685']
[quote name='Redjeep83' timestamp='1409926502' post='10069621']
whats interesting is he has his right knee bent in at address but doesnt push his hip forward (reverse K). Notice his left hip doesnt line up with his left shoulder.
[/quote]

Who would line up like that, the SnT dopes? Even they learned that they couldn't do that.
[/quote]

Ive heard many instructors, non SnT guys, say to bump your left hip foward and kick right knee in for reverse k. Have your left shoulder line up with your hip. For instance see vid below, this is a very common teaching. It never worked for me very well

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZuvykYxmvs"]https://www.youtube....h?v=tZuvykYxmvs[/url]
[/quote]

Slice is the reverse k poster boy and the left hip is supposed to be 3-5 inches inside the left ankle and the torso tilted at approximately 8* away from the target. So left foot / hip / shouldr don't line up. Nobody lines up like that. Am I misreading something?

[ej002]

Distance from the ball was dictated by his height - he wanted full ulnar deviation - so to do that he had to stand far from the ball. If he was 6'2" he would be closer and more upright lie angles

[hoganswing]

It looks to me as though he's very close to the ball. And compared to where I was at the beginning of this project, I am now standing a lot closer than I was.

[ej002]

Furyk is close - he is not. Full Uncock left wrist at set up will give u a good spot

[MK7Golf21]

[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1410579417' post='10110301']
[quote name='Redjeep83' timestamp='1409938507' post='10070909']
[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1409936289' post='10070685']
[quote name='Redjeep83' timestamp='1409926502' post='10069621']
whats interesting is he has his right knee bent in at address but doesnt push his hip forward (reverse K). Notice his left hip doesnt line up with his left shoulder.
[/quote]

Who would line up like that, the SnT dopes? Even they learned that they couldn't do that.
[/quote]

Ive heard many instructors, non SnT guys, say to bump your left hip foward and kick right knee in for reverse k. Have your left shoulder line up with your hip. For instance see vid below, this is a very common teaching. It never worked for me very well

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZuvykYxmvs"]https://www.youtube....h?v=tZuvykYxmvs[/url]
[/quote]

Slice is the reverse k poster boy and the left hip is supposed to be 3-5 inches inside the left ankle and the torso tilted at approximately 8* away from the target. So left foot / hip / shouldr don't line up. Nobody lines up like that. Am I misreading something?
[/quote]

I never said anything about the ankle lining up, where did I say that? Slice does teach left hip and left shoulder lining up by bumping hip forward a touch and kicking right knee in, tilts the upper body more

[tembolo1284]

Keep this going. It's a great thread!

[hoganswing]

I have given out a lot of information about Ben Hogan and the way he setup so I thought it would be a good idea to put a summary of the main points into one post. So here goes (the headings are click-able links to my website with a lot more information about each setup aspect):

 

Ben Hogan’s Golf Grip

 

This is pretty straight forward. Ben used a standard overlapping Harry Vardon grip. He had a neutral grip before the crash and then weakened it after the crash.

 

 

So if you want to swing like Ben Hogan you need a neutral/weak Harry Vardon overlapping grip.

 

Ben Hogan’s Feet Placement And Positioning

 

There is a heck of a lot to do with feet placement and positioning. Here were the 5 main points I covered.

 

1. Feet positioning - Both feet should be turned out. The left foot about 35 – 40 degrees. The right foot about 25 – 30 degrees. This is for the driver and longer clubs. For shorter clubs Ben did seem to have his right foot more square.

 

2. Weight distribution – Evenly distributed, but the weight on the inside of the right foot so it appears as though there’s more weight on the left side. The weight should be more on the heels of the feet so you can lift the toes inside your shoes.

 

3. Ball Position – Just inside the left heel and err on the side of further back in the stance.

 

4. Alignment – Closed stance for driver and long irons, a square stance for mid irons, and then an open stance for short irons.

 

5. Feet width – Shoulder width for a 5 iron and then gradually getting slightly wider with each club until the driver which is the widest. Then from the 5 iron the stance will get slightly narrower for each shorter club.

 

Ben Hogan’s Knees At Setup

• Point your right knee in at setup. Have slightly less flex in your left knee.
  
• Have a flex of between 156 to 164 degrees for all shots.
  
• Open knee alignment
  

Ben Hogan’s Clubface Alignment At Setup

• Square to slightly open
  

Ben Hogan’s Hips At Setup

• The left hip slightly higher than the right, and the hips slightly open.
  

Ben Hogan’s Back Angle At Setup

 

Use these measurements as a guide for the back angle at setup:

 

Ben Hogan – Driver

 

Back Angle Only: 168

Back Angle To Head: 57

 

Ben Hogan – Fairway Wood

 

Back Angle Only: 154

Back Angle To Head: 56

 

Ben Hogan – Four Iron

 

Back Angle Only: 152

Back Angle To Head: 51

 

Ben Hogan – Six Iron

 

Back Angle Only: 150

Back Angle To Head: 50

 

Ben Hogan – Wedge

 

Back Angle Only: 150

Back Angle To Head: 50

• Have your spine angled about 10 degrees away from the target.
  

Ben Hogan’s Shoulders At Setup

• Shoulders a fraction open at address so you can see some of your left arm when you look from down the line.
  
• Shoulders tilted 8 – 10 degrees at setup when you look face on.
  

Ben Hogan’s Head At Setup

• Let your head bend down naturally from the neck at address.
  
• Have your head moved a fraction horizontal at address.
  
• Have your head turned slightly to the right at address.
  

Ben Hogan’s Club Distance From Body At Setup

• Driver – line from the right hand up just to the right of the ear when looking from down the line.
  
• Mid-Iron – line from the right hand up just to the left of the ear when looking from down the line.
  
• Short Iron – line from the right hand up through the neck when looking from down the line.
  

Ben Hogan’s Arms And Hands At Setup

• Left arm relaxed.
  
• Right arm relaxed and away from the body so it’s on top of the left when looking down the line.
  
• The club in the middle of the body.
  

So that’s a summary of how to setup like Ben Hogan. It’s been fun putting all of this together.

[hoganswing]

Ben Hogan was known for having a fast tempo. And I read in the Tour Tempo book that he swung at a 21/7 tempo. So I got that tempo and matched it up with Ben's swing and the result is in the video below. Enjoy!

[media=]http://youtu.be/vdaGLW0sTfQ[/media]

[Pinsplitter59]

well i wonder about that. i just put one his driver swings in an editing program (Premiere) coz you get an accurate timeline.
his backswing was 13 frames, downswing to impact 5 frames i.e 0.54 secs and 0.21 secs. (24 frames per second is standard movie camera speed).
so that's a 1:2.6 ratio, quite a bit different to 1:3 as claimed.

Takeaway to impact 0.75 seconds, that's pretty quick alright.
By comarison McIlroy driver i checked is 14 frames backswing : 8 frames downswing.
That's 1:1.75 ratio , much smaller ratio, but 0.92 seconds total time, much slower than Hogan.
Tour tempo sounds like nonsense.
Also be careful of those vids that have been stretched to 16:9 format, the original film was most likely 16mm format 1.33:1 (or 4:3 as in old TV talk).

[hoganswing]

[quote name='Pinsplitter59' timestamp='1411946104' post='10201839']
well i wonder about that. i just put one his driver swings in an editing program (Premiere) coz you get an accurate timeline.
his backswing was 13 frames, downswing to impact 5 frames i.e 0.54 secs and 0.21 secs. (24 frames per second is standard movie camera speed).
so that's a 1:2.6 ratio, quite a bit different to 1:3 as claimed.

Takeaway to impact 0.75 seconds, that's pretty quick alright.
By comarison McIlroy driver i checked is 14 frames backswing : 8 frames downswing.
That's 1:1.75 ratio , much smaller ratio, but 0.92 seconds total time, much slower than Hogan.
Tour tempo sounds like nonsense.
Also be careful of those vids that have been stretched to 16:9 format, the original film was most likely 16mm format 1.33:1 (or 4:3 as in old TV talk).
[/quote]

Good stuff. Do you know of a better alternative to Tour Tempo?

[Pinsplitter59]

I didn't know what Tour Tempo was, looked it up, looks great only $2000 for 2 days tuition.
So you got a thing that beeps at you to start your backswing and downswing and impact, how do you factor in the lag between hearing the beep and physically doing something?
http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/courses/1230jbasey/abstracts%202005/5.htm says average reaction time to sound is 0.26 seconds,
so then you have to have the same reaction time to the second beep to keep in "tempo", but then the impact beep is not about reaction time at all, its trying to consciously know where the club head is at the 3rd beep, hmmm sounds impossible to actually do.
Alternative? no idea!
Maybe just check your swing against Hogan in an editing program.
The difference between McIlroy and Hogan is amazing actually, thanks for stimulating me to look at it, Hogan is at impact when McIlroy's hands are still shoulder high on downswing (I can't upload pics or vid coz i have finished my allowed amount, sorry).
I think you could swing as fast as you possibly can and never catch up to Hogan!

[hoganswing]

[quote name='Pinsplitter59' timestamp='1412116115' post='10214349']
I didn't know what Tour Tempo was, looked it up, looks great only $2000 for 2 days tuition.
So you got a thing that beeps at you to start your backswing and downswing and impact, how do you factor in the lag between hearing the beep and physically doing something?
[url="http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/courses/1230jbasey/abstracts%202005/5.htm"]http://www.colorado....acts 2005/5.htm[/url] says average reaction time to sound is 0.26 seconds,
so then you have to have the same reaction time to the second beep to keep in "tempo", but then the impact beep is not about reaction time at all, its trying to consciously know where the club head is at the 3rd beep, hmmm sounds impossible to actually do.
Alternative? no idea!
Maybe just check your swing against Hogan in an editing program.
The difference between McIlroy and Hogan is amazing actually, thanks for stimulating me to look at it, Hogan is at impact when McIlroy's hands are still shoulder high on downswing (I can't upload pics or vid coz i have finished my allowed amount, sorry).
I think you could swing as fast as you possibly can and never catch up to Hogan!
[/quote]

They actually have a book that comes with audio. And they say they factor in lag. Can you message me the pictures/video. I would really like to see that.

[Pinsplitter59]

ooops!! first a correction. video editing programs run at 25 frames per second not 24, so numbers above need slight adjustment.
anyhow i had to upload to a site where you can see it since i can't do it in here.
i will private message you the link coz maybe links to other sires are not allowed here.

[Pinsplitter59]

You have made me start wondering what is the secret to speed?
I am usually a slow swinger with a blocked no-follow-through.
Occassionally i fluke a swing that is really fast (for me) and goes through all the way.
Was practicing this evening and ended up doing something similar to what i used to do,
a left arm take-away with a relaxed right side and things speeded up remarkably, and there was quite a lot of follow-through.
Recently i have been concentrating mostly on the right arm/right side in the take-away and it seems to stiffen things up, put the right arm in the wrong place and definitely make the swing slower becuase its a mechanical action and not using natural speed.
A lot of Hogan's beautiful action i reckon is due to what is firm and what is soft and thus allowing the amazing speed he had.
Thought for the day, that's all.

[tembolo1284]

Pin nice to see you again!

[ej002]

[quote name='Pinsplitter59' timestamp='1412242069' post='10222533']
You have made me start wondering what is the secret to speed?
I am usually a slow swinger with a blocked no-follow-through.
Occassionally i fluke a swing that is really fast (for me) and goes through all the way.
Was practicing this evening and ended up doing something similar to what i used to do,
a left arm take-away with a relaxed right side and things speeded up remarkably, and there was quite a lot of follow-through.
Recently i have been concentrating mostly on the right arm/right side in the take-away and it seems to stiffen things up, put the right arm in the wrong place and definitely make the swing slower becuase its a mechanical action and not using natural speed.
[b]A lot of Hogan's beautiful action i reckon is due to what is firm and what is soft and thus allowing the amazing speed he had.[/b]
Thought for the day, that's all.
[/quote]


I think that is a nice way to describe his statement of "live tension" of certain muscles. Also, you are right about the left arm, he says you have to roll it open with the left. Some article published later, but 8iron always posts it up.

[farmer]

OP, I hope you have success with your project. My concern is that in trying to copy his tempo, you will get away from your natural tempo and rhythm. The mechanics should work the same, but it will be hard to go from Fred Couples to Nick Price.

[hoganswing]

[quote name='Pinsplitter59' timestamp='1412242069' post='10222533']
You have made me start wondering what is the secret to speed?
I am usually a slow swinger with a blocked no-follow-through.
Occassionally i fluke a swing that is really fast (for me) and goes through all the way.
Was practicing this evening and ended up doing something similar to what i used to do,
a left arm take-away with a relaxed right side and things speeded up remarkably, and there was quite a lot of follow-through.
Recently i have been concentrating mostly on the right arm/right side in the take-away and it seems to stiffen things up, put the right arm in the wrong place and definitely make the swing slower becuase its a mechanical action and not using natural speed.
A lot of Hogan's beautiful action i reckon is due to what is firm and what is soft and thus allowing the amazing speed he had.
Thought for the day, that's all.
[/quote]

I agree, his swing is a whippy action with quite a lot of wrist in the backswing and downswing but through the ball it's very quiet. But his swing is very fast.

[hoganswing]

[quote name='farmer' timestamp='1412277635' post='10225279']
OP, I hope you have success with your project. My concern is that in trying to copy his tempo, you will get away from your natural tempo and rhythm. The mechanics should work the same, but it will be hard to go from Fred Couples to Nick Price.
[/quote]

Thanks for that. And you may be right. I will work on increasing my swing speed and then I'll take a closer look at tempo again.

[hoganswing]

In his Five Lessons book, Ben Hogan talks in detail about the waggle. Three pages in fact. Ben saw the waggle as a bridge between the address position and the start of the backswing.

As Ben says in Five Lessons, most people view the waggle as a way of keeping the arms loose. But Ben saw it as an important part of shot making… a miniature practice swing, an abbreviate “dry run” for the shot coming up, is how Ben sums it up.

Ben talks about the importance of the rhythm and tempo of the waggle, and how the rhythm/tempo of the waggle helps the entire body to work together in the golf swing.
One thing Ben says about the waggle that can be easily glossed over, is how the backswing of the waggle should simulate the path the club will take on the backswing. And the forward waggle should be adjusted so the clubhead comes into the ball with a square clubface.

Before starting this project I used to waggle, but I would only do it as a tension release. And when I would waggle I would look at the target. But when I looked at Ben Hogan waggling the club, he always did it as he was looking at the ball. So he was actually doing it seriously, looking at the ball and clubhead to make sure the path was good going back and coming into the ball with the clubface square. Like he said, it was actually a rehearsal of the golf swing.

Ben talks about the left hand being the controlling hand, and he says the right elbow should hit the front part of your right hip as you waggle.

This must be a person specific instruction, because when I do this my right elbow is way above the front part of my right hip.

Ben taught that during the waggle the hands should move in front of the ball, and the upper arms should remain rooted against the side of the chest, and there must not be any turning of the shoulders.

And he says that you shouldn’t groove your waggle, in terms of the rhythm. It should vary on the shot required. For example, a firm punch shot will require a different waggle than a shot that you’re attempting to hit high and soft.

So let’s have a look and see actually how Ben waggled the club.

[media=]http://youtu.be/_drfU1hI6u4[/media]

Ok, so here are the important points I notice when Ben waggle’s…

1. He waggles while looking at the ball.

2. He starts his waggle with the club above the golf ball and as he completes his waggle the club comes down behind the ball.

3. At the start of the waggle the club is above the ball and both arms are bent.

4. As Ben waggles the club the left arm remains bent and moves away from the body towards the target, while the right elbow moves closer to the right hip area.

5. As the club is moving back the hands move quite a bit in front of the ball. Then as he moves the club forward toward the ball the hands move back to return to the center of the body.

6. The shoulders do not move as the waggle is taking place.

7. The waggle has good tempo and rhythm.

8. As the right elbow moves closer to the right side, the right hip rotates a fraction to the left.

That’s the main elements of Ben Hogan’s waggle. But he also waggles a set amount of times too. However, I class that as the pre-shot routine. In my next post I’m going to look in-depth at Ben’s pre-shot routine, and I’ll explain how many waggles he has.

[vman]

[quote name='hoganswing' timestamp='1411603118' post='10178173']
Ben Hogan was known for having a fast tempo. And I read in the Tour Tempo book that he swung at a 21/7 tempo. So I got that tempo and matched it up with Ben's swing and the result is in the video below. Enjoy!

[media=]http://youtu.be/vdaGLW0sTfQ[/media]
[/quote]Thanks for this.This is one of the best clips,playing with Fr Keller.Seeing it over and over I just watch his lower half,it's mesmerising,he stabilises around his right leg and fires.

[Pinsplitter59]

that vid has been stretched horizontally.

[hoganswing]

[quote name='vman' timestamp='1413443498' post='10297821']
[quote name='hoganswing' timestamp='1411603118' post='10178173']
Ben Hogan was known for having a fast tempo. And I read in the Tour Tempo book that he swung at a 21/7 tempo. So I got that tempo and matched it up with Ben's swing and the result is in the video below. Enjoy!

[media=]http://youtu.be/vdaGLW0sTfQ[/media]
[/quote]Thanks for this.This is one of the best clips,playing with Fr Keller.Seeing it over and over I just watch his lower half,it's mesmerising,he stabilises around his right leg and fires.
[/quote]

You're welcome. He is awesome to watch! I love how quick yet rhythmical he is.

[dairic]

So when is the book coming out?

[Silky]

[quote name='hoganswing' timestamp='1413337590' post='10288743']
In his Five Lessons book, Ben Hogan talks in detail about the waggle. Three pages in fact. Ben saw the waggle as a bridge between the address position and the start of the backswing.

As Ben says in Five Lessons, most people view the waggle as a way of keeping the arms loose. But Ben saw it as an important part of shot making… a miniature practice swing, an abbreviate “dry run” for the shot coming up, is how Ben sums it up.

Ben talks about the importance of the rhythm and tempo of the waggle, and how the rhythm/tempo of the waggle helps the entire body to work together in the golf swing.
One thing Ben says about the waggle that can be easily glossed over, is how the backswing of the waggle should simulate the path the club will take on the backswing. And the forward waggle should be adjusted so the clubhead comes into the ball with a square clubface.

Before starting this project I used to waggle, but I would only do it as a tension release. And when I would waggle I would look at the target. But when I looked at Ben Hogan waggling the club, he always did it as he was looking at the ball. So he was actually doing it seriously, looking at the ball and clubhead to make sure the path was good going back and coming into the ball with the clubface square. Like he said, it was actually a rehearsal of the golf swing.

Ben talks about the left hand being the controlling hand, and he says the right elbow should hit the front part of your right hip as you waggle.

This must be a person specific instruction, because when I do this my right elbow is way above the front part of my right hip.

Ben taught that during the waggle the hands should move in front of the ball, and the upper arms should remain rooted against the side of the chest, and there must not be any turning of the shoulders.

And he says that you shouldn’t groove your waggle, in terms of the rhythm. It should vary on the shot required. For example, a firm punch shot will require a different waggle than a shot that you’re attempting to hit high and soft.

So let’s have a look and see actually how Ben waggled the club.

[media=]http://youtu.be/_drfU1hI6u4[/media]

Ok, so here are the important points I notice when Ben waggle’s…

1. He waggles while looking at the ball.

2. He starts his waggle with the club above the golf ball and as he completes his waggle the club comes down behind the ball.

3. At the start of the waggle the club is above the ball and both arms are bent.

4. As Ben waggles the club the left arm remains bent and moves away from the body towards the target, while the right elbow moves closer to the right hip area.

5. As the club is moving back the hands move quite a bit in front of the ball. Then as he moves the club forward toward the ball the hands move back to return to the center of the body.

6. The shoulders do not move as the waggle is taking place.

7. The waggle has good tempo and rhythm.

8. As the right elbow moves closer to the right side, the right hip rotates a fraction to the left.

That’s the main elements of Ben Hogan’s waggle. But he also waggles a set amount of times too. However, I class that as the pre-shot routine. In my next post I’m going to look in-depth at Ben’s pre-shot routine, and I’ll explain how many waggles he has.
[/quote]

Thank you for sharing Hoganswing. I just want to add an important move during the waggle in my opinion. During the period of the waggle, one can observe that Hogan was adjusting his feet also. I read this as the final alignment fine tuning of position of feet to the proper club head path to the ball.

I reread the 5 Lessons, Hogan had this action described as "the feet only make small adjusting movements".

So my post is redundant.

[hoganswing]

In this post I want to discuss Ben Hogan's pre-shot routine.

 

Now Ben doesn’t talk about a pre-shot routine, but it’s obvious it’s very important for any golfer to have one. So for the final part of my study and application of Ben Hogan during setup, I looked into how he setup to the ball. As a result, I found some interesting things. Here’s just one example….

 

When Ben walks to the ball he does so from the left side. He doesn’t stand directly behind the ball and look down the line. Rather he stands to the left of the ball and looks at the target. And I think I know why he did that. When I tried this myself, you get a distinct feeling of opening up the right side of the course and shutting off the left side. Everyone knows that Ben hated a hook to the left. So I think this is one small way he tried to eliminate the left side of the course. Watch that when I show you his routine in the video below.

 

Something else that was interesting was the time he took to complete his pre-shot routine. I timed it and it was about 10 seconds (give or take a second or two). I will show you that in a minute in the video. When I started setting up like Ben it seemed to take me a long time. It felt like a long time anyway. So I got someone to time me setting up, and I found it took me between 15 to 20 seconds before I would start my swing. Roughly about twice as long as Ben. Upon discovering that, I sped up my pre-shot routine and it feels a lot better now, but I know it still needs work (needs to be even quicker). But the thing I like about the quickness of it is that you don’t have so much time to think.

 

Ok, here is Ben’s Pre-Shot Routine.

 

First, he stands to the left of his ball and looks at the target.

 

 

By the way, note that he is behind and left of his ball and he is holding the club with his right hand.

 

Next Ben walks up to his ball and takes his grip as he does so. When he initially sets up to the ball, he places his right foot in first and he is looking at the ball.

 

 

Then as he moves the left foot up to be almost parallel with the right he looks at the target.

 

 

Note that he has some space between his feet. Then Ben looks at the ball and waggles the club.

 

 

After Ben finishes waggling he places the club behind the ball, then looks up at the target and moves his feet into a position that is more how he is going to play the shot.

 

 

Next Ben looks back at the golf ball and waggles once more.

 

 

Then Ben has one more look at the target while getting his feet into the final position.

 

 

He then looks back at the ball and has one final waggle.

 

 

Ben then places the club behind the ball ready to start the swing.

 

 

To start the swing Ben presses his right knee in slightly.

 

Now as I said at the beginning of this post. Ben Hogan takes about 10 seconds to complete his pre-shot routine. Here is a video showing that.

 

[media=]http://youtu.be/YvMv5JgdeFI[/media]

 

So here are the important points of Ben Hogan’s pre-shot routine.

 

1. He takes about 10 seconds to complete his pre-shot routine.

2. He takes three waggles each pre-shot routine.

3. He stands to the left and behind his ball when he’s looking at his target.

4. He looks at the target while he is adjusting his feet.

5. He waggles the club while looking at the ball.

6. He places in his right foot first, puts the club behind the ball and then moves his left foot up.

7. When getting his feet ready he positions his left foot first and then his right foot.

 

As Ben’s routine becomes my “normal” I’m finding it really good. The main thing I like is the quickness of it. I still need to work on that and not become stuck over the ball.

[tembolo1284]

how's the swing project going sir?