Majors Won With Ben Hogan Irons

[rex235]

[quote name='HoldenCornfield' timestamp='1422792116' post='10861071']
[quote name='toc' timestamp='1422782033' post='10860911']
I can't believe I don't know this, but did Ben himself use Hogans for any majors? I thought I read he used some prototypes before the company actually went into production.
[/quote]

[i]In many ways, as 1953 got under way and Ben remained stubbornly silent on his immediate plans, this long-standing rivalry grew even more intense. Ben and Sam had won six majors apiece, and while Byron had won five, he had neither the ego nor the stomach to chase down another. From this point forward, his greatest legacy wouldn’t be conducted in competition. [/i]

[i]Golf Digest, which first appeared in 1951, had begun popularizing the notion long espoused by the cognoscenti that the truest measure of a player’s greatness related directly to how many major titles he’d won. Bobby Jones, with four U.S. Opens and three British, had always been the gold standard of comparison, but he was distinctly from another time, as were Walter Hagen with eleven majors and Gene Sarazen with eight. Now, with professional golf arguably more popular than it had ever been, largely due to this American Triumvirate, millions were watching to see how the ongoing battle between Sam and Ben would wind up. [/i]

[i]Which explains why— even as he was busy in Fort Worth setting up the infrastructure of his future life, with a new company devoted to making the finest clubs and balls available— Ben Hogan simply couldn’t elude the burden of his own destiny. Entering his forty-first year, though the grind of championship golf was nearly too much to bear both physically and psychologically, his very nature guaranteed that he would do whatever was required to win at least one more major and improve his lead on his two greatest rivals. [/i]

[i]Following weeks of practice down at Seminole, and a lucrative second-place finish in the club’s popular Amateur-Professional Tournament, Ben finished in a tie for eighth at the Palmetto Pro-Am, forty miles from Augusta in Aiken, South Carolina . The man he’d tied, predictably, was Sam Snead, who was buoyant over the huge sales of Natural Golf. “ Maybe we ought to go have a playoff somewhere down in Georgia,” Sam later claimed to have told Ben. “I could give you a great book to help you with that swing of yours.”[/i]

[i]As Burke and Bolt were first to point out, young and veteran players alike often stood for hours watching Ben and Sam practice. This particular year, on the range at Augusta National, Mike Souchak, who’d turned professional in late 1952 but was here as a spectator, happened to observe a fascinating exchange between Ben and Toney Penna, the former tour star who was now a leading field rep for MacGregor Golf, the company Ben had signed on with in 1937 for $250. Violating protocol and Ben’s own sacred practice space, Penna reminded him of the company’s recent mandate that all its players use the new Tourney ball. Eight days after his fortieth birthday, however, Ben had paid a secret visit to rival Acushnet’s factory to see how the Titleist balls he preferred were made. [/i]

[i]Not surprisingly, on the practice tee at Augusta, he was hitting Titleist balls to a caddie stationed out on the range with a towel and a catcher’s mitt. Penna was outraged by this bold defiance of company policy, [b]not to mention that Ben was using MacGregor golf clubs that bore little or no resemblance to the ones the company sold under his name, two tiers down from their Tommy Armour Silver Scots and Byron Nelson Classics. These clubs, as it happened, were early prototypes of the new ones Ben hoped to bring to market within a year.[/b] Back in Fort Worth, he was already working with one of the game’s most respected club makers to produce a finished model designed for better players. [/i]

[i]“It got heated real fast,” Souchak remembered. The recent Duke graduate was one of a handful of newcomers along with Ken Venturi, Gardner Dickinson, and Texan Dave Marr whom Ben would take a shine to about this time. “Penna demanded to know why Ben was being so difficult and Ben told him to tell Mr. Cowan of MacGregor that his balls and golf equipment were junk. That pretty much settled that.”[/i]

[i][Dodson, James (2012-03-13). American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf (Kindle Locations 5579-5591). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.][/i]

I had to go back and search to find this, but I remembered reading that Hogan had apparently been using his prototype irons at least on the range at Augusta in 1953, which he would win. There was no mention whether he used them during the tournament, and I've never read or heard it suggested that he did. Would it have even been legal to do so? Was there a USGA submission process back then for new irons? Anyway, I found the above excerpt interesting.

He also won the US Open and the British Open that same year, but that would be the last of his majors. So unless he snuck his prototype irons into his bag that year and the whole world missed it, then no, he did not win any majors with his Hogan Company clubs.
[/quote]


Holden-

According to Charley Penna-

There are a number of MacGregor irons stamped "[i]Personal Model"[/i]... it just so happens Hogan's MacGregor set he used in 1953 has this stamp.

Maybe Hogan didn't win with his own irons, yet-

Jack Fleck's US Open Victory over Hogan in 1955 at Olympic, using [i]Hogan irons that[/i][i] Ben Hogan personally[/i][i] delivered to him...[/i]

[rex235]

[quote name='HoldenCornfield' timestamp='1422792116' post='10861071']
[quote name='toc' timestamp='1422782033' post='10860911']
I can't believe I don't know this, but did Ben himself use Hogans for any majors? I thought I read he used some prototypes before the company actually went into production.
[/quote]

[i]In many ways, as 1953 got under way and Ben remained stubbornly silent on his immediate plans, this long-standing rivalry grew even more intense. Ben and Sam had won six majors apiece, and while Byron had won five, he had neither the ego nor the stomach to chase down another. From this point forward, his greatest legacy wouldn’t be conducted in competition. [/i]

[i]Golf Digest, which first appeared in 1951, had begun popularizing the notion long espoused by the cognoscenti that the truest measure of a player’s greatness related directly to how many major titles he’d won. Bobby Jones, with four U.S. Opens and three British, had always been the gold standard of comparison, but he was distinctly from another time, as were Walter Hagen with eleven majors and Gene Sarazen with eight. Now, with professional golf arguably more popular than it had ever been, largely due to this American Triumvirate, millions were watching to see how the ongoing battle between Sam and Ben would wind up. [/i]

[i]Which explains why— even as he was busy in Fort Worth setting up the infrastructure of his future life, with a new company devoted to making the finest clubs and balls available— Ben Hogan simply couldn’t elude the burden of his own destiny. Entering his forty-first year, though the grind of championship golf was nearly too much to bear both physically and psychologically, his very nature guaranteed that he would do whatever was required to win at least one more major and improve his lead on his two greatest rivals. [/i]

[i]Following weeks of practice down at Seminole, and a lucrative second-place finish in the club’s popular Amateur-Professional Tournament, Ben finished in a tie for eighth at the Palmetto Pro-Am, forty miles from Augusta in Aiken, South Carolina . The man he’d tied, predictably, was Sam Snead, who was buoyant over the huge sales of Natural Golf. “ Maybe we ought to go have a playoff somewhere down in Georgia,” Sam later claimed to have told Ben. “I could give you a great book to help you with that swing of yours.”[/i]

[i]As Burke and Bolt were first to point out, young and veteran players alike often stood for hours watching Ben and Sam practice. This particular year, on the range at Augusta National, Mike Souchak, who’d turned professional in late 1952 but was here as a spectator, happened to observe a fascinating exchange between Ben and Toney Penna, the former tour star who was now a leading field rep for MacGregor Golf, the company Ben had signed on with in 1937 for $250. Violating protocol and Ben’s own sacred practice space, Penna reminded him of the company’s recent mandate that all its players use the new Tourney ball. Eight days after his fortieth birthday, however, Ben had paid a secret visit to rival Acushnet’s factory to see how the Titleist balls he preferred were made. [/i]

[i]Not surprisingly, on the practice tee at Augusta, he was hitting Titleist balls to a caddie stationed out on the range with a towel and a catcher’s mitt. Penna was outraged by this bold defiance of company policy, [b]not to mention that Ben was using MacGregor golf clubs that bore little or no resemblance to the ones the company sold under his name, two tiers down from their Tommy Armour Silver Scots and Byron Nelson Classics. These clubs, as it happened, were early prototypes of the new ones Ben hoped to bring to market within a year.[/b] Back in Fort Worth, he was already working with one of the game’s most respected club makers to produce a finished model designed for better players. [/i]

[i]“It got heated real fast,” Souchak remembered. The recent Duke graduate was one of a handful of newcomers along with Ken Venturi, Gardner Dickinson, and Texan Dave Marr whom Ben would take a shine to about this time. “Penna demanded to know why Ben was being so difficult and Ben told him to tell Mr. Cowan of MacGregor that his balls and golf equipment were junk. That pretty much settled that.”[/i]

[i][Dodson, James (2012-03-13). American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf (Kindle Locations 5579-5591). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.][/i]

I had to go back and search to find this, but I remembered reading that Hogan had apparently been using his prototype irons at least on the range at Augusta in 1953, which he would win. There was no mention whether he used them during the tournament, and I've never read or heard it suggested that he did. Would it have even been legal to do so? Was there a USGA submission process back then for new irons? Anyway, I found the above excerpt interesting.

He also won the US Open and the British Open that same year, but that would be the last of his majors. So unless he snuck his prototype irons into his bag that year and the whole world missed it, then no, he did not win any majors with his Hogan Company clubs.
[/quote]


Holden-

According to Charley Penna-

There are a number of MacGregor irons stamped "[i]Personal Model"[/i]... it just so happens Hogan's MacGregor set he used in 1953 has this stamp.

Maybe Hogan didn't win with his own irons, yet-

Jack Fleck's US Open Victory over Hogan in 1955 at Olympic, using [i]Hogan irons that[/i][i] Ben Hogan personally[/i][i] delivered to him...[/i]

[Titleist87]

[quote name='Shallowface' timestamp='1422474087' post='10835971']
[quote name='duffer888' timestamp='1422468827' post='10835395']
Was Hal Sutton a Hogan staffer when he won his single major? He did win one, right?
[/quote]

When Sutton won his PGA, he had a Titleist bag. They showed a clip on the Golf Channel Academy series he did about a year ago.

But as to what was actually in the bag, not sure.
[/quote]

Yamaha?

[Titleist87]

[quote name='Shallowface' timestamp='1422474087' post='10835971']
[quote name='duffer888' timestamp='1422468827' post='10835395']
Was Hal Sutton a Hogan staffer when he won his single major? He did win one, right?
[/quote]

When Sutton won his PGA, he had a Titleist bag. They showed a clip on the Golf Channel Academy series he did about a year ago.

But as to what was actually in the bag, not sure.
[/quote]

Yamaha?

[Techgolfer1]

[quote name='scunny' timestamp='1422780450' post='10860881']Pretty sure Langer used Hogan's in a Wilson bag in the same way Faldo had Mizuno's in his. Give away was the red shaft bands that hogan used[/quote]

I think Langer still has a couple of long irons in his bag that are hogans. Beat to death.

[T308]

Marlene Bauer-Hagge won the 1956 LPGA Championship with her Hogan Precisions.

[T308]

On 1/28/2015 at 6:41 AM, Shallowface said:

[quote name='duffer888' timestamp='1422468827' post='10835395']
Was Hal Sutton a Hogan staffer when he won his single major? He did win one, right?
[/quote]

When Sutton won his PGA, he had a Titleist bag. They showed a clip on the Golf Channel Academy series he did about a year ago.

But as to what was actually in the bag, not sure.

 

I asked Hal and he confirmed they were Titleist irons in the bag.

[wlgray]

Larry Nelson used Hogans in all three of his majors. Medallions I think.

[RobotDoctor]

On 1/28/2015 at 8:06 AM, Langlands said:

Mike Weir used to play Apex Plus irons, not sure if he used them when he won the Masters?

I am pretty sure Mike Weir was a Titleist staffer when he won the Masters.

[elwhippy]

Was Mike Weir not using TM gear?

[Langlands]

14 hours ago, elwhippy said:

Was Mike Weir not using TM gear?

He was, I took a look at Getty Images to confirm. He was using the Titleist ball though. 

[RobotDoctor]

8 hours ago, Langlands said:

He was, I took a look at Getty Images to confirm. He was using the Titleist ball though. 

Weir also used a Cameron putter. A limited edition came out to commemorate the win. 
 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by RobotDoctor
Added picture

[mocokid]

On 10/10/2021 at 5:42 AM, wlgray said:

Larry Nelson used Hogans in all three of his majors. Medallions I think.

Definitely, I watched the 83 open he won, and those look like Hogan blades, though the usga footage is a bit grainy.  He had access to Mr Hogan, and would not be playing staffs or Macs.  Also mahaffey. 

[Bad9]

From golfchannel.com

 

2003 Masters Tournament - Mike Weir
 
Driver: TaylorMade R580 9.5 w/ Fujikura 757 Speeder graphite shaft
3 & 5 woods: TaylorMade 200 Tour
Irons (3-PW): TaylorMade 300
Wedges: Titleist Vokey 54 & 60
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport Mil-Spec
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Shoes: Footjoy Gelf

[teevons]

Hal Sutton, Be the right club today, Hogan redlines, almost a major

[T308]

On 10/23/2021 at 9:46 AM, teevons said:

Hal Sutton, Be the right club today, Hogan redlines, almost a major

 

1999 Apex.  

[T308]

On 10/13/2021 at 9:18 AM, mocokid said:

Definitely, I watched the 83 open he won, and those look like Hogan blades, though the usga footage is a bit grainy.  He had access to Mr Hogan, and would not be playing staffs or Macs.  Also mahaffey. 

 

I believe they were Hogan Apex classics with lots of lead tape at Oakmont.  Hogan gave him a lesson at Shady Oaks after the Colonial and provided a tip on increasing ball flight.  Must have worked.

Edited May 17, 2022 by T308

[T308]

On 10/10/2021 at 2:42 AM, wlgray said:

Larry Nelson used Hogans in all three of his majors. Medallions I think.

 

Hogan Apex at the 1981 PGA.  Looks like Apex Claasics at Oakmont in 1983 (he used lots of tape so it's hard to be sure).  In 1987 he used a mix of Power-Bilts (R1) and Dunlops (R4).  R2&3 he used a mix of both clubs.

Edited May 17, 2022 by T308

[T308]

Raymond Floyd used Hogan Directors to win his Masters in 1976.

[Plurpo]

Weir used Apex Plus irons to win the Masters. His driver was a Taylor Made R510.

 

[MizunoMayhem]

On 9/20/2022 at 7:38 AM, Plurpo said:

Weir used Apex Plus irons to win the Masters. His driver was a Taylor Made R510.

 

Masters WITB: Mike Weir (2003)

Driver: TaylorMade R580 (9.5°, Fujikura 757 Speeder graphite)
Fairway woods: TaylorMade 200 Tour
Irons: TaylorMade 300 (3-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey (54° and 60°)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport Mil-Spec
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Shoes: Footjoy

[twidener]

Bill Rogers used a Hogan 53 Commemorative driver when he won the Open Championship in 1981.