The secret is in...the 1955 issue of Life Magazine

[scotchblade]

Complete Ben Hogan article in PDF format

Stumbled upon this well known issue where Ben Hogan reveals his secret. Enjoy!

NOTE: File size is a little large. I wanted to make sure the resolution was good, not grainy.

Click here for article

[golftech]

I wonder what an original version is worth these days? I was going through some of my father's things recently and found the original pages in clear plastic binder sleeves. He remember him showing me the pages as a kid and telling me he started playing golf around the time the original article was published and saved the pages. (Correction - I just checked and it's the 1957 Sports Illustrated 'The Five Lessons of Golf' all five parts of the series)

[scotchblade]

I wonder what an original version is worth these days?....(Correction - I just checked and it's the 1957 Sports Illustrated 'The Five Lessons of Golf' all five parts of the series)

This Life magazine was under twenty bucks on eBay. I found a completed listing there for the 1957 SI that went for $26. Not as much as all those cool sixties toys I trashed as a kid.

 

1957 Sports Illustrated

[JOEGOLFWRX]

so the secret is something to do with "the amazing world of insects"......very interesting. :ok:

[dream_stryker]

Wow. Thanks for posting this article! This should be definitely be read by everyone BEFORE opening a copy of Five Lesson. Hogan says himself that:

 

(1) his methodology is for someone with a good swing fighting a hook.

(2) his technique would ruin bad golfers and not be much help to a weekend duffs.

 

My question is...why is that so many of us fighting pushes and slices are attempting to go down the path of Mr Hogan? His opinion is that its for advanced golfers who miss left.

 

Also, couldn't he have accomplished the same thing by opening his clubface up a few extra degrees at address? I'm confused about why one would fashion a technique around something that seemingly could have been done at address. Obviously Im missing something because Mr Hogan obviously valued simplicity and undoubtedly devised the simplest solution possible to his hooking problems.

[JD3]

Seems pretty direct and clear to me. Why is it so many believe he took the Secret with him?

[Dariusz J.]

Wow. Thanks for posting this article! This should be definitely be read by everyone BEFORE opening a copy of Five Lesson. Hogan says himself that:

 

(1) his methodology is for someone with a good swing fighting a hook.

(2) his technique would ruin bad golfers and not be much help to a weekend duffs.

 

My question is...why is that so many of us fighting pushes and slices are attempting to go down the path of Mr Hogan? His opinion is that its for advanced golfers who miss left.

 

Also, couldn't he have accomplished the same thing by opening his clubface up a few extra degrees at address? I'm confused about why one would fashion a technique around something that seemingly could have been done at address. Obviously Im missing something because Mr Hogan obviously valued simplicity and undoubtedly devised the simplest solution possible to his hooking problems.

 

Well, proper mechanics of a golf swing demands a hook, just as Hogan said in very first words of the article. The center of the rotation is always inside the circular path. Therefore, if one is not able to hook the ball it means that he did not lick a true correct mechanics of golf swing.

Isn't it significant that the best ballstrikers as Hogan or Trevino fighted hook before their prime ? Who knows, maybe the best way is to learn to hook the ball and then learn how to de-hook the swing. :)

 

Presetting the clubface at address is not a good thing, IMO. Remember that it is your subconscious mind that wants to send the ball straight at the target, and it is very probable that you will tend to close the clubface more rapidly (since it was open at address) and, consequently, your hook will increase.

 

Cheers

 

Cheers

[dream_stryker]

Well, proper mechanics of a golf swing demands a hook, just as Hogan said in very first words of the article. The center of the rotation is always inside the circular path. Therefore, if one is not able to hook the ball it means that he did not lick a true correct mechanics of golf swing.

Isn't it significant that the best ballstrikers as Hogan or Trevino fighted hook before their prime ? Who knows, maybe the best way is to learn to hook the ball and then learn how to de-hook the swing. :)

 

Presetting the clubface at address is not a good thing, IMO. Remember that it is your subconscious mind that wants to send the ball straight at the target, and it is very probable that you will tend to close the clubface more rapidly (since it was open at address) and, consequently, your hook will increase.

 

Cheers

 

Cheers

 

Good point....the subconsious brain definitely influences how we square the clubface.....some things it just doesn't like and overcompensates.

 

There should have been a part 2 to the article though IMO. Mr Hogan never revealed how the got the cup out of his wrist, passing through the ball with a BOWED wrist. Everyone has a guess or a second-hand "Mr Hogan told me..." story....but nothing on the official record from the man himself.

 

Most of us attempting to cup at the top use manual supination from the wrists to get the clubface back to slightly square. But who REALLY believes Mr Hogan did this? The article states that he practiced LESS after discovering the technique. Manual wrist supination would have required AS MUCH practice as before to keep the timing perfect. Oh well....what's life without good mysteries.

[Dariusz J.]

Most of us attempting to cup at the top use manual supination from the wrists to get the clubface back to slightly square. But who REALLY believes Mr Hogan did this? The article states that he practiced LESS after discovering the technique. Manual wrist supination would have required AS MUCH practice as before to keep the timing perfect. Oh well....what's life without good mysteries.

 

This is a million $ question :) One who finds a way how to do it UNINTENTIONALLY will be a rich man. We know already how to cup the wrist without thinking about it...but nothing more.

 

Cheers

[martinez]

Bobbleberry knows ;)

[Siteseer2]

Most of us attempting to cup at the top use manual supination from the wrists to get the clubface back to slightly square. But who REALLY believes Mr Hogan did this? The article states that he practiced LESS after discovering the technique. Manual wrist supination would have required AS MUCH practice as before to keep the timing perfect. Oh well....what's life without good mysteries.

 

This is a million $ question :) One who finds a way how to do it UNINTENTIONALLY will be a rich man. We know already how to cup the wrist without thinking about it...but nothing more.

 

Cheers

Its been my observation that he was "cupped" at the top (and sometimes the wrist more flat which I suspect was his draw position)and by 9 o'clock his wrist is slightly bowed... thats a lot of forearm rotation in a short interval, however he got there (either through a conscious early release of the clubhead, or CF)... a DTL swinger or switter is much more open, with the wrist/forearm more skyward at 9 o'clock...

[dfw1500]

The flattening of the left wrist and the releasing of the cup in the left wrist happened automatically as follows:- as Mr Hogan neared the top of his swing the lower half of his body began to transition as the upper body was still winding up, this move created the lag that Mr Hogan had at the top of the swing then as the "mass" of the club worked down and the "lag" was created the right wrist angle increased and the left wrist flattened........this move then coupled with the incredible rotation that Mr Hogan had flattened the wrist automatically......as the club neared impact the HUGE rotation that Mr Hogan had pulled the butt of the club "left" and as the butt "rounded the corner" the face went from an open position with a shallow shaft angle, the toe of the club could SLAM SHUT as fast and aggressively as it wanted to and the face squared up.

 

The left wrist was not mearly as bowed as most think at impact.......in the image below of Mr Hogan at impact you can clearly see that the ulna and the radius bones are both CLREARLY visible at impact which shows that the left wrist could not have been "bowed" as he struck the ball........not in the frame or 2 after this the left wrist went into a SLIGHTLY "bowed" position as the butt of the club went left and the left arm rotated left with the body as the UPPER left arm was fully "connected" through impact ;)

 

 

 

Cheers Dan

[Marrrk]

Who knows, maybe the best way is to learn to hook the ball and then learn how to de-hook the swing. :)

 

I have to say, I truly think this is right on. I worked my butt off this year to clear out a lot of bad old habits causing a lot of bad slices and a complete inability to hit a draw/hook. The first byproduct of this attempt to reconstruct my swing "the proper way" was a terrible and undependable hook. It sucked for a few months and I was scared over every shot, but from there, I started making the adjustments necessary to get things straightened out. All I can say now is that my confidence, and my ballstriking, is better than it has ever been. I'm still working some things out but I could not be happier with the progress (which was not the case for the past decade).

[dfw1500]

The thing is this......Mr Hogan had one of the GREATEST golf swings ever and he found a way to be able to control the golfball to the maximum degree, but what worked for Mr Hogan will not work for all........there are MANY areas and commen denominators with his swing and some of the other GREATS, but there are certain areas of Mr Hogan's swing that would completely ruin others that did not have his unbelievable speed etc.........

 

I would recon that if you took 100 people and taught them all how to play the game and swing EXACTLY the way that Mr Hogan did then you would likely have 1success and 99 failures........the KEY is to take all the bits from Mr Hogan's swing that work alongside others and apply then to your own swing/game, but to copy and mimic his action will lead to a LOT of failures...........IMOP ONLY 1 out of the 100 would have the game and be able to play like Mr Hogan, the other 99 may swing exactly like him but could not hit a "lick" ;)

 

Now this is not to say that Mr Hogan did not have a FINE swing but to copy it exactly would be a mistake.

 

Cheers Dan

[Mala]

Seems pretty direct and clear to me. Why is it so many believe he took the Secret with him?

 

+1

[Dariusz J.]

With all due respect, Gents. If someone claims that he knows what Mr.Hogan did - just prove it :)

I'll believe only when I see FO, DTL and BO vids of such a swing.

I know a lot and can mimic a lot from post-secret Hogan in my swing now thanks to my BGS Theory, but I am far from being able to know it all...not that I want to copy it, but want to understand it. I saw some swings that maybe were very similar from one angle and suddenly it appeared that it was almost anti-Hogan motion from other angles.

 

Dan, your theory is very logical and good, but I can assure you that it is not ALL. Been there, done that. Besides, Hogan's lead wrist is really bowed some miliseconds before impact, exactly when his clubhead becomes square to the arc.

 

Cheers

[Dariusz J.]

Who knows, maybe the best way is to learn to hook the ball and then learn how to de-hook the swing. :)

 

I have to say, I truly think this is right on. I worked my butt off this year to clear out a lot of bad old habits causing a lot of bad slices and a complete inability to hit a draw/hook. The first byproduct of this attempt to reconstruct my swing "the proper way" was a terrible and undependable hook. It sucked for a few months and I was scared over every shot, but from there, I started making the adjustments necessary to get things straightened out. All I can say now is that my confidence, and my ballstriking, is better than it has ever been. I'm still working some things out but I could not be happier with the progress (which was not the case for the past decade).

 

Isn't it ? Haney once said that it is impossible to start playing great golf directly from a slice; from slice THROUGH A HOOK - yes. I personally believe it is a very wise statement.

 

Cheers

[JOEGOLFWRX]

Wow. Thanks for posting this article! This should be definitely be read by everyone BEFORE opening a copy of Five Lesson. Hogan says himself that:

 

(1) his methodology is for someone with a good swing fighting a hook.

(2) his technique would ruin bad golfers and not be much help to a weekend duffs.

 

My question is...why is that so many of us fighting pushes and slices are attempting to go down the path of Mr Hogan? His opinion is that its for advanced golfers who miss left.

 

your mixing up 2 different things

 

1) 5 lessons = instruction book on, as the title says, the fundamentals of the golf swing. its not an anti-hook instruction book, it is hogans opinion on the cornerstones of a correct golf swing for all, including slicers.

 

2) the secret

a personal method for hogan to turn a hook into a fade without loosing 5 to 10 yards which was not included in 5 lessons.

 

so if you read 5 lessons dont look at his swing too closely to interpret it, and if you end up with a baby draw afterwords dont think you read it wrong.

[Siteseer2]

The thing is this......Mr Hogan had one of the GREATEST golf swings ever and he found a way to be able to control the golfball to the maximum degree, but what worked for Mr Hogan will not work for all........there are MANY areas and commen denominators with his swing and some of the other GREATS, but there are certain areas of Mr Hogan's swing that would completely ruin others that did not have his unbelievable speed etc.........

 

I would recon that if you took 100 people and taught them all how to play the game and swing EXACTLY the way that Mr Hogan did then you would likely have 1success and 99 failures........the KEY is to take all the bits from Mr Hogan's swing that work alongside others and apply then to your own swing/game, but to copy and mimic his action will lead to a LOT of failures...........IMOP ONLY 1 out of the 100 would have the game and be able to play like Mr Hogan, the other 99 may swing exactly like him but could not hit a "lick" ;)

 

Now this is not to say that Mr Hogan did not have a FINE swing but to copy it exactly would be a mistake.

 

Cheers Dan

Dan: Nice... okay I accept your premise, then Hogan vs DeVincenzo, Peter Thompson, and George Knudsen (all strong pivot-left release players)... what's the difference in Hogan vs the other three. This is meant to be a learning inquiry (and not an argumentative one). thanks.

[JOEGOLFWRX]

This is a million $ question :) One who finds a way how to do it UNINTENTIONALLY will be a rich man. We know already how to cup the wrist without thinking about it...but nothing more.

 

dont get your hopes up dariusz, unless your talking about riches from the tour :D . the secret can never be known, it can only be theorized, how could it be proved, fo dtl & bo can not prove a theory, it can only disprove one. i agree no one has come close to it and i wish someone would come up with a theory that would show more obvious evidence of being correct, like a dtl low left release, if only to call out the wrong guesses. that isnt to say these guesses have no value as a way to swing the club, just that they shouldnt attach hogans name to them, but i guess its a way to market, (and court :russian_roulette: ).

 

the real value of the secret IMHO is the discussion that takes place around it, the theories that spring from those discussions. like a Socratic debate, only unfortunately Socrates has left the building so some discussions are a little blind as regards to any real search for truth or learning.

 

re subconscious, i dont think thats how it works, but given some people argue the existence of a subconscious not everyone is going to agree on its workings.

[JD3]

The Jimmy Demaret article in Golf Magazine's April 1978 issue titled "Golf's Most Respected Swing" has some simple yet interesting comments on Hogan's swing. I'd recommend getting a copy if you don't already have. He talks about the usual things such as balance and setup. Couple of unique items however:

 

1. says BH pushed off his backfoot in the downswing because that's where you get leverage. Like a pitcher or passer he says "everyone knows you can't get any leverage off the your left foot." This is very much was Sevam1 postulates;

 

2. at the very end he says "... I think the key to Hogan's swing was his ready position -- when he dropped his hands into the slot. I believe this was the real secret he talked about." Earlier in the article he said "... once he reaches the top of his backswing he drops his hands into a beautiful "ready position" to move into the hitting area." He also implies it's not an easy thing to learn by saying "... it's a unique move that took the amount of concentration and the willingness and time to practice that only Ben Hogan brought to the game."

 

It's definitely a spot in his swing I've focused on at times recognizing how simple it would be to murder the ball from there. Every other good player I've seen (myself included) his their hands higher and with more wrist **** at that point, rendering a steeper, less sweeping move thru the ball. And although others recognize this, I haven't heard anyone effectively explain how to get there ... heck, sounds like even Demaret didn't know.

 

Dat's what Imma talkin' 'bout!

 

[dream_stryker]

The flattening of the left wrist and the releasing of the cup in the left wrist happened automatically as follows:- as Mr Hogan neared the top of his swing the lower half of his body began to transition as the upper body was still winding up, this move created the lag that Mr Hogan had at the top of the swing then as the "mass" of the club worked down and the "lag" was created the right wrist angle increased and the left wrist flattened........this move then coupled with the incredible rotation that Mr Hogan had flattened the wrist automatically......as the club neared impact the HUGE rotation that Mr Hogan had pulled the butt of the club "left" and as the butt "rounded the corner" the face went from an open position with a shallow shaft angle, the toe of the club could SLAM SHUT as fast and aggressively as it wanted to and the face squared up.

 

The left wrist was not mearly as bowed as most think at impact.......in the image below of Mr Hogan at impact you can clearly see that the ulna and the radius bones are both CLREARLY visible at impact which shows that the left wrist could not have been "bowed" as he struck the ball........not in the frame or 2 after this the left wrist went into a SLIGHTLY "bowed" position as the butt of the club went left and the left arm rotated left with the body as the UPPER left arm was fully "connected" through impact ;)

 

 

 

Cheers Dan

 

I can see the validity in such a technique. I took some practice swings and the wrist cup does indeed disappear from the sharp change of direction caused by the lower body rotating left before the top of the upswing. As Darius J mentioned....I don't want to copy this move...but it would be beneficial to understand it. Perhaps understanding his "key" would lead to discovering and understanding my key secret.

 

One thing I have a hard time rationalizing is that Mr Hogan was some sort of elite athlete. That may have been the case before his accident but it couldn't have been afterwards. His left side was crushed according to the reports. No state of the art sports rehab clinics in the 40's. I have serious doubt that Mr Hogan's fast twitch muscle activity was elite after the accident. I think the guy knew about the golf swing (remember an almost antiquated technique gave him the idea about the secret) and knew new his body well enough to figure about the best way to biokinetically produce speed and leverage at impact.

[martinez]

I think he was an incredible athlete. No golfer before or since has had such an athletic motion imho.

[Siteseer2]

I think he was an incredible athlete. No golfer before or since has had such an athletic motion imho.

Snead...maybe

[golftech]

I wonder what an original version is worth these days?....(Correction - I just checked and it's the 1957 Sports Illustrated 'The Five Lessons of Golf' all five parts of the series)

This Life magazine was under twenty bucks on eBay. I found a completed listing there for the 1957 SI that went for $26. Not as much as all those cool sixties toys I trashed as a kid.

 

1957 Sports Illustrated

 

 

Thanks, although that is for only one of the five SI publications. I have all five SI articles that were clipped from the editions on '57 and stored since! Probably very few complete sets left and no complete set with all five complete SI magazines for those weeks!!

[bovi]

scotchblade,

 

YOU ARE THE MAN!!! thanks so much for this pal!

[dfw1500]

The thing is this......Mr Hogan had one of the GREATEST golf swings ever and he found a way to be able to control the golfball to the maximum degree, but what worked for Mr Hogan will not work for all........there are MANY areas and commen denominators with his swing and some of the other GREATS, but there are certain areas of Mr Hogan's swing that would completely ruin others that did not have his unbelievable speed etc.........

 

I would recon that if you took 100 people and taught them all how to play the game and swing EXACTLY the way that Mr Hogan did then you would likely have 1success and 99 failures........the KEY is to take all the bits from Mr Hogan's swing that work alongside others and apply then to your own swing/game, but to copy and mimic his action will lead to a LOT of failures...........IMOP ONLY 1 out of the 100 would have the game and be able to play like Mr Hogan, the other 99 may swing exactly like him but could not hit a "lick" ;)

 

Now this is not to say that Mr Hogan did not have a FINE swing but to copy it exactly would be a mistake.

 

Cheers Dan

Dan: Nice... okay I accept your premise, then Hogan vs DeVincenzo, Peter Thompson, and George Knudsen (all strong pivot-left release players)... what's the difference in Hogan vs the other three. This is meant to be a learning inquiry (and not an argumentative one). thanks.

 

My posts were NOT meant in any argumentative way but my 1st one was a way of explaining how the left wrist went from cupped to flat and the 2nd was the one above mentioning that copying everything Mr Hogan did is a bad idea, but to discuss it and see it's merits is something I recommend and that I do everyday ;)

 

Cheers Dan

[martinez]

I think he was an incredible athlete. No golfer before or since has had such an athletic motion imho.

Snead...maybe

 

I don't think so. Pound for pound...Hogan had him for mine.

[Double True]

In my humble and honest opinion, Mr. Hogan (I am not worthly of calling him Ben (cool) ) had the greatest, most repeatable swing ever. I heard something that during some tournament he hit his drive, no big deal, then after he hit his second shot told his caddy to remember that divot because he would hit his next drive the next day into it. And sure as shite he did just that. Now I am not sure if it's true but if it is.....DAYYYUMMM. You could give anyone else a million tries and they would still not be able to do that. That reigns right up there with Babe Ruth calling his homerun.

[bovi]

In my humble and honest opinion, Mr. Hogan (I am not worthly of calling him Ben ) had the greatest, most repeatable swing ever. I heard something that during some tournament he hit his drive, no big deal, then after he hit his second shot told his caddy to remember that divot because he would hit his next drive the next day into it. And sure as shite he did just that. Now I am not sure if it's true but if it is.....DAYYYUMMM. You could give anyone else a million tries and they would still not be able to do that. That reigns right up there with Babe Ruth calling his homerun.

 

don't forget moe norman. he was counting flagsticks hit in regulation not greens. Hogan had the most repeatable swing for himself that was able to give him the results he wanted.

 

i believe that divot story has been told about byron nelson or some other legendary golfer too. doesnt mean it wasn't hogan but makes u wonder.