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

[JD3]

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.

yeah makes me wonder how people could believe a guy that accurate would purposely hit it into a divot! LOL

[hanon]

Therefore, what is the part that we are missing about the transition from a cupped wrist to a bowed wrist at impact?

 

I think this is the real key for Hogan´s consistency. How did he really supinate his left wrist?

 

 

[Dariusz J.]

Well, I do agree that it was one of puzzles of the real secret. I have sacrificed literally long hours to find an automatic way of doing it and, unfortunately, I am stupid enough to find at least a correct track.

 

I started to dissect it from trying to find what this move does in reality to the clubface. It does three things:

- it delofts the clubface;

- it sends the clubface outside the path (famous OTT part of Hogan's downswing);

- it lowers down the clubface.

Considering the fact that if one wants to keep the lead wrist cupped all the swing one wouldn't ever hit the ball (the clubface would be much above the ball and very lofted and coming so much from the inside) - this motion seems to be quite natural. The problem is that our subconscious mind won't ever allow us to hold the cup so long to force us to apply this move. I can easily repeat it in a slow motion but it is completely impossible to do for me even in a real slow but true swing attempt.

Next, I tried to dissect what was a possible reason(s) that let Hogan hold the cup as long as possible. Famous rear elbow move forward at the beggining of the downswing could be one of them since it is much easier to hold the cup if the wrist moves forward, etc. etc. - puzzles are multiplying.

 

One thing is certain for me - it was not a deliberate move since it would bring so serious timing issue in the swing (much serious than e.g. crossover release) that it would be impossible to control it. I think we are looking at an effect but noone until now can see a real culprit bringing all sequences of events into life.

 

Good that this thread is back !

 

Cheers

 

P.S. This move is not a supination as Mr.Hogan erroneously said in his book; the very bowing of the wrist is a palmar flexion; supination is just an anticlockwise turning of the wrist/forearm; the motion we discuss is, however, a sort of combination of both palmar flexion and supination - or better said, a palmar flexion that happens during the supination process.

[Buzzkill]

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.

 

Thanks for your effort and great post!

[yoonie]

Gracias, senor. Great stuff.

[hanon]

I found this into a forum ( http://www.freegolfinfo.com/forums/tm.aspx...57&mpage=15 ). It seem that supination is one of the most important parts at impact. I write it down for the historical reference to Hogan:

A teacher I go to once in a while, Buck Mayher told me he had a chance to meet Hogan. He asked Hogan what was the most important part of the swing. Hogan asked if he had read his "Five Fundamentals" book. Buck said yes. Hogan said look on page 108-109 that showed a detailed illustration of supination. As we all know, Hogan struggled with the "lefts" this was his way of controlling it. Buck was the ONLY teacher who has ever mentioned this to me.

 

To teach me how to supinate, he took a pitching wedge and stuck a cut off shaft with a grip on it into the butt of the PW. The extra grip and shaft stick out about the length of the grip plus a couple of inches. Anyway, he had me set up with the extension sticking out under my left arm. When I took my "normal" swing, I hit myself is the ribs with the extension BEFORE the club head reached the ball. Then Buck showed me how to supinate. It took a while, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't hitting myself in the side anymore. Again, if you do this slowly, you will see that by turning your left knuckle under, the shaft will square up to the target line, the club face will square up and you will de-loft the club

 

I have copied the same text into other thread but I copy it again here because this is the most appropiate thread about how Hogan squared the clubface. Hope you enjoyed

[yoonie]

They actually use that drill to work on chipping technique too. I'm not sure that it necessarily teaches you to supinate (or palmar flexion or whatever) by itself, but rather to keep your hands ahead of the ball which can cause supination with the appropriately weak grip. The crazy thing about Hogan is the way he supinated at the very last second from a cupped position only moments before.

[hoolio99]

Gentlemen,

 

Excellent website. Been a viewer for some time but recently signed up.

 

I've been looking for a copy of the 1955 Life Magazine article on the web for a while with no success. I was excited to see that scotchblade had posted it but the link does not seem to work. Any chance someone could e-mail it to me or put the link up again?

 

Cheers,

hoolio

[newportbeach]

Very nice thanks.

[Asleep]

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 like to read a re-print of that article, as well.

[umdgolfer]

right hand was used to cup the left wrist, much easier motion to repeat that deliberately cupping the left wrist?

[hbear55]

Well, I do agree that it was one of puzzles of the real secret. I have sacrificed literally long hours to find an automatic way of doing it and, unfortunately, I am stupid enough to find at least a correct track.

 

I started to dissect it from trying to find what this move does in reality to the clubface. It does three things:

- it delofts the clubface;

- it sends the clubface outside the path (famous OTT part of Hogan's downswing);

- it lowers down the clubface.

Considering the fact that if one wants to keep the lead wrist cupped all the swing one wouldn't ever hit the ball (the clubface would be much above the ball and very lofted and coming so much from the inside) - this motion seems to be quite natural. The problem is that our subconscious mind won't ever allow us to hold the cup so long to force us to apply this move. I can easily repeat it in a slow motion but it is completely impossible to do for me even in a real slow but true swing attempt.

Next, I tried to dissect what was a possible reason(s) that let Hogan hold the cup as long as possible. Famous rear elbow move forward at the beggining of the downswing could be one of them since it is much easier to hold the cup if the wrist moves forward, etc. etc. - puzzles are multiplying.

 

One thing is certain for me - it was not a deliberate move since it would bring so serious timing issue in the swing (much serious than e.g. crossover release) that it would be impossible to control it. I think we are looking at an effect but noone until now can see a real culprit bringing all sequences of events into life.

 

Good that this thread is back !

 

Cheers

 

P.S. This move is not a supination as Mr.Hogan erroneously said in his book; the very bowing of the wrist is a palmar flexion; supination is just an anticlockwise turning of the wrist/forearm; the motion we discuss is, however, a sort of combination of both palmar flexion and supination - or better said, a palmar flexion that happens during the supination process.

 

I think that the forward move of the right elbow was possible because Hogan setup with the right elbow away from the body and the pit of the right elbow was pointing more toward the target rather than to the sky as he shows in the address position portion of Five Lessons where he talks about keeping the elbows and arms as close together as possible thru out the swing. If you set up as he did with the right elbow away from your body then at the top of your swing you make a move to bring the elbows closer together the right elbow moves forward automatically and allows the left wirst to flatten and even bow. When you do this properly it is just about impossible to hook the ball. Plus the harder you swing the better it works.

[gohorse75]

Anybody else notice how much he has released the club in the frame right after impact (picture 8 on last page of PDF)? This seems counter to what everybody teaches regarding holding lag.
[url="http://www.scotchbladegolf.com/Life_Magazine_Hogan.pdf"]Click here for article[/url]
[/quote]

[Dariusz J.]

[quote name='gohorse75' timestamp='1285792553' post='2720348']
Anybody else notice how much he has released the club in the frame right after impact (picture 8 on last page of PDF)? This seems counter to what everybody teaches regarding holding lag.
[url="http://www.scotchbladegolf.com/Life_Magazine_Hogan.pdf"]Click here for article[/url]
[/quote]

And why one should be supposed to hold lag still after impact ? I personally hate too exagerrated forward shaft lean at/post impact since it suggests an arms-controlled motion. Moreover, note that pre-secret Hogan held lag longer/used more forward shaft lean - he stopped to do it while becoming the best ballstriker in the history of golf. You have a good eye.

Cheers

[gohorse75]

And why one should be supposed to hold lag still after impact ? I personally hate too exagerrated forward shaft lean at/post impact since it suggests an arms-controlled motion. Moreover, note that pre-secret Hogan held lag longer/used more forward shaft lean - he stopped to do it while becoming the best ballstriker in the history of golf. You have a good eye.

I personally don't think the lag should be held and I have constantly noted to myself that Hogan really releases the club, but I'm having a hard time reconciling that with the 9-3 drill and the talk of holding the right wrist angle all the way through the finish (along with most other teaching telling people to hold that lag as long as possible). That thought causes me too have too much lean at impact with deep divots and no height and a really late hit. I'm a right handed golfer that is otherwise very dominantly left handed, so I tend to pull hard with a tight left hand grip and the "automatic release" just doesn't happen for me until well after impact.

Also, I really like the rotary thought, but for me when I think "turn through from the 9:00 position", my body gets way ahead of my hands and the result is the arms getting away from my body (almost outside) and the club comes in way above the address plane at impact.

I am a scratch player that works real hard on my swing and I really enjoy it, but these two issues have been dogging me for a while. I would really like to hear some thoughts on how to keep the club in front from the beginning of the downswing and how to avoid getting too much lean at impact.

[Professor D]

Hogan was a man of his word. He promised that he would reveal HIS secret when he stopped competing, and he did. But that doesn't stop countless teaching pros from claiming that they've identified the "real" secret. Most are just trying to profit from the public's interest in the "mystery". Most have never even read the article. There is no mystery. Now one can dissect his swing all day, but what Hogan referred to as HIS "secret" was, is, and will always be, what is explained in the Life article.

[Professor D]

[quote name='dream_stryker' timestamp='1233693272' post='1465868']
[quote name='Dariusz J.' post='1465714' date='Feb 3 2009, 02:12 PM']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[/quote]

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.
[/quote]

Supination is supination. It's always manual, by definition. It may not be "consciously" done. Hogan opened the clubface about 100* on the plane in the backswing. 40* or more of that was from left wrist pronation, conscious or otherwise. Obviously, the left wrist would have to supinate the same amount, conscious or otherwise, to square the clubface at impact.

The left wrist palmar-flexes (bows) in the halfway-down area because when the left wrist is rotated counter-clockwise (supination), while retaining most of the angle between the left arm and clubshaft, on the plane, radial deviation (wrist kock) transitions to palmar flexion (bow) as the manifested physical appearance of the "hinge" between the left arm and clubshaft. This is how the left wrist seemlessly moves from cupped to bowed. Jut like in the sequence of pics in the book.