My hogan Ah-ha moment...

[kalamazoo]

...with one exception :(

Hey hogan fans, got a question...

First, I hate typing on a cell phone, so ill keep it brief, plus, I don't think too many back-story details are necessary for this inquiry.

Long story short, I just finished Hogan's 5 Lessons, and for kicks at the range I tried to emulate the basics that I could remember, ie the elevator stand, knees pointing slightly in, lead arm straight on take away, front foot turned a quarter turn, and so on...
The results were fantastic! It felt awkward but ive never hit my irons father or straighter! The problem is that I couldn't seem to translate it to the driver (or woods for that matter). I kept hitting a penatrating slice. The ball flight was lower than I'm used to, which I don't mind, but I kept slicing. my miss is normally a hook, so this is all new to me :)

Anyone have any general suggestions for this? Sorry, no videos yet. I plan on pursuing the hogan-esque swing. I play to an honest 9 handicap. I've never considered messing with my swing until now, so take it easy on me, im a hogan newbie :) thanks in advance!

[markponi]

I'm more convinced the driver swing is now completely different from the swings of the other clubs in the bag now that the driver shaft is 7 feet long and the heads are 3.4 cubic meters. Trackman is proving that the changes necessary for an upward angle of attack vs. a downward angle of attack are significant. The different feel of the driver compared to the other clubs messes me up too. I could drive it great until 2002. Now it's laborious.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

[quote name='kalamazoo' timestamp='1315498919' post='3551050']
Hey hogan fans, got a question...

First, I hate typing on a cell phone, so ill keep it brief, plus, I don't think too many back-story details are necessary for this inquiry.

Long story short, I just finished Hogan's 5 Lessons, and for kicks at the range I tried to emulate the basics that I could remember, ie the elevator stand, knees pointing slightly in, lead arm straight on take away, front foot turned a quarter turn, and so on...
The results were fantastic! It felt awkward but ive never hit my irons father or straighter! The problem is that I couldn't seem to translate it to the driver (or woods for that matter). I kept hitting a penatrating slice. The ball flight was lower than I'm used to, which I don't mind, but I kept slicing. my miss is normally a hook, so this is all new to me

Anyone have any general suggestions for this? Sorry, no videos yet. I plan on pursuing the hogan-esque swing. I play to an honest 9 handicap. I've never considered messing with my swing until now, so take it easy on me, im a hogan newbie thanks in advance!
[/quote]

VIDEO! VIDEO! VIDEO!

[svsvincenzo]

[quote name='markponi' timestamp='1315499223' post='3551067']

I'm more convinced the driver swing is now completely different from the swings of the other clubs in the bag now that the driver shaft is 7 feet long and the heads are 3.4 cubic meters. Trackman is proving that the changes necessary for an upward angle of attack vs. a downward angle of attack are significant. The different feel of the driver compared to the other clubs messes me up too. I could drive it great until 2002. Now it's laborious.
[/quote]

I think it's got to do with MOI-matching the driver with rest of clubs, especially with irons. The much longer shaft makes driver's overall MOI shoot up, hence the need for more "effort" to close the clubface. In MOI terms, the driver is "heavier", so you need to close it more. A club maker told me that even with 65-gram driver shaft, you have to close the gap with your 3-iron in terms of shaft length by 2 inches! You either elongate the irons or shorten the driver, or both.

But Hogan got really heavy driver, so I'm confused...lol But his driver I believe is just 43 inches? So that's 2 inches shorter, so that evened-out the MOI?

[kalamazoo]

Thanks for the replies!

Hogangolf101- I think I understand what youre getting at. I ran out of time and balls before I could really start experimenting, but ill tinker again tomorrow. I know hogan believers are adamant about his grip, but I'm thinking I might need a stronger grip for the driver to help get the face closed...? Is this totally sac-religious or acceptable? Like I said, I'm loving the results so far with the irons, and I'm committed to undergoing the process of a serious swing change, but I want to make sure I don't get too far off track by abandoning the hogan grip for the driver.

Thoughts?

[hoganfan924]

[quote name='kalamazoo' timestamp='1315498919' post='3551050']
Hey hogan fans, got a question...

First, I hate typing on a cell phone, so ill keep it brief, plus, I don't think too many back-story details are necessary for this inquiry.

Long story short, I just finished Hogan's 5 Lessons, and for kicks at the range I tried to emulate the basics that I could remember, ie the elevator stand, knees pointing slightly in, lead arm straight on take away, front foot turned a quarter turn, and so on...
The results were fantastic! It felt awkward but ive never hit my irons father or straighter! The problem is that I couldn't seem to translate it to the driver (or woods for that matter). I kept hitting a penatrating slice. The ball flight was lower than I'm used to, which I don't mind, but I kept slicing. my miss is normally a hook, so this is all new to me

Anyone have any general suggestions for this? Sorry, no videos yet. I plan on pursuing the hogan-esque swing. I play to an honest 9 handicap. I've never considered messing with my swing until now, so take it easy on me, im a hogan newbie thanks in advance!
[/quote]

Take a look at the summary and review section of 5L and specifically the stance recommendations for a driver. In other words, take a normal parallel left stance, then pull your back foot rearward (away from the target line) about 5 inches, effectively closing your foot line while keeping your shoulders square.

[dap]

Good luck impersonating Hogan but most end up looking like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJRdyEtHvbU&feature=related

[kalamazoo]

Ha! Thats funny!

Honestly, I have no intentions of impersonating him, but I am intrigued by his methods for a successful swing. I may have felt like the Elvis impersonator inside, but I sure hope I dont look like him!

Hoganfan924 - Thanks for the input. I didn't mention in my short summary of what I tried that I was moving the back foot back a few inches as Hogan recommended...still couldn't get it to work. I know that Ill find it, I was just excited and thought I'd post about my experience with trying the "Hogan" swing for the first time.





[quote name='dap' timestamp='1315537359' post='3552297']
Good luck impersonating Hogan but most end up looking like this.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJRdyEtHvbU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.c...feature=related[/url]
[/quote]

[svsvincenzo]

[quote name='kalamazoo' timestamp='1315535829' post='3552243']
Thanks for the replies!

Hogangolf101- I think I understand what youre getting at. I ran out of time and balls before I could really start experimenting, but ill tinker again tomorrow. I know hogan believers are adamant about his grip, but I'm thinking I might need a stronger grip for the driver to help get the face closed...? Is this totally sac-religious or acceptable? Like I said, I'm loving the results so far with the irons, and I'm committed to undergoing the process of a serious swing change, but I want to make sure I don't get too far off track by abandoning the hogan grip for the driver.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

I think most, players especially, won't advise changing the grip. Instead, you either close the clubface at setup a little (same grip setup-wise) or you make clubface close or tumble more during the swing. But I'd like to hear them how exactly.

[JOEGOLFWRX]

the one ball position in the book can be personalized, its what he said he did for his [i]stock shots[/i], ...that's if he can be believed, lol.

[ej002]

You can set more weight back or move the ball little more forward. Which will give the clubhead more time to square up.

However, a push/cut is my miss when I am swinging my best. Ususally it is because my pivot is lazy. So I have to concentrate on really bustin it with my pivot to get the face to square up. Hogan said the harder he swung the straighter it went once he figured it out. The driver is the hardest club to hit. So maybe that is your issue.


Comment about the new drivers. They are so long it is crazy. You have really set up so far back and the ball so high to get it to square up, I personally think it causes a lot of people to set up "underneath". From there what can you do besides flip it? I think more people would benefit from trying to hit down on the ball which isnt really down or even possible to do with these monsters), but ends up reducing the angle of attack and allowing you to square more. I cant believe how many times I have drop kicked a drive because of the stupid size of my driver.

That is an interesting comment about MOI.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

VIDEO! VIDEO! VIDEO!
C'moooooooooooon, post it.