Ben Hogan's Masters Tournament Gift - 1965

Ben Hogan received this gift from the Masters Tournament in 1965.  It must have been a tradition for the tournament host to give various gifts each year.  This one looks like a tope measure, a pair of pliers, and a little hatchet.  I wonder if Mr. Hogan ever used them around the house.  This was part of a display by the his family at Shady Oaks Country Club, site of the Ben Hogan Invitational, a yearly even held in September each year and benefitting the Ben Hogan Foundation and the Henry House Charities.  Look them up, they deserve support for the wonderful things they are doing in Fort Worth.

I took the picture and you can see some of my shadow on the glass case.  It was a great day for the tournament at Shady.  Colonial Country Club is also close by and the clubhouse has a terrific new exhibit about Mr. Hogan. 

WWW.BenHoganFoundation.org.

The Complete Hogan will help you have more fun smashing the golf ball

We all love to smash the golf ball.  Some folks do it with better swings than others and the result is a great big thrill from hitting hit far and under control.  This book, The Complete Hogan, simply shows you how Ben Hogan hit the golf ball with power and precision.  There are plenty of photos to show details of his swing and exceptional analysis by Jim McLean to help direct your attention to the details.  Its one of those must haves for your golf library. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hfLLNp32jjY

The Ben Hogan company created a great commercial with Mr. Hogan.  This is just a part of it and shows Mr. Hogan's SWING at a later time in his life.  He did like the color yellow as I have some videos of Mr. Hogan practicing at Augusta National for the Masters Tournament in 1968. 

Many advances on getting 'The Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' by Ben Hogan to dvd. We are finalizing our promo reel that provides a great overview of our project and the applications we are devloping including the dvd and interactive website. We also are looking at some TV shows for 'The Making of the Ben Hogan Avatar'. We also put together financing packages for investors and sponsors as we move along. The 'Ben Hogan Avatar' is almost ready to hire a sports managment agent!

I promised some photos of the Ben Hogan Exhibit at the USGA's Golf House in New Jersey. These shots were taken during some of the filming of 'The Ben Hogan Collection' 3 dvd set. Its available on Amazon.com and select golf retailers. Ask for it.

This is a quick post and a couple of the photos are turned sideways. I will fix them later. Andy Mutch was the museum curator. The fellow in the white shirt and tan pants holding holding Ben Hogan's driver that he used in 1953 to win The Open at Carnoustie is me. That was a real treat, getting a feel of that historic golf club!

Ben Hogan on the Ed Sullivan Show

I just found this terrific old clip that was posted on YouTube a few weeks ago. It is from the Ed Sullivan Show that originally broadcast in the 1950's and 60's. I actually watched this show when it was originally shown but was not a big golf fan at that time. I was just a kid then.

Hogan beats on Ed Sullivan a little by doing an impersonation of Sullivan's golf swing. It is very funny and shows a side of Hogan that was never really appreciated by the public or the golf writers of his time. This was a comedian Ben Hogan, a role he enjoyed with his close friends.

Also, and another really great part of this is a swing drill Hogan used and demonstrates here. It is similar to the one shown in the 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' and is a good way to get rhythm and a sense of what a good golf swing should feel like before all the technical swing thoughts jump into it.

This is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr-b7OsZjF0

Ben Hogan Golf Schools

I recently spoke with Charlie Ricks, the guiding force behind the new Ben Hogan Golf Schools. The concept is similar to the previous ESPN golf schools where there are various school types at cities around the country. These include a 3 hour introductory course to a several day school. The curriculum evolves around Ben Hogan's 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' and should be a terrific way for golfers to get a practical instructional setting to learn and practice the fundamentals.

The website is www.BenHoganGolfSchools.com.

I hope to attend one when they are in Florida.

Ben Hogan Company New Irons

The Ben Hogan Collection now has on both its website and in Ebay listings new Ben Hogan Company irons and wedges. New posts for the wedges are forthcoming but we have listed on Ebay brand new in their original shipping box Ben Hogan Apex, Apex PLUS, and Apex Edge irons. All sets are 3-9 plus the E (Equalizer) Wedge. The sets are numbered and are all forged construction. They are beautiful.

The listings on Ebay can be found under the mcctee vendor listings. The price is a great value at $499. The Apex and the Apex PLUS can be found on our website at http://www.benhogancollection.com/. We are proud to be able to provide this Ben Hogan Company equipment along with our instruction dvd products.

We will be posting the other wedges as soon as the web techs are able to make the changes.

I am sorry to say that we are out of stock on a number of items that still appear on the website such as golf balls and golf towels. However, we will be posting some golf books including 'The Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' in the very near future.

Ben Hogan Collection Video Vault

The Ben Hogan Collection has a video vault on its website. The vault is open for inspection on a free two week trial basis before a reguest for payment of a subscription fee is sent to the customer. The vault is competing with YouTube for containing the most viewable film clip images of Mr. Hogan swinging various golf clubs in various settings from differerent years in his career. Many of the clips are also found the in the 3 DVD pack 'The Ben Hogan Collection' that includes the Swing Interactive Software that features Mr. Hogan.

Web traffic is consistent at the site and there are a significant number of customers of the vault that signed on over the past year since it went active on the website.

The idea of getting a site sponsorship has been discussed. The producers are open to turning the video vault into a free web service when sponsorship arrangements can be made allowing extensive enhancements to the content of the site. Contact should be made with the producer at sales@thebenhogancollection.com.

Currently the producers are in the pre-production phase of developing the new dvd from 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf', by Ben Hogan and Anthony Ravielli and Herbert Warren Wind. The 3D computer graphics to be employed in the production will include motion capture technology for a truly exciting, instructional, and entertaining experience. A Ben Hogan Avatar will be created that demonstrates Mr. Hogan's golf swing from unlimited points of view using Ravielli's pen and ink drawings as a basis for the renderings. Additional high definition art work on some renderings will make the various renderings truly life-like.

Mr. Hogan's Avatar will be able to show in detail his 'Secret' and all the fundamentals he describes in his book. Production will begin once a suitable production company is selected by the parent companies, Classic Sports Brands and McTee's Champions LLC.

More on these topics later.