Swing Tips from the Ben Hogan Collection

Moving forward in addition to news and information about the Ben Hogan Legacy and current events we will be bringing you a variety of swing tips and related images from our analysis of Ben Hogan's golf swing.  Since these are generally true fundamentals of a good swing we will be referencing Mr. Hogan's books such as 'Power Golf' and 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' as well as 'The Complete Hogan'.  We will also try to include photo images and video images that support the swing tip and fundamentals discussed.

A great resource of videos for those interested in maintaining their own study materials is 'The Ben Hogan Collection' DVD set that we produced and released in 2006.  Along with Jim McLean we completed the new book 'The Complete Hogan' in 2012 that gives a good description of Mr. Hogan's swing from the period before the 1949 accident and after he found his 'secret' that led to his domination of the professional tour in the late 1940's and his crowning achievements in the 1950's.

This effort is for everyone that is working on improving their golf swing and who wants to play better golf.  So, here is a quote from Ben Hogan's Five Lessons:

'The correct hitting motion is one unbroken thrust from the beginning of the downswing to the end of the follow through.'

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. 

Ben Hogan's Legacy shines brightly in 2011.

The city of Fort Worth is beaming this December with the announcement that their municipal golf course complex is the site of their successful First Tee Program and the location for the Grand Opening of the Ben Hogan Learning Center.  Several press releases over the past few weeks point to a December 10 opening date and a funders dinner on December 8.  It should be quite a gala on both dates.  You can access more information about it from the Ben Hogan Foundation website at www.BenHoganFoundation.org.  

New Book!  We have been diligently working on some projects that will complement Mr. Hogan's Legacy.  The first is the publishing of the new instructional book The Complete Hogan (Wiley and Sons) in January 2012.  Author and renouned golf instructor Jim McLean presents a complete description of Mr. Hogan's excellent golf swing from the golden years of 1946-49 prior to the catastrophic accident.  Its a terrific accounting and visual demonstration of his swing from multiple views.  There is a view for the 'lefty' golfer as well.  I am excited that we are bringing this out for everyone to enjoy and learn from. Also included are numerous interesting stories that Jim has picked up over the years from taling to Mr. Hogan's friends and fellow competitors. 

Ben Hogan Trophy

As promised here are some more photos of the amazing trophy presented to the winner Dave Schultz and Colt Knost of the inaugural Ben Hogan Invitational in Fort Worth last month. The detail in the crystal is quite fine and duplicates the original casting very well.

The Ben Hogan Foundation is in the process of creating some new castings in bronze as well. The first photo is from an exhibit at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth where the original casting was shown to the public. Ben Hogan felt so strongly about the importance of a good grip on the golf club that he dedicated 17 pages in his book, 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf''. We should should take note of this precision when we put our hands on the golf club. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods use an interlocking grip while the rest of their grip fundaments are the same as presented by Mr. Hogan.

There is a nice video clip on YouTube showing an older Mr. Hogan demonstrating the key points in setting his grip into place as well as some of the actual feelings he gets when its properly done.

Ben Hogan Foundation Charity White Hot Gala

The charity gala was a huge success for the Ben Hogan Foundation and the Henry House charities. The Foundation is building a Ben Hogan Learning Center in Fort Worth, similar in concept to the Tiger Woods Learning Center in California. It will be located at the local municipal golf complex that already serves approximately 10,000 kids in their First Tee Program. The Foundation also supports the First Tee Program.

We were one of the Gold Sponsors for the event. They ran a slide show of the sponsors in photo #1. Next is one of the floral arrangements using original Ben Hogan golf clubs from the 60's as part of the display. Next is one of the ice sculptures that served as a table. David Feherty was there with his wit and stories about Tiger Woods and one of our severely injured service men who was a star at a recent Tour event when he met Tiger. The two paintings are on 6 foot canvases. They were painted on the spot as the artist spun them around on their mountings to creat likenesses of Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan. A shot of the crowd pouring over the silent auction items and finally the Proprietor of JanKris Winery from California who launched Ben Hogan Label wine selections, Merlot, Chardonet, and a Cabernet. All very good and well spoken of in wine circles. My choice was the Merlot!

Golf Swing Fundamentals for Tiger Woods: See Ben Hogan

I am really stumped. For the life of me I cannot see why our golf announcers/writers/teaching professionals simple defy common sense about golf swing fundamentals as demonstrated by Ben Hogan. Too often I hear or read that Hogan was the best ball striker ever. Ask Butch Harmon. Ask Gary Player. Ask Jim McLean. Ask Tiger Woods.

Then, in the same sentence/breath I hear or read that a golfer cannot copy his swing; his grip and his 'secret' would only work for him and would only 'confuse' a golfer and/or simply create a really big slice. The fact is that Hogan went from a very strong grip in the evolution of his swing to a more neutral grip and finally into a weak grip that he used to hit his power fade. A shot that went left to right only a few yards and started off on line.

It should be relatively easy. There is new technology in the instructional arena. There is a perfect model. There is video analysis. There is biomechanical analysis and instant feedback. There are excellent instructors that advertise that they teach the 'Hogan' swing. There are motivated students of the golf swing who are willing to put in long hours of practice and dig it out of the dirt for themselves. There is video. There are excellent instructional books from Ben Hogan himself, 'Power Golf' and 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf'. There are detailed photo swing sequences.

So, the question is where and who has an exact replica copy of Ben Hogan's golf swing? If you have it or see it, let me know!

Hogan Swing from 'The Ben Hogan Collection' on YouTube

I have seen many of the swing clips we used in 'The Ben Hogan Collection' set appear in YouTube.com over the past couple of years. We produced the dvd in order for all golfers to enjoy Mr. Hogan's swing. Here is a link to one of the postings that actually did some justice to our original and copyrighted production.

This posting does not condone the illegality of the postings on YouTube of copyrighted material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNgMNK3CtWU

Check it out. It is a really good sequence of swings by the legendary Mr. Hogan.

Hogan won the British Open in 1953

Ben Hogan did not know how important winning the British Open Championship would be to his legacy all those years he did not play at that prestigious venue. Somehow he missed the boat on that piece of golf history that was successfully dominated by Bobby Jones in his career. Its really too bad. In the twenty plus years of his competitive career he only played once, and won. Hogan's nine majors count might have been much greater if he had made the Open Championship a priority as the modern era tour professionals do. The best of the best on the PGA Tour define their careers and their chances of entering the World Golf Hall of Fame partially by how many major they won. My guess is Hogan would have won at least one or two more to add to his 'major total'. What if he had dominated like Peter Thompson or Old/Young Tom Morris?

If not for the war, the accident rehab year and the subsequent shortened schedule for the next decade who knows who Tiger Woods might be chasing and Jack Nicklaus as well in his career prime.

We can only wonder. But, Hogan's legacy is stellar and in tact for all players to enjoy and chat about after their own day's adventures on the golf course.