Ben Hogan's Five Lessons
- Thread starter Matt 4-L
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Jim Kobylinski
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trashpar
New
Wa Wa Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa Android FTW
Crappy book anyway. Way inferior to Golf for Dummies.
Lindsey Newman
New
Honestly, did anyone get better from reading "Five Lessons"?
I'm not trying to upset anyone with that question and no, I'm not trying to get Dariusz upset or inflamed.
Please just share with the members what "Five Lessons" did to make you (anyone) a better ball striker.
I'm not trying to upset anyone with that question and no, I'm not trying to get Dariusz upset or inflamed.
Please just share with the members what "Five Lessons" did to make you (anyone) a better ball striker.
Dariusz J.
New member
I will not be upset or inflated because I said many times 5L is a great book but not free of errors that come of trying to pass Hogan's own feelings about things.
But to say that noone could get better is pure ridiculous. The very grip and stance chapters are golden. The best description of how a Vardon grip should be executed is in 5L. The stance diagramme is a precursor of D-plane. The saying that hands should do nothing conscious may worry a few but they can save a lot of hackers. The spirit of the book -- a wekend hacker can play between 75 and 85 is a constant inspiration for everyone, me included in particular.
Lastly, to say this book produces slicers is crazy. It's enough to see diagrammes of backswing vs. downswing correctly. Be OTT but hit from the inside. It's simple as that.
The guy was ahead many generations. Science will confirm it sooner that you think. You'll remember my words. Until it happens...enjoy Donald's and Fowler's actions ROFL.
Cheers
Todd Dugan
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Seriously? The two-handed basketball pass has become one of my top practice drills. Not sure there is a better athletic motion which conveys the feel of a proper golf swing. Hogan nailed that one. He also said that the clubhead reaches maximum acceleration AFTER impact. Pure gold. And there's more. Its all there. Everything you need to learn an efficient and effective swing. But reading great instruction and actually making good use of it is two entirely different things.
Lindsey Newman
New
Yes Todd, "seriously". I wanted folks opinions on how it has helped them. Thank you for your answers.
dschultz6072
New
The only things that I really took from 5 Lessons were the stuff that was not about the golf swing, but the game in general. I'm talking mainly about that little intro, but I think Wind wrote that. Even then, Power Golf still had better and more detailed information about course management, not to mention how to play in various conditions.
Frans@France
New
this part helped the most "drinking some ginger ale....seems to prevent the hands from feeling too fat and puffy" of course I replaced the ginger ale with something a bit stronger
Matt 4-L
New
I believe it's the best instruction book ever written, not without some problems but I haven't read a better one and I have read a lot of books. I think it gets a bad wrap for the weakish grip, espcially by the instructors who like to try and fix slices with a super strong grip. I am not trying to shove the book onto anyone just thought sense it gets refrenced all the time on here maybe some folks who haven't read it could or like me when I start hitting it bad I look back at it and always find a gem to get my swing back in the right direction. To quote Brian, "Hogan knew some stuff".
natep
New
Probably read this book 100 times between the ages of 10 and 14. Got me from terrible to being able to break 80 during this time playing a massive draw. I never had any real instruction and used 5 Lessons as my only guide. The influence of this book ended up holding me back in high school, etc. I ended up quitting after high school for about 12 years.
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WoodbridgeGolf37
New
I got worse - in fact much worse. To be fair, I used it like a playbook/cookbook. I tried to force myself to strictly follow all the rigorous prescriptions to the most minute detail - which isn't the smartest approach.
Attempting to conform my swing to Hogan's ideal stripped the athletic elements out of my swing which I had naturally ingrained. Granted, I probably did not implement them correctly. The book is chock full of good bits, that can help almost anyone if you know how to select the elements that YOU need.
However, it's written in such an authoritative style that the reader may come away with the conclusion that this is the ONLY correct way to swing - and that can be costly.
Matt 4-L
New
It's definitely a method and not for everybody, I went from around a 15 to a 2 handicap (over a couple years span) and most the credit goes to that book, right now I hit it like a scratch but putt like a bogey golfer and I think my index is a 3.8. Full disclosure, I do have a man crush on Hogan.
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