Brian Manzella
Administrator
Old Ben.
For the longest time when he was alive, Ben Hogan never thought of himself as old. But he did get old, and if we are lucky, so will we.
You see, for those of us who never sit still, never stand pat, life is just one big pick-up football game. You show up, pick or get picked, play hard, try to out fox, out hustle, out smart, or just plain out game the other guy, and shake hands when its over, while saying, "See you next time."
It never occurs to you that you are old, or getting old. You just know with a little work and a little thought you can do better next time, maybe because you can figure out a better way to dissect the 3-3 zone, or in Ben's case, the 3 hard par 3's. And you can't wait to get up each day.
For Ben Hogan, there was always a next time. Another day to improve. Another day to figure out the mystery of the great game of golf.
Ben Hogan has been gone from our presence now for over eleven years. I think he'd have a hard time with all the golf teachers out there claiming to have "figured out what Hogan was doing." In my opinion, Hogan would probably sue some of those who say they used his swing as the model for their method.
They sure don't look like Hogan when they demonstrate.
Some of the indisputable things that Ben Hogan did in his golf swing can be seen in the picture above.
1. He made a backswing that was wider than his downswing.
2. His swing covered a lot of ground to the left and right of him.
3. His downswing was, by modern "pop golf instruction" terms, very narrow.
4. He did not keep the club "up" his left arm in the common way a lot of golf instructors now pose.
5. His left leg did not snap straight at impact.
The more research I do, the better the swings of Hogan, Snead, and Nicklaus look. Funny, other than this guy Tiger Woods, these are the three biggest winners in PGA Tour history.
Eldrick makes a pretty good pass at it as well—at times.
The main thing to learn from the five indisputable things that anyone can plainly see in the picture of Hogan is this simple fact:
The modern fascination with centered, or left leaning at the top pivots these days, is, in my opinion, very short sighted.
There is simply no way to make a backswing with your head between your feet, or as bent over as Peyton Manning taking a snap from a three year-old, or leaning left of Nancy Pelosi at the top, and make a backswing that much wider than your downswing.
You can't.
You can't reach that far.
The other obvious things in the picture to me are how Hogan didn't overly "hit down," controlling the bottom vector of his D-Plane, and probably snapped his Kinetic Chain with the best of them.
Ben Hogan once said, "I hope people take what I have learned and go on from there." I believe, most real thinkers, would feel the same way.
If Ben were with us now, he'd be burning up his TrackMan, with his high-speed video and and 3D machine humming along, figuring out a better way with a little help.
He once said, "If I had video, I'd have killed those guys."
No doubt.
He would not like watching video of golf pros who he could give six a side to, posing in positions that are supposed to be closely approximating what Hogan did, but look more like what he was trying not to do.
Just look at the pictures, and think for yourself.
With age comes wisdom.
And another day to learn new stuff, and improve.
Thanks, Ben.
