Might be a dumb question about Hogan

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And it's probably been asked a hundred times and answered just as often...but here goes anyway. Besides, I'm a little bored and figured someone else on the forum might be bored too.

First, a long winded disclaimer. I know just enough about the golf swing to screw myself up. I grew up swinging the club without giving how I did it, a second thought. Then right after college I got to attend a Dave Pelz short game school in Austin Texas and that probably did me more harm than good. I started tinkering with my putting and then my swing, and I got pretty messed up. I've been sort of lost ever since. I have honestly quit reading any swing theories or fixes. I just let Brian tell me what to do. I don't need to know why. I just want the ball to go where I want it to go as often as humanly possible. The less I think about my golf swing...the better.

So, on with the show.

I was looking at some of my swings from 2009. I had a bunch saved from when I was getting ready for the mid-am qualifier. I use CSwing to video and play back. My CSwing software came with a bunch of pros swings and I had never bothered to look at till this past weekend. The weather was terrible and I was trapped indoors with nothing to do.

Anyway, I also had some footage of Hogan and I thought it would be cool to put them in CSwing and see how they looked.

I was stunned.

Here's my question (apologies again if this is common knowledge)

How is it that when looking from behind and down the line, Hogan returns his club exactly to his address position at impact while EVERY other golfer in my library has his hands higher with the club drooping down? Some of them are a LOT higher. "I'm" higher at impact, although not as high as some other pros.

Obviously his hands are farther forward at impact but they are at the same height as they were at address. His club shaft angle at impact matches the club shaft angle at address. How the heck does he accomplish this feat? Doesn't the toe droop some on all iron shots? Is this something that is so out of the ordinary that only Hogan did it? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill here?

And finally, what would Hogan's swing numbers look like on a Trackman?
 

natep

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I've seen several golfers that have the shaft angle at impact matching the address angle (from dtl view). Nick Price, Snead, Sergio, Anthony Kim, etc.
 
I've seen several golfers that have the shaft angle at impact matching the address angle (from dtl view). Nick Price, Snead, Sergio, Anthony Kim, etc.

Thanks natep

I don't have a that many players in my CSwing software but none of them did what Hogan does. I'll see if I can find some Snead and Price. Plus, I can check the Sergio thread here.

It just jumped out at me I guess. As much as has been written and argued about in Hogan's swing I just never grasped or paid attention to how he returned the club to his address postion. I'm still confused by the toe droop everyone else has but apparently, not Hogan, Sneed, Price, or Sergio.
 

natep

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It also sort of depends on where your hands are when you address the ball. Hogan had high hands, and reached out to the ball at address. Someone with really low hands at address would have a much harder time returning the shaft on the same angle. It happens though.
 
Hogan's post impact pivot was stronger than anyone's in the world. There's no dumping the hands or steep shoulders which could lead to high hands at impact. Notice how level his shoulders turn post impact basically you have to earn your way and have the proper equipment
 
One suggestion is that he resisted the outward-pulling forces (centrifugal force) of his pivot rotation by keeping his hands closer to the body (or rotational center) on the downswing. This would agree with the term used on this forum called a 'steep hand path' in the downswing. Sergio also performs a similar motion. It would be in contrast to the more 'traditional' release like Nicklaus' where the wrists more passively unhinge and roll WITH centrifugal force and you see the butt end of club post-impact from a down the line view. I believe with the Hogan version, you see less clubface rotation and more swinging left after impact with the butt end of the club disappearing quickly from a down the line view.
 
Getting back to shaft plane at address is tricky business to recognize. Camera angle is soooo important in the line drawing world. My TRACKMAN readings do not always match my V-1 sequences at all. I have a 2000 or so sequence of Vijay where he's actually well below shaft plane at address. Ive also seen lower than lie angle VSP reading where the shaft appears above the address shaft. Unless I'm reading it wrong, that should not be, correct?
 
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