quote:Originally posted by ej20
Jeffy,however much i admire Hogan i don't plan to copy his swing.The only feature i want from his swing is the slight arch at impact.Hogan kept a slight cup in his left wrist at the top and with an ocean of talent(something i don't have),he worked his left wrist to an arched position at impact.
As regarding an arched left wrist and hooks,i believe this has already been covered in this forum.Arching the left wrist does not close the clubface.It delofts it.Rolling(swivel) the left wrist closes the clubface.If you're hitting smothered hooks,it's not because of too much arch,it's too much swivel.
Don't read too much into my post: Trevino played with an arched left wrist at the top and Nicklaus considers both him and Hogan the best ballstrikers he ever saw. Also, Hogan's hooks were caused by his downswing, specifically jamming his right elbow in front of his hip deep into the downswing then squaring the club with his hands, not the bowed left wrist, which, as you say, merely lowers ball flight.
My advice is, though, before you become too commited to this swing change, I'd check out the later Hogan swing sequences and compare them to other top players because, in his later years, I don't think he bowed it very much at impact, in relative terms.
Also, I don't think it is that hard to duplicate Hogan's TOS and impact positions; I think the notion that "only Hogan could swing like Hogan" or that his swing required extreme athletic ability is bogus. If, on the downswing, you keep your right elbow up and back by your right side and let the right forearm drop down on the ball as your left arm rotates counter clockwise, you should get to a very nice impact position if, like Hogan, you are a double-shift swinger. I know this contradicts what is in Five Lessons, but Jim Hardy has demonstrated that Hogan didn't swing that way in his later, better ballstriking years, despite what was in his book. In fact, knowing what I do about Hogan's competitive nature and ego, I wouldn't be surprised if he deliberately kept that misinformation in the book, just as great cooks will sabotage recipes when given out.