Ben Hogan's secret

I ran across this book at Barnes & Noble the other day. It claimed to know the secret to Ben Hogan's golf swing. A lot has been written on this subject over the years. I think the astute follower may have some idea as to what the secret was. I am going to put forth my theory as to what it was.

Hogan was a very hard worker on his golf swing. He was tireless. I think some of that stemmed
from the fact that he never quite trusted his action. Maybe it's because he could make the same motion from swing to swing and hit perfectly straight shots followed by a violent duck hook. Hogan had incredible hand action thru the impact area of his swing. He hit the ball as hard with his right hand as he did his left. He had incredible power in his swing but often times lost control with the hook. He also had incredible lateral movement in his swing that was supported by a wide stance that put every ounce of power thru the hitting area. Hogan took the fundamentals of the swing and adapted them beautifully to his game. His secret, in my opinion, came only after Hogan had grooved a very repeatable swing. The secret could only be applied to his game. Hogan said that the secret was "in the dirt." What does this mean?

Millions of golfers subscribe to golf magazine and take countless lessons. There is no problem with this. This helps the game grow. Everyone looks for a quick lesson or piece of advice that might help their game. I have played the game for more than twenty years. In those twenty years I realized that the best advice is when I practice diligently by myself. It's in those times that you discover your swing and feel the way the clubhead moves. You feel it in your hands and no one out there can tell you what your swing feels like better than you. Your best ideas come from practice. Many tour players keep detailed notes of every practice session. They write down thoughts and ideas they might have. They revert back to these when the pressure is the highest. What did Hogan discover one day that made claim he found the secret?

When Ben Hogan was growing he often ran chores for his mother. One chore he often had was to go to the store to pick something up for dinner that evening. But Hogan didn't walk to the store. He played to the store. He played from yard to yard until he got to the market. One tip that Hogan worked was to stabilize his right knee to the point where it didn't move at all in his swing. This was one of the great power sources in Hogan's swing. Players of that day and for another generation used to let the right leg straighten on the backswing. This created a larger hip turn. It was believed that you needed to turn your body as much as possible in order to create large amounts of power. Hogan believed that turning your shoulders as much as possible and restraining your hip turn was the key to power. Hogan was so far ahead of his time on this subject. Jim Mclean came along decades later and introduced the X-factor. This essentially was what Hogan practiced in his swing. The wider the gap in the turn of your shoulders and hips would produce more power. In fact, Hogan eluded to this in his fundamentals book. He expressed turning your hips 40-45 degrees and your shoulders 90+. This key, unbeknownst to Hogan, was an integral part in realizing his secret.

Hogan fought a bad hook throughout his pro career. In landed him at the doorstep of bankruptcy more that once. Hogan knew that he needed to change his ballflight but a overhaul of his swing was not something Hogan could afford. Hogan hit the ball as well as anyone in the game at times. It just didn't hold up under the highest of pressure. Hogan desperately wanted to learn to fade the ball. Hogan would often stay up late at nite trying to figure out how to change his swing to fade the ball. Then one nite it finally came to him. He went to work on the new move that he saw in his head. The first swing was away.....a fade. A second swing...another fade. Hogan had found a way to fade the ball. But what did Hogan do to fade the ball?

Hogan never quite told the public what it was he did. I believe Hogan did that to protect a nation from doing exactly what they didn't want to do. Every golfer since the beginning has fought the dreaded slice. Millions of golfers struggle with this very shot today. The reason a players slices the ball are high too count. Hogan wanted to slice the ball. The sight of a ball fading to someone who has fought a hook for years is a welcome sight. I believe Hogan thought long and hard about how to achieve that fade. If you look at Hogan's swing before the secret you will notice a very strong postion at the top. His wrist is flat and in line with his forearm. The club is very square to the target. After the secret is when you begin to see a difference in his technique. No longer is his wrist flat but is now cupped. A cupped left wrist promotes an open clubface at the top of the swing. Hogan now had the ability to swing as hard as he needed and he no longer feared hooking the ball. How did he achieve this? By rolling the clubface open at the start of his swing. By rollling the clubface open Hogan no longer had a square clubface. He, in essence, had to fight to get the club square thru impact. This was just fine by Hogan. And the stable right leg? This helps in cupping the left wrist, combined with rolling the clubface open, and maintaining an open clubface throughout his swing. Look at so many of the power hitters of today. Many of them prefer to have the face open at the top of the swing.

So did Ben Hogan have a secret? Absolutely. But his secret only worked for him. The swing always has and always will be built on fundamentals. But it is how you adapt the fundamentals to fit your swing that will possibly determine your secret.