Final blog about Ben Hogan: Hogan's Secret

The Swing

Ben Hogan is, without a doubt, one of the best ball strikers of all times. During the peak years of Tiger Woods' career, Jack Nicklaus was asked if Woods was the best striker he has ever seen. Nicklaus quickly answered, "No... no. Ben Hogan, easily." Woods has also been quoted speaking highly of Hogan's swing. He claimed that he wished to "own his swing, the way Moe Norman and Ben Hogan did, meaning they had total control of the swing, and in turn, the flight of the ball.

Hogan's Secret

The success of Ben Hogan was partially due to his commitment to practice. He was known to practice more than any other golfer of his time and was even said to have "invented practice." On this matter, Hogan said, "You hear stories abut me beating my brains out practicing, but... I was enjoying myself. I couldn't wait to get up in the morning, so I could hit balls. When I'm hitting the ball where I want, hard and crisply, it's a joy that very few people experience." Yes. No doubt.

The young Hogan struggled severely with a bad hook. Although modestly built at 5'8" and 145 lbs, he was long off the tee early in his career and often competed in Long Drive contests. Author John Jacobs (Fifty Greatest Golf Lessons of the Century) claims Byron Nelson encouraged Hogan to use a "strong" grip in order to hit the ball as far as the bigger and stronger contemporaries. This grip is what eventually resulted in the catastrophic snap hook.

Hogan was believed to have generated a "secret", making his swing nearly automatic. Experts had, of course, theories on what this secret was. Many believed it had to do with the signature initiation of the right knee to begin each swing. Hogan himself revealed the secret towards the end of his career. He said it involved cupping the left wrist at the top of the back swing and using a weaker left hand grip. The weaker grip prevented him from hooking the ball off the tee. With a weak grip, he automatically created a fade since the club head was slightly open at impact.

Hogan's putting wasn't nearly as widely talked about. Although usually solid, and even spectacular during his peak career years, Hogan often struggled on slower greens. The car accident in 1949 left him nearly blind on his left eye, thus impaired his depth perception. At the end of his career, Hogan was standing over the ball for an unusual long time before drawing the putter back. At one point, he even suffered from the dreaded "yips". On faster and US-Open style greens, Hogan was much more successful.