New Post #18 Technique Tuesday

Hi Friends

I do not sit here as the winner of the 2024 Buckley Salver, not even close.

Though I do feel I got the “wrong” side of the draw this weekend playing in very unpleasant conditions. Rain and strong winds—couldn’t just be one; had to be both rain and strong winds and both days!!!!!

Still like the Murphys I’m not bitter.

Ben Hogan, or the Hawk as he was nicknamed (Due to his intense focus and concentration of the golf course). Won 9 major championships in his career and over 70 tournament victories. He is widely considered to have one of if not the best swing in golf and was respected for the quality of his golf shots as much if not more then Tiger or Jack.

In 1949 having already won 3 majors he then was involved in a major car accident but came back to win another 6 major trophies - The greatest golfing comeback of all time??

Ben was known for his attention to detail and exhausting work ethic as seen here with this quote,

"You hear stories about 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."

I’m sure all us golfers can understand to some extent what he is saying, the freedom of just hitting balls, tinkering with your swing, feeling solid contact, just not sure ours are all hit “hard and crisply”

So what are the fundamentals that Ben used………….

Ben wrote a fantastic golf book called “Ben Hogan’s Five lessons - the modern fundamentals of golf”

Its quite hard to distill each “lesson” down, Ben wrote a whole book on this. But below has some pointers for each one,

1. The Grip

I’ve talked before about the importance of the golf grip - in fact I wrote a whole newsletter on it (Sorry again Toby)

Ben says,

“Good golf starts with a good golf grip”

2. Stance and Posture

“Power and control must be combined in a good golf swing, and the stance is that step in which a golfer sets himself up so that 1) his body will be in a balance throughout the swing 2) his muscles are ready to perform fluidly and 3) as a logical result, all the energy he pours into his swing will be channeled to produce maximum control and power”

3. The first part of the swing

“If the golfer executes his backswing correctly, at the top of his backswing his legs, hips, shoulders, arms and hands will be properly poised and interrelated to move with power and coordination into that climatic part of the golf swing, the downswing”

4. The second part of the swing

“On the downswing the correct order of movement is hips, shoulders, arms and hands, As each component part enters the swing. It adds its contributions to the multiplying speed generated by this cohesive chain-action”

5. Summary and review

“The familiarition that the golfer will gain over the course of just one season of abiding by and practicing the fundamentals will begin to make the correct movements second nature for him”

Link Below to get a copy on Amazon (I’ve earnt about £1.55 from links so far!)

Happy golfing if you get out this week,

Cheers and Adios