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March 02, 2004

Hogan's secret

Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of all-time, and may have been the best pure ball-striker of all time. During his life, Mr. Hogan wrote a classic book about the golf swing -- "Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" -- and then, at the peak of his popularity fifty years ago, he supposedly disclosed the key secret of his swing in a Life magazine article. Nevertheless, many golf swing analysts over the years did not believe that the notoriously competitive Hogan had fully disclosed his "secret" because he did not want his competitors to benefit from it, and Mr. Hogan did nothing to dissuade them from that belief. Accordingly, a virtual cottage industry has developed from various golf swing analysts speculating as to the true nature of Hogan's swing secret. Mr. Hogan died in 1997 without ever fully disclosing his secret.

This NY Times article tells about a new Hogan memoir, "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan" (Gotham Books, 2004) by Jody Vasquez, a Texas oil-and-gas executive, who contends that Mr. Hogan disclosed the secret to Mr. Vazquez in 1967 while Mr. Vazquez had a job shagging range balls for Mr. Hogan. Mr. Vazquez's short version of the secret is as follows:

"The Secret is the correct functioning of the right leg, with emphasis on maintaining the angle of the right knee on the back and forward swings. Combined with a slight cupping of the left wrist, it produces optimum balance and control, and allows you to apply as much speed and power as you wish."

I'm going to go hit a bucket of balls over the lunch hour and try this. ;^) By the way, the best book on the complex and talented Mr. Hogan is Curt Sampson's "Hogan."

Posted by Tom at March 2, 2004 10:59 AM

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