Hogan's Angle on "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf"

"Ben Hogan's Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" is the best selling sports "how to" book on the market. It is the second best selling golf book. Unlike Jack Nicklaus "Golf My Way" or Tiger Woods' "How I Play Golf" "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons" deals in blanket terms which apply to swinging the golf club in basic terms. However, Hogan was and is so advanced, that his basic terms are irreplaceable.

If you think in terms of value. He carved virtually every stone necessary in constructing an arch. The only remaining piece was the keystone. The one item which would create the most structurally sound architectural feature known to man (geodesic domes not withstanding).

Much of my research has been in reference to the composition of the keystone. I am currently recording podcasts in which I apply Hogan's Angle to the instruction in "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf". That tutelage will tie it all together. Beyond understanding the purpose behind "Five Lessons" the opportunity to expand on one's ability to control distance, trajectory and shot shape will remain.

Truly, the abilities acquired through utilizing Hogan's Angle and developing a repeating swing built on the fundamentals in "Five Lessons" will completely alter the way the game is played.

I've included a simple self study test to aid in understanding the basic reason Hogan's Angle is naturally superior. I leave some deduction to the tester to help enable your ability to rationalize Hogan's Angle in your own terms.

To give you an idea of what is to come, open your copy of "Five Lessons" to page 99 and evaluate the instruction given there, in reference to this test.

I can't possibly express my excitement when I receive correspondence which states, in no specific terms, "I don't get it" or "what exactly does this instruction mean?"

It's the best kind of correspondence. I experienced something similar in 2000 when my notions of how a golf swing ought to be engineered around the shot path was suspended. I was standing on the tee of what may be the most difficult tee shot I have faced. A 460 yard par four which bent right. There was o.b. all along the left and immediately off the front of the tee box was a forty foot tall tree. The tree made it impossible to play a draw and unless the markers were all the way at the back of the tee box driving the ball over the tree was impossible. A straight shot which barely missed the tree would go o.b. if it traveled more than 260. Playing an iron off the tee would almost always assure an approach from the fairway but unless it went at least 230 the lie was on a side hill. A fairway wood would bring o.b. into play, or at least the trees along the left.

I selected a driver, in spite of the obvious challenge and, as I stood over the shot, my mind lapsed into an unforgettable moment. An epiphany, in which I envisioned a line from the ball, out in front of me but slightly to the left. That line was so incredibly clear that I couldn't forget it. However, if I attempted to hit the ball along it I would be trying to hit the ball over a house, into a street and surely o.b.

I immediately disregarded that clear, direct instruction and proceeded to play an utterly forgettable shot. That winter though, as the season was coming to a close, I decided to deliberately hit some "shanks". Not in the customary terms, catching the ball on the hozel. Rather, by hitting the ball squarely on the club face, but with the face wide open and the clubs path dramatically from the inside. So much so that the ball would surely travel along that line I had envisioned.

What happened instead was a squaring of the club-face which I couldn't prevent and an involuntary path which, although the club-head approached from the inside would straighten and then return to the inside. Ala Ben Hogan!

Since then, the developments and potential for still more development has been so utterly compelling! It's almost impossible to comprehend that anyone who had the information available to them... Anyone who could get 'on angle' wouldn't?

Beyond enjoying Hogan's Angle, I've elected to learn the game left-handed, which has furthered my understanding exponentially. I also couldn't, in good conscience, make Hogan's Angle available without first establishing a means by which Hogan's Angle could be applied to putting. That has been the most arduous task. I've tested numerous possibilities and, because I don't have Mr. Hogan's teachings to help me along, approached the same kind of bliss on the greens more slowly. The information in my original thesis holds true. It is, however, left to interpretation. Because my understanding was limited at the time of it's release, I was able to experiment. Those experiments have netted a technique, which (thankfully) is every bit as expansive as Hogan's Angle on full shots.

Hogan-Guldahl Gap

The parallels between Ralph Guldahl and Ben Hogan are tremendous. Both Texas born, within nine months of each other. Hogan turned professional in 1930. Guldahl turned professional in 1931. They both had success, although Guldahl realized success immediately and enjoyed it on a fairly continual basis until 1940 when his game fell apart. In his first decade he won 16 times including three majors and was considered the best player in the game from 1937 to 1939. During which time he won three majors.
Hogan struggled up until 1940 when he won his first individual title (one of four). During the 1940's he won 53 tournaments, including three majors.
Guldahl's slide from number one to being unable to play competitively is widely attributed to an instruction book which he authored in 1940. It is said that he over-analyzed his swing. An effort which resulted in "paralysis by analysis."
Hogan authored an instruction book "Power Golf." Which was published in 1948. Although his more formative publication "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" would be published nearly a decade later. In that decade, despite a near death car accident, Hogan won 12 times, including six majors.
The distinction between the two; a golfer who realized success naturally then disseminated his ability over a book and a golfer who unearthed success then refined it in two books is apropos.
Guldahl realized success through a clear understanding of the demands of golf, then obliterated himself with objectivity. Hogan rationalized golf to an exhaustive point then arose with simple keys to the swing. The cases are suggestive of how golfers digest information. Complexity is hardly digestible.
Why do I bring this up? I do so in reference to the myriad of conjectures about how a golf swing should look. In Ralph Guldahl there was a golfer who became distracted by his form and lost the function of his swing.
In Ben Hogan there was a golfer who contended the typical assertions on the topic of form and developed the swing which functioned best.
We now look to Ben Hogan as an ideal of form because of how well his swing functioned. Even though his swing characteristics don't prescribe to archetypal ideals of form.
I am reminded of all the instruction which compares a students swing to a touring professionals. This is done from outside the swing, from the perspective of the swing coach. It's a Guldahl approach to golf: analyze the form and leave the function to the student. If the student is still able to function (as touring professionals are) they will benefit. If the student becomes lost in form their game will suffer (as Guldahls did.)
All great shots begin and end at impact. The purity of the shot is the result of impact. Oughtn't instruction focus on the cause of a good shot and relate the form of the swing back to its function?
This very question has lead me to perpetuate Hogan's Angle in a manner which is consistent with relaying information to students via impact. The intent of Hogan's Angle is not merely to correct the positions of one's hands, arms, hips, etc. The intent of Hogan's Angle is to give correct motion, correct form a purpose.