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.