getting into impact like Mr. Hogan

Posted: Fri 22:05, 30 Sep 2011

The wrist action of Mr. Hogan is a little complex. I noticed while watching Mr. Hogan's swing that his LH cock and RH hinge are held until the butt of the club reaches the ball, then he releases at or after impact. If I do this, my club face is WAY too open and I have ZERO time to square it up. How does Mr. Hogan get away with that while I can't? I've tried this several times and every time I end up with a major slice or a shank. This issue has been bothering ever since I found out who Ben hogan was.

Posted: Sat 0:01, 01 Oct 2011

preppy187 wrote:

The wrist action of Mr. Hogan is a little complex. I noticed while watching Mr. Hogan's swing that his LH cock and RH hinge are held until the butt of the club reaches the ball, then he releases at or after impact. If I do this, my club face is WAY too open and I have ZERO time to square it up. How does Mr. Hogan get away with that while I can't? I've tried this several times and every time I end up with a major slice or a shank. This issue has been bothering ever since I found out who Ben hogan was.

Great question. You need to be aware that when approaching impact the pivot must do its proper work to help squaring the clubface. The sequentiality of the motion is crucial. Swings that rely on distal parts work only (arms/wrists/clubhead) either bring similar problems you describe or invite timing issues. One needs to trust basic biophysics that assures distal parts reaction (supination/pronation) automatically. It is impossible to benefit from a hoganesque motion without the proper pivot sequencing.
The common misconception is to understand the kinetic chain as pivot stall approaching impact. The truth that few understand is that pivot cannot stall in 3-D - vide this:

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

Recently, scientists say a lot about the so-called parametric acceleration as the concept is brand new while it is known for ages.
I wish to underline here that the body turn must be executed properly.

Cheers

Posted: Sun 3:27, 02 Oct 2011

Thank you so much!

Posted: Wed 11:52, 20 Jun 2012

Dear Dariusz,

today I saw a video of Mr, Hogan, wich compared the practice swing to the later coming real swing. Mr. hogan shot an iron and the main thing was, that his practice swing was much longer in the follow through than in the real swing. The reason, so the teacher, is that Mr. hogan made a draw-practice.swing but than hit afade - that is stupid!

I also feel, that the way, coming from dorsal-radial into a palmar(?) position through supination has to do with the right pivot but somehow also with a hitting action during the real swing with the rear hand.

Iask, because I am a real weak lefty, doing everything with the right hand, exept golf and throwing stones or balls.

Should I take special arm-hand training in the gym to get some more authority?

Posted: Wed 12:59, 20 Jun 2012

Great post and questions.

Hogan's most famous fade is, in fact, generated by a draw swing. He hit the ball from the inside and there are no signs of hiting the outside part of the ball. IMO, it could happen because he deliberately allowed for a slight and not visible OTT element of the downswing (downswing always covers backswing plane) plus modified weaker grip let him achieve two things in one -- power and fade sidespin. Pure genius.

As regards hands -- yes, definitely. While Hogan said authoratively that one should not even worry about what hands are doing and condemned any conscious actions in the motion (especially of arms and hands approaching impact) -- it is a well-known fact that he had very strong forearms and hands. He worked it out as a caddie when he had to clean countless number of clubs belonging to the club's amateurs.
Therefore, what was easy to Hogan will not be such easy for us, but the macroscale guidance is the only correct one even in this sphere.

Cheers