My try at duplicating the Ben Hogan Swing

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Here's my baseline video:



Many out there say it is not possible, because he had a secret.......I say there is no mechanical swing secret, just mental secrets and secret feelings. All the "secrets" are in his videos!

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

One of my playing partners asked how the project was going and who I was using as a teacher. Told him I am working on the address right now and that I have no teacher.

At this point, I only listen to my eyes. That's my secret. If someone gives me a book with a description of how to do a dance move, it will be from their perspective, from what they feel. My perspective may be totally different. I may translate what they are saying as something way off base. Plus they will surely leave out an intricate detail because to them, the detail is so much a part of a common human move, that they will expect everyone to already know of it.

If they give me a video to duplicate, I can break it down into mini moves, and just get in a mirror till I am spot on.

So my hypothesis is that I cannot duplicate hogans swing by reading the book or someone telling me how to do it. I just have to break the address onto 1 inch mini moves. Same for all the rest.

The hogan videos are my #1 training aid. Without them, this project is impossible.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

An example of how I translate the address position is not quite what Hogan put it. If I had to describe it at this point:
- My head is turned about 5 degrees to the right of center.
- I am looking at the ball with my left eye.
- My chin is down.
- My upper back is slumped with a curved spine.
- My right knee is bowed inward.
- My left foot is turned slightly open to the target, and left knee bowed a bit inward.
- My shoulders are rounded forward; feels like
- Feels like someone has jumped out of a horror movie with a Rambo knife, and has jammed it direct into the middle of my shoulder blades and upper back.
- My right elbow feels like it is bowed out about 5 feet, but video shows it to be only 1 inch.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Take 2 video.




7i DTL

Takeaway is much too far inside.
Transition is over-the-top
Pivot doesn't keep moving.

During practice, if I pause at the top for 2-3 seconds, everything comes together nicely; no over-the-top.Gotta figure out how to make the same result when making a full, non-stop swing as is in this video. Whew......I have a loooooong way to go. I do notice a difference in my follow-thru....its a lot higher; I can no longer swing a hybrid, or 5w, or 3w in the basement because of the club now hitting the ceiling. This was not happening in the past.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

In the 'Take 3" swing, focusing on the takeaway. Trying to understand why right shoulder keeps rising while taking it back. Gotta do more to keep right shoulder down.



The funniest part of this video is swing #3, where I wanted to really FEEL my elbow jabbing me into my side during the downswing; doing this caused the club to move in towards me, which moved it away from the ball. I hit it just off the toe, and ball went flying sideways and bounced like a pinball around the garage, including into the ceiling above, which is our master bedroom, where my wife is lying in the bed. lol, I thought I had put my eye out. This is where my Mom would have said, "Mr. Anthony, you know we don't hit or throw in this house!!

The part you don't hear is when my wife yells "What are you DOING down there?? The sane people are trying to SLEEP!!!!!!!!"

LOLOLOL!!! I may have to set up a secret camera while I'm practicing to catch her hilarious reactions and comments!

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Just got off the phone with Kim. She gave me a speech about having consideration for her sleep. I said "I did consider it lol........I considered that if the birds are chirping, and the sun is up, it's Hogan time!! Do you think Hogan laid in the bed when there was daylight?? lol" Then she requested that I pllllleeeeeaaaase move her truck out of the garage when I am being Mr. Hogan. She then reminded me of the cracked windshield on my own truck. Yeah, I cracked the windshield, but I wasn't practicing; I was doing something totally different………. I was in need of a golf fix (kinda like a drug fix lol). Here's the story:

It had rained non-stop for about a week, and I couldn't get out to the course. I checked the forecast every day hoping to get a round in at some point. The stinking forecaster said the rain would be over late Thursday nite and Friday would be "partly cloudy." Sooo, I took off work on that Friday. Cleaned my clubs and packed my golf bag that Thursday nite. Got up early Friday morn, had a champions breakfast, and headed to West Pines course for a well-needed round of 18. Left home and the skies were clear as spring water. Got closer to the course and it started to get dark. Parked my truck, and it got reeeeeeeal dark. It was about 10am and there was 1 other vehicle in the parking lot. My thinking was “I’m not letting a few dark clouds scare me away…..there WILL be some golf played today!!” Opened my door, put my foot on the ground, and the bottom of the black clouds above fell onto the earth like a stinkin waterfall. I was sooooo determined to play that day, that I got my clubs out, and splashed my way into the clubhouse. I walk in with my shirt and pants glued to me cause of the typhoon outside. The guy at the counter was locking the place up and said “Ummmmmmm……buddy, not gonna happen today. It’s a dang hurricane out there.” Of course, I didn’t hear him, cause I NEEEEEEED to play some golf. I just stood there cold and dripping onto his carpet. I said something stupid like “well, it may just pass over.” There was a television to the right of the counter that had the severe weather beep at the bottom of the screen with a splotch of red over about 3 counties. I stared at him, stared at the tv, stared at the range, stared at the parking lot, then just walked out in disgust. Didn't even say bye. (My apologies to the guy at the counter....my disgust was really for the weather man!) Got back in my truck and headed to Walmart to buy some wiffle balls to hit in the garage. Bought a few bags and headed straight home. Got home and the monsoon was still spitting on everything. I pulled into the garage and set up my "indoor range." I started hitting the plastic, wimpsy, flimsy whiffle balls towards a wooden target about 30 yards from my garage door. (I was hitting in the opposite direction as I am in the Take 3 video). I put up a target and had a pretty good time hitting it, but the balls just made that "whhhhhrrrrrllllllllll" sound with no real bang. I had a splendid idea.......and this is where i went wrong........I thought that since I was hitting the wimpy whiffles direct to the target, with EVERY club, EVERY time, that I would do the same if I hit a real ball. The precautious, adult side of my brain said that I should not hit a hard **** golf ball into the wooden board, but into a nice, thick, safe, bed comforter. Soooooooo, I went upstairs and got one out of the closet. I got a bungee cord and tied it to a couple of yellow hooks that I screwed into the girders. Now if you can picture this, the comforter is MUCH larger than the wooden target on the wall behind it, so logic should say that I was being safe. I teed a Pro V1 up, grabbed my driver, and swung like I was at a Remax long drive championship. I must have been ramped up with adrelanine, cause I pull-hooked it into the concrete brick wall above the washing maching; the ball missed the giant comforter, ricocheted towards my truck, and right into my windshield, which left a nice sparkly crack. The funny part about it was I just stood there trying to figure out what I did to hook it......lol didn't even care about the $300 windshield I just destroyed lol. I can barely type this right now.......still laughing about it LOLOL!! The not-so-funny part of this is, of course, I ended the indoor driving range session, and forgot to take down the comforter. Kim got home and had all kinds of questions about why her comforter was bungeed to the wall. I told her I was "thinking" about hitting a few balls, but I didn't think it was a good idea (wink-wink lol). I eventually told her about it a couple of years later when we had friends over for dinner. We were all sharing funny stories of our marriages. My wife actually laughed about it; I told her the cracked windshield came from a hail storm.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Here's my 'Take 4' video. Was experimenting with the famous Hogan concentration drill.
8-22-11. 10:45pm before bed. 7i DTL and FO



After watching this video, I laughed out loud that I had worked for an hour on getting the takeaway kinda in the range I wanted it to be in, and was satisfied for what I had put into it. Then I make a final recording of the full swing (the 'Take 4' swing), and I am nowhere near what I practiced for the hour. Old habits are hard to get rid of. New habits take time and repetition. Will do a few swings in the a.m. and make sure I have an understanding of what the takeaway should feel like..........then practice it for a month......or two......or six...............or thousand.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

In the 'Take 5" swing, still focusing on the takeaway. Didn't have but a minute to swing this morning; had to take daughter to school for a special function. Once we were about to walk out the door, I literally ran to the basement to get 60sec worth of takeaway on video. This is actually the best way to see what your real swing looks like, just grabbing a club and doing one, single swing, rather than rehearsing with 25 swings to "practice" for a video. I proved this to myself last nite; I did about 200 takeaways until it looked good, then took a 20min water/food break. I came back to record 1 last swing to confirm that the takeaway was perfect, and my muscles lost their memory while I ate grilled chicken, brown rice, and green beans. Or maybe there's something genetically engineered into todays foods that automaatically erases all Hogan swing thoughts lol.

Analysis: still don't understand the correct feeling. Right shoulder is still rising. When I slow things down and compare to Hogan, his right elbow appears to bend the instant the takeaway starts. Mine takes a second for the bend action to start. Even with this "wrong" move of mine, my club is very close to the plane line, but if I'm gonna match Hogan. I need for right shoulder to NOT rise.

Next practice session, I'm gonna focus on the right elbow bend and tweak it till it's right. That's the hard part; what feels right to me does not match what I am trying to do. Just another lesson of "what you feel is not real".

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Got tired of working on the takeaway for the past 2 weeks. Wanted to play around with the full swing. I apologize to everyone following me, as I am not supposed to be thinking about impact till sometimes next year! Couldn't help it...........It has rained for the past week and I can't get to the course. Had to get some swings out of me. Also experimenting with a new camera angle.

I saw a still photograph of Hogan at impact and had an "aaaahhhhhaaaaHHHHHAaaaaa" moment. His supinated left wrist got me veeeeery curious, and I began experimenting with a few things.

My swing has changed dramatically in the past few weeks. I am absolutely smashing the ball into my homemade range. The ball sounds different when hit by the club, and the canvas "pops" when the ball pounds into it. When swinging in my basement, I now cannot complete a full swing because of the club wanting to fly up into the air during the follow-thru. Tearing a nice hole right into my HVAC ducts. I've GOTTA get to the course!!!

Swing is still nowhere near Hogan's, but I am understinding a LOT about his mechanics now!

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

My goal is only to duplicate the Hogan swing. This is not based on doing what Hogan's book says, or doing what Hogan said, or doing what Hogan's caddy or closest friends said........only to do what I see in his videos.

This is a point that I've had to make a lot over the past month regarding this project.

My method is as basic and simple as can be. Break the video down from all angles. Practice each and every move in a mirror and camera until I have an understanding of what they should look like, then transfer this look into a personal feeling. This is the most important part of the project............finding my own personal feeling. Practicing the waggle and playing it back 1,000 times till I am close, then understanding what the muscles in my arms, feet, back, shoulders, quads, etc feel like while I am doing it. It all becomes muscle memory.

Same concept as giving an 8 year old kid a Michael Jackson or Elvis DVD. After watching is for a few days or weeks, they can jump up and do most of the moves. spot on. No training class, no book, no understanding of what Jackson or Elvis' "intentions" were. Nobody told them what the 5 fundamentals were of moving like Elvis. They just saw it and moved as he did. They probably won't go out and sell millions of records and have hit music videos, but they are able to accurately do the Jackson or Elvis moves.

Same concept as an actor playing a major role, having to duplicate the person to make it believable enough for the audience. Think of any movie you saw where the actor was so convincing that when you left, you commented on how believable they were, from even the smallest details. There are also MANY actors that screwed it all up too, only mastering one particular part of the persons persona; they were spot-on for a minute or two, then lost mental focus and became themselves for a few moments, which just ruined everything.

All my golfing career, I have been told of the "golf bible" written by Hogan. I have never read his 5 Fundemantals book. Once I get as close as I can to his movements, I will purchase the book and read it in detail. I want to see just how much the book matches the muscular movements I have put together. If I am able to match his mechanical movement, I am succeeding.

I have coworkers that are stunned that I haven't read the book yet. One guy actually brought his into the office and slammed it on my desk. He said "BHP" (that's what he call's me now) "how the heck are you going to duplicate the swing and you haven't even read the instruction manual??? What the hell? You are going at this all wrong. Take the book and keep it as a gift." My response was "thanks for the kind offer, but I kindly wish to submit into evidence the many, many statements from a gazillion Hoganites around the globe saying that they have read the book and they understand what it says in context, but their swing is nowhere near that of Hogan."

So my theory is that if gazillions have depended on reading the book or the magazines to understand/discover the secret move, or secret thought, or secret whatever, and no one has seemed to have accomplished this, then I must take a different approach. I don't want to become person number gazillion-one.

The book would probably help in understanding his method, but I want to gain an understand by actually carrying out the movement I see him doing. I am not sure if my method will help or hurt. I read another post last nite from a guy that is wanting to understand the Hogan "starting down/transition" theory. He said he finally got his hips to move like Hogans on the downswing, and his ball striking improved a great deal, but when he looked back at the book, Hogan said something about the hips start the downswing. Since he was making his move happen using his left foot, he said that he couldn't be right because Hogan said the hips were the way to go, so he tried focusing more on the hip "because Hogan said to"; his swing went to crap shortly thereafter. Said he was back to the drawing board to "gain more understanding on the Hogan hip move."

What the heck? If his hips started to look like that of Hogan, even if he was mentally thinking of his left foot, why toss it out because the "instruction manual" said otherwise?

And I proudly state that I have put together many projects without ever reading any portion of the instruction manual. My wife can attest to that lol. May have taken me a couple of cylinder heads to realize that if I crank down the rocker arm bolts too tight, the hydraulic lifters will get smashed lol.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

Felt like experimenting with the impact area. Here, I am playing around with one of my custom-designed hip n elbow drills.



Tomorrow, one of my golf buddies is coming to town for the day. I FINALLY GET TO GO TO THE COURSE....YEEEEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!!!!!!!!! I get to see what the ball does coming out of the grass instead of from my basement floor. The downside..........I still don't have an iPhone to take to the course to do any recording. Hmmmmmm, I wonder how I would look setting up a laptop on the first tee box??

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

3wood. Back focused in the takeaway. I've been wandering around the Nile for the past week. Playing around with lots of drills. Gotta get back on track. The takeaway is improving, but still not where I want it to be.

0:45 Right shoulder still easing itself up. I understand why this is happening now, just gotta work on it.

1:50 Club plane is different. Hogan's is turned down to line more. His wrists have hinged differently than mine. If I get to the top with less of a cupped left wrist, my club is right in the area as his. Gonna stay with the cupped wrist for now, but will learn both versions later.

During the takeaway, the top of my head is moving towards the target. Looks and feels kind of stack-n-tilty. Next phase of the takeaway is to cure these misses.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

I'm not trying to uncover any type of secret. It's as simple as:

1. Put a video of Hogan on the screen.
2. Press play............once he has moved the club 2 inches, press pause.
3. Put a video of my swing right next to his, press play and once my club moves 2 inches, hit pause.
4. Did my movement match that of Hogan's? Is my club in approximately in the same position? If yes, goto step 9. If no, goto step 5.
5. turn camera back on an make same 2" movement again, making a milimeter-sized adjustment to it to hopefully get my position to match.
6. Load both persons back on screen.
7. Does my movement match Hogans? If yes goto step 9. If no, goto step 1.
8. END
9. yell loudly "YEEEEESSS!!! FINALLY GOT IT", then proceed to next phase of swing.

I have no clue how long this process will take.

And oh yeah, once I get to step 9, do this movement 100 fintillion times until it becomes muscle memory, because as I've learned over the past month, I can think I have somehing figured out, then I go and eat dinner, come back to try the same move, and find out my muscles have alzhiemers.



I had a good debate with a guy on the topic of Hogan's swing. He said "Hogan's swing was part of his DNA,not yours". On a joking note, it has been scientifically proven that DNA is extractable and clonable lol. On a serious note, take the example of language. I am teaching myself Spanish and Italian. I was born in the United States and I have the accent of a person born/raised in the U.S. This is not part of my DNA, it is based on the surrounding I was raised in, based on the observational learning that took place when I was growing up. I developed the accent of the people around me. As I began to learn Spanish , I spoke Spanish words with an "American" accent. Over time, I have been able to observe/listen to Spanish speakers and gain an understanding of the specifics of their accent, and can now speak Spanish that sounds like I am from Spain. I have never been there, I have no Spanish relatives, I have no Spanish "DNA," but I was able to copy and imitate.

In time, I will observe enough of the Hogan moves and practice them enough until my swing has a Hogan accent.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

One of my friends asked,"If you want to get better at golf, and if you want to learn the Hogan mechanics, why not just hire a swing instructor that teaches the one-plane method, or one that has an in-depth understanding of what Hogan was doing and his secret. Would save you lots of time so you could get out on the course and enjoy the game."



My response: I did think about getting a "one-plane swing" instructor, but realized that I would be missing the critical lessons learned from my infinite failures.



Example: If I had a parachute on my back and were dropped on a large Egyptian island that measured 390,000 sq miles, with a map that showed exactly how to get to the fun-filled golf resort on the other side, I would miss all of the incredible journey in between.



In my case, I want to jump out of the plane with the map in my hand, then as I am coming in for landing, the map is suddenly torn away from me by a quick wind and taken off into the distant ocean. I land and stand there dumbfounded and lost. I've heard so much about the golf resort; it's absolutely magical there! I fold my parachute, get out a bottle of water, and start the journey. As I walk, I stumble across lots of cool treasures along the way. Lol, who knows, in my case, I may just wander around the 390,000 sq mile land mass forever, never even getting close to the golf resort, but that is ok too, cause along the way, I met lots of new people, made a bunch of cool friends, and even some cool enemies, discover lots of interesting towns, and learned a lot about myself. I can either stand and stare at this Nile River, or dive into it and start swimming upstream lol.



And....there is no Hogan secret.

[Ben Hogan Swing Project]

I remember someone telling me that I should focus on Hogans concentraton drills in order to gain a better understanding of his mechanics. They were right. From the address, to takeaway, to "the top", regular swing vs concentration are spot on. This should be all I need to master this part of the swing.

Regular swing is on the left. Concentration drill is on the right.