I'm trying to reconcile videos of Hogan actual practicing in this video and others I've seen of Hogan in tournament play with the foot placement chart in the summary section of Five Lessons.
https://youtu.be/LKcxxTkysgc?si=IFBHWiI5oCudKCDj
https://youtu.be/jHHtHVUinjc?si=RPCrfQYtPWB9Hgwb
In the chart in the book, Hogan shows an open stance for the short irons below 6. In the above practice and tournament play videos, Hogan's stance is almost always square to the target when using the short irons.
Is this Hogan writing do as I say, not as I do?
There are other things in the book that are probably feels and not actually what Hogan did – the arms bound with rope with the elbows pointing straight to the ground. Hogan didn't do this but it's similar to current arm band training aids.
Any thoughts?
by Substantial_Team6751
23 Comments
I think this is more a case of bad illustration. Imagine these are just to show you the general stance width for each club. Take each right foot placement and bring it to the horizontal line and the chart makes more sense.
Hogan can probably reliably alter his swing path without the stance changes. These are kind of a cheat code to get golfers of uh… our caliber to modify their swing path without messing up their whole swing.
Pretty sure Hogan notoriously battled a hook most of his career, and his approach to swinging a club was about eliminating one half of the course.
In any case I bought a bunch of golf books a few weeks ago to keep me entertained through winter. Finished red book, putting out of your mind, and now beginning Zen Golf. The reason I didn’t buy Hogan’s book yet, was that the feedback was similar to yours in that it was a difficult book to integrate into one’s game. And that it struggles to discern “feel vs. real”
Outdated info
I feel like a lot of golf instruction is “do as I say not as I do”, simply because a lot of players learn based on feel and adjust accordingly. Instead of learning the proper technique initially
Works for Hogan but not for most. That ball position is too forward for me.
Wait, our lead foot is not supposed to be straight? I feel like when my front foot isn’t straight I open my body up too quickly and slice the piss out of the ball.
General theory vs practical application.
You seriously can’t tell a few degrees difference in video. Especially from 50 years ago.
The chart is probably exaggerated for the purpose of text.
A billion different things going on make it hard to dilute down to one principle.
We play a different game with today’s equipment and courses.
Hogan also played crazy spec clubs; 5 degrees flat, 4 degrees open, super heavy shafts, etc. There’s a lot of things about his swing that people should just admire from afar but not try to emulate.
He definitely did not do this lol
This has been proven to be ineffective
SLANG THAT DRIVER HOOK Y’ALL
This is very very outdated advice. Golf mechanics and instruction has come a long way in just the past 10 years. Even the past 5 years is quite impressive.
Interestingly this compensates for d-plane. Hogan was ahead of his time
Ball position should be in relation to a point on your chest rather than feet!!
Helped me a great amount trying this out earlier this year. Still sticking with it. Works for some and it has greatly improved my ball striking and launch with irons.
I suspect much of this is more “this is what I feel I’m doing” rather than what is actually happening.
[NaNaNaNaNa (Geiberger SyberVision)](https://youtu.be/gOeFD4qbocE?si=FhvC8zdslHTW_ThL)
When I was just winging it as a kid or young adult, I was happy to break a hundred. When I got back into the game a few years back, I read the Hogan book and found it very helpful as someone who had very little in the way of formal instruction, and I almost immediately left triple digits behind. I think it’s a great book for a beginner, but once the basic mechanics of the swing are established it begins to show its age.
It’s unorthodox but it’s something that those that grew up with golf but not a coach find often. This is my stance as a scratch golfer
This thread is a good example of why the average national handicap hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years.
Reading some of these old books can be fun and provide some insights but you also need to understand that basically every pro golfer was wrong about ball flight dynamics prior to launch monitors and some still are today. Nick Faldo famously described the face to path dynamics of hitting a fade or a draw 100% reverse of the reality.
Has anyone seen the Luther Blacklock youtube series on Hogan. It’s called the Lost Fundamentals. He tries to fill in various gaps in the Hogan book.
[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbydYG9vyUJMkRbqUHpHib3BEn1Daiej&si=8WtegoX4itdmi_Ye](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbydYG9vyUJMkRbqUHpHib3BEn1Daiej&si=8WtegoX4itdmi_Ye)
His videos about the ball position are a slightly different take than the simple chart in the book. I found it pretty interesting:
[https://youtu.be/RyOf2J1AR2I?si=lmXjzzHf2Z2TTpXi](https://youtu.be/RyOf2J1AR2I?si=lmXjzzHf2Z2TTpXi)
I find I generally hit the ball best through the bag with it placed fairly consistent in relation to my lead foot. I’ve always hit irons better with the ball further ahead than “standard” golf instruction, my brain scrambles if I setup with a 7i and a ball “centered” in my stance. I tend to stand square for wedges, and maybe move to a hair closed for driver. I think it’s something you should work out yourself of with an instructor.