Golf Master Tips, How to Apply Ben Hogan Swing Secret - Ben Hogan is one of the great golfers of all time and was one of the dominant professional golfers through the 40s and 50s. Though small in stature he is considered one of the great ball strikers in golf history, and even in his younger days competed in longest-drive contests.
He also was alleged to have the "swing secret" that allowed him to hit the ball consistently, and to this day that secret has many theories as to its exact nature. Since he was a private man, Hogan never revealed all that he knew.
What is Ben Hogan Swing Secret?
Since all golfers are searching for that panacea that is going to allow them to hit consistent shots, many will try to take something from what Hogan supposedly found. To delve further into this we should know the back story of what Hogan was looking for.
When he was young he used a strong grip, and although it allowed him to hit the ball far it also caused terrible "snap hooks". It is said his way of correcting this was a wrist movement known as "cupping under" in the back swing. He did this while using a weaker grip.
The second part of the "secret" was to use the right knee to initiate the golf swing. He felt that this right knee movement was necessary to set up a correct wrist action. This took away any possibility of him hooking the ball and allowed a more confident swing.
So what can the average golfer take from this? In reality we probably can't take too much. With Hogan's new swing he could consistently shape the ball left to right, and that worked for him. Most golfers especially as we get older become more distance-challenged, and if we could we would shape the ball right to left to get more roll. So although it worked for Hogan it probably wouldn't be the answer to most amateur golfer's wishes.
Even if the Hogan "swing secret" will probably not help us there are several other things that the great Ben Hogan has told us that we can use. His Five Lessons of Golf Instruction is perhaps the most widely read golf tutorial ever written, and it is excellent.
The other thing we can take from Hogan is that, yes he was a great ball striker, but he is known to be one of the hardest workers in golf. He was a golfer that constantly worked on his craft, and in so doing he understood the golf swing as well as anyone in history. The real lesson from Ben Hogan is: hard work is what really pays off. (Sean O'Kelly)
