Inside the World of Legendary Golf

New Year...New Start for Golf Instruction

golfersrgr8@yahoo.com (Tom Bertrand) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:35:00 GMT

Well, well here we are again with the start of another new year. One of my resolutions is to communicate more with those interested in Ben Hogan fundamentals and philosophy.
In the past I would answer random questions here and there but never really put out information to spark people's interest. So that's what I'm planning to do this year.
I was fortunate enough to have a few words with Hal Sutton last night and I gave him one of my books, "The Secret of Hogan's Swing". It started a little dialogue about the "Hawk" and an old story about him playing with Tex Moncrief. Mr Hogan had apparently hit a shot close to the hole from the fairway and, without thinking, Tex asked him what club he hit. Mr. Hogan did not like people asking him that question. With saying a word, Ben went back to his bag, pulled out another club, dropped a ball and proceeded to hit another shot close to the hole. Ben wasn't done. He went to his bag again, pulled out another different club, dropped another ball and hit that shot close to the hole. Then turned to Tex and said, "It doesn't matter, I can hit ANY club close to the hole."
Ben Hogan's philosophy to play your own game holds true today. Start this year with a concerted effort to learn and understand your own game and you will have more fun on the links.
Later,
Tom Bertrand

Arms - The Forgotten Soldiers

golfersrgr8@yahoo.com (Tom Bertrand) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:13:00 GMT

Why is it the arms are taken for granted in the swing?

They are our only connection to the club via the hands... they can cause excruciating headaches when they want to work independently of one another causing shots to escape to the right and to the leowsft, and yet many teachers of this day and age have nothing important to say about the arms and the proper turning in of the elbows.

One of these days a tour player is going to experience the accuracy that Ben Hogan said we could attain in 5 lessons by concentrating on the arms and it will become the new rage.

Heck, if the Stack and Tilt can catch their attention, the arms will someday, and it will be categorized as a new swing theory. Just watch.

Remember, Ben hogan wanted the feeling of one big arm and the only way to make that happen is to train the arms to work together. When executed properly, the right elbow will fold to the ground on the backswing and the left elbow will fold to the ground just after impact. If you do not consistently monitor the arms, they will eventually become independent.

I spent the Labor Day weekend with Alan and Aaron, father and son students of mine, and was so encouraged by their improvement just from coordinating the arms closer at address and continuing that relationship through to the finish. They are excellent single-digit handicappers who will profit from that information and as time goes on will continue to get better.

Don't forget... it's not just the arms getting closer, but the elbows turning inward that's important!

BEN HOGAN'S 3-PART SWING

golfersrgr8@yahoo.com (Tom Bertrand) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 15:12:00 GMT

The arena of blogging... I guess it's my turn to start one!

The real reason I wanted to start this blog is to stay in touch with my students and guests to my website. It gives me that avenue to answer questions and interact with comments that are circling around in the golf world.

I recently was asked by a gentleman named Steve from the UK (because it remains a niggle to him, I love that word) about Ben Hogan's lateral slide in the downswing and what my thoughts were on the subject. I thought it was a great question and decided it would start my blog.

Ben Hogan never did slide in the downswing, period. He slid before the downswing.

You might say, "Huh?"

You see Hogan had a 3-part swing. He had a backswing, a set, and then the downswing. The "set" was his positioning of the hips before the downswing started.

Let me back up a little.

Why would Ben Hogan slide to set his hips? Didn't he say we should "spin the hips" and the faster the better? Yes, but because of his bus accident, he (not everyone else) had to make an adjustment. Hogan advocated minimal lateral motion for the golf swing but couldn't do it himself, because of the pain it created in his left side. He set up with a little more weight on his right side at address, and on the backswing would load against the right leg.

Stay with me now.

As he was still making his move back the lower body would start moving toward the target to position the base of his spine just in front of the ball. (this is the set) Why? Because the base of your spine is the bottom of your arc and in a proper golf swing you connect with the ball just before the bottom and on a typical iron shot a divot would follow. It is a timing move and Hogan found it needed constant practice to perfect, and if he took off even one day of practice he would lose his edge. He felt it unnecessary for most golfers and tried to emphasize the proper motion of the spin with little lateral movement whenever asked. But most people just wanted to watch him swing and not listen to his words. That's why he told John Schlee not to copy his swing, and in Hogan's own words said, "Why would anyone want to swing like a cripple."

Once he positioned his torso just ahead of the ball, he tried to spin his hips as fast as he could.

Load - Position - Spin

So there you have it. Ben Hogan's 3-part swing. If you didn't know it or understand it, now you do!

Later, Tom B.