Sixty-three years ago this spring, a golfer experienced the breakthrough of his life. He discovered something that transformed him from a very good golfer to a legend in his life, with an enduring reputation as the best ball hitter the game has ever known. Ben Hogan discovered something in 1946 and then hinted and finally acknowledged that he had discovered a “secret”. A secret that allowed him to achieve a goal that he sought for almost 14 years in the professional circuit, namely, how to produce a consistent, powerful and repetitive swing that would allow him to obtain almost total control over the golf ball. Debates continue to this day over who is the greatest golfer of all time. But as Jack Nicklaus recently observed in response to a question about whether Tiger Woods is the best striker he’s ever seen, “No, no, that would definitely be Ben Hogan.” And we’ve all probably read the comment attributed to “Terrible” Tommy Bolt, a golf champion in his own right, who observed that “All I know is I saw Nicklaus watching Hogan practice, but I’ve never seen Hogan look at Nicklaus.” practice”.

For several years, Hogan would only admit that he had discovered a secret. Several professional golfers speculated about his secret in Life magazine on April 5, 1954. The following year, Hogan revealed his secret for all to see in Life magazine on August 8, 1955. The article was simply titled “This is my secret”, with Hogan detailing how he had further weakened his grip by moving his hands to the left so he could barely make it. he sees 2 knuckles, with the V of both hands pointing directly at his chin button. I say he further weakened his grip because he had previously moved his grip to the left or neutral position in 1938 based on advice to avoid Henry Picard’s hook. He had also adopted the so-called shortened thumb position upon his release from service in 1945. The shortened thumb gave him better control of the club on the backswing by reducing his tendency to “John Daily it,” particularly with the driver. The secret he described involved the use of the Scottish technique of deliberate pronation. This technique involved a twisting or cupping of the left wrist on the backswing. The move was believed to make it difficult to close the clubface on the downswing, thus preventing a hook. Most expert golfers considered it a technique suitable not only for launching the ball into the air but also for promoting a hook. He also described how he “supinated” his left wrist through the ball. Hogan further warned that his secret would be worthless to the average golfer and ruinous to a bad golfer, particularly one already fighting a chop. But it certainly worked for Hogan, as he won 33 tournaments and 3 majors from 1946 until his career was interrupted by his car accident on February 2, 1949. This was a phenomenal streak of success that took him to the top of the golf world. .
 
Perception of another Secret.
 
Several months before the revelation of his secret in Life magazine, Jack Fleck defeated Hogan in a playoff for the 1955 US Open Championship. Fleck was little heralded and less well known and is considered one of the biggest upsets in US history. Open. Hogan was devastated by the loss and announced that he would be a “ceremonial golfer” from then on. The victory would have given him a record fifth U.S. Open Championship and atoned for his perception of being slighted by his victory at the Hale Open in 1942, which was held as an Open in all but name, including the awarding an identical medal that matched Hogan’s other four. Hogan later published in the spring of 1957 a series of sports illustrated articles that were later included in his classic “Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” instruction manual.

The book is still relevant and a classic more than 52 years later. However, the book was not without controversy, as the secret revealed in 1955 was nowhere to be found in the book. There was little to no discussion of “pronation,” except for a brief mention of the ruinous effects of early pronation on the downswing. However, there was quite a bit of information about “supination”. With his focus on the basic fundamentals of golf, Hogan’s philosophy held that all that was needed was the proper application and practice of the basic elements of the swing. The basic elements consisted of about 8 movements in total that came together in a chain action to produce a repetitive golf swing. He felt that a golfer of average athletic ability could break 80. Golfers became skeptical when the book did not quickly lead to the promised results. There were about 18 pages in the grip alone. After all that coverage, many instructors held up the relatively weak grip advocated at Five Lessons as an example of poor technique for beginners, as it exacerbated most golfers’ nightmare, the dreaded cut. For golfers who are already prone to putting the ball out, the focus on a strong right arm grip and elbow to the side, coupled with the inside swing, often produced the worst kind of confidence-busting shot, the snap or hit. duck hook. The recommendation to move the hips as quickly as possible, as if they were attached to the wall by a rubber band, played havoc with the shots of golfers whose arms couldn’t keep up with the body and often ended up swinging wildly or pulling. her arms through the impact like a rag doll. Finally, a key principle of the swing presented in the book as a kind of breakthrough, the airplane, turned out to be too complex, a bit esoteric, and a problem that few understood.
 
A book before or after its time?
 
To be fair to his book, a new generation of “franchise” golfers was emerging in the form of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player to a lesser degree, and amateur star Jack Nicklaus. The swashbuckling era of golf was in full force and Palmer’s go-for-all style, with a unique swing style that only an athlete could produce, apparently bore little resemblance to the style espoused by Hogan. Then there was Nicklaus, with the flying right elbow, inverted “C” and prodigious length that was described by Hogan’s hero Bobby Jones as “A style of golf I’m not familiar with.” The inverted “C” gained prominence on tour and the style was quite different from that advocated on Five Lessons. Despite Hogan’s reputation as a great ball-hitter and having earned the admiration of his fellow golfers, Hogan’s style paled in comparison to Palmer’s. Palmer’s golf was compelling, emotional, and created a groundswell of fan support that became known as “Arnie’s Army.” Golfers wanted to play and be like Arnie. There was no love lost between Palmer and Hogan, whose insistence on referring to Palmer as “Fella” rankled Palmer throughout his career. The relatively conservative style of golf played by Hogan fell somewhat out of favor during the period when Palmer peaked, Player began to be a force to be reckoned with, and Nicklaus came to the fore.
 
What about the secret?
 
There were hints of unfinished business over the years as Hogan closed out his career. From time to time over the next several decades, there were hints that there was more to his golf swing and knowledge than had been revealed in his golf books or Life magazine articles. He often introduced himself as “Henny Bogan” when he was meeting people or when he was talking on the phone, which was apparently a joking reference to himself. He did an interview with Nick Seitz in December 1984 that was added as a foreword to a reprint of Five Lessons as it approached 30 years of publication. Hogan revealed the importance of pronation and the trials and tribulations that led to his discovery. He also insisted that “he wouldn’t change a thing at Five Lessons and that everything he knew about the entire golf swing was there.” There was speculation and doubt about these statements again, since the book did not mention the secret that he revealed in 1955. Sometime during the course of the next decade, Hogan allegedly offered to reveal his true secret that he apparently did not reveal in the Article of Life magazine. There were rumors and speculation that the technique would allow a professional to be shot in the 1950s. The requested figure was reportedly $100,000. The deal never materialized. There was an update in one of the golf magazines that provided a summary of much of the information known to date about the secret, but no new information was presented.
 
Emerging Secrets!
 
Hogan did not reveal any further information on his life. Several books have been published over the last decade by credible people purporting to reveal Hogan’s secret as told to them, in some cases, by Hogan himself. While many of these feature interesting stories, in some cases the books are fiction and in other cases the premise of the secret is based on emphasizing the fundamentals outlined in the Five Lessons. Many have speculated that there was nothing more to know and that Hogan was just misleading people. Others have a hard time explaining why, if there was more to the story, an honorable man with integrity like Hogan didn’t reveal it in his lifetime. Still others have posited that Hogan’s secret was in his head, or that it was an 8-letter word that “started with a P and ended with an E” (practice). Byron Nelson said he was hitting close to the hole and making the putts. Others insisted that whatever secrets there might be, they are no longer relevant in the modern game with new technology and the focus on target golf and distance. Jim McLean observed on The Ben Hogan Collection DVD that Ben Hogan’s secret in the final analysis was a lot of little things. That may be closer to the truth than anyone realizes.