In Five Lessons, Ben Hogan said the elbows should point toward their respective Hips. And that the upper arms should be 'glued' to the chest with the elbows 'bound' together.
Notice in the photo, that Ben himself absolutely did not do this! Recently, a John Schlee disciple -- John was an ex-Tour player and teacher who professed to have been told Ben's secret -- wrote a book wherein Hogan purportedly told Schlee (paraphrased) that "No, I didn't do it that way. But, if I had it to do over again, I would."
Thank goodness Ben got it right the first time! Otherwise . . . the Golf World would never have learned the name Ben Hogan.
I should know, because as a young man relying on the authority of Hogan and his Five Lessons -- and over a period of years -- I hit about a million golf balls that way. Throw in three other concepts very much in vogue as I came along -- not Ben's, except for maybe the weak grip -- and any chance I had to play top flight tournament golf was ruined. Check out this Elephant's Graveyard of Misbegotten Instruction:
(1) The Square to Square swing (including a 'Weak' Grip with the left thumb down the top of the shaft);
(2) The now infamous Reverse C (Head well 'behind the ball' and with the back severely arched at the Finish); and
(3) Drive the Legs (irrespective of Hip Slide and Turn) and by all means, keep the knees flexed through Impact and all the way into the Finish.
Ugh.
Worse than ugh:
Why did I succumb to this drivel? Because I was ignorant. As were the authors of the books and magazines I read and depended upon. Not to mention the many talented players who fell off the Tour and into oblivion because of it. As you can see, despite these many years since, I've still got a bit of a 'tude where this (and related) misinformation is concerned.
Notice Ben'sLevel Left and Right Wrists, bent Right Elbow and On Plane Right Forearm. His Flying Wedges are perfect . . .
And a far cry from his dictate to "keep the elbows . . . as close together as possible throughout the entire swing". It's not about keeping the elbows close together: It's about the Right Forearm Wedge supporting the Left Arm Wedge! That structure -- with Extensor Action and the Right Wrist in its Impact Fix degree of Bend -- will position the Right Elbow.
Most of Hogan's book was right on, but he and his collaborators missed on the alignments of the Arms -- as he did with the Inclined Plane . . .
I know your very busy, but i must i say find your analysis of the Hogan photos very informative.
When time allows could you maybe do a few more photos and comment on them.
Thanks, hjack. I appreciate your putting up this thread and inspiring me to post!
Homer Kelley always said, "I thrive on questions." And so do I. It absolutely is the way I work best.
Tonight as I clicked through the sequence, it was the above three photos that jumped out at me and seemed worthy of our readers' time. I did have other thoughts, most of which would be rather pedestrian to readers of these threads.
I'll click through again and see what might add value.
There is no doubt that the readers of these threads and others are very
accomplished and constantly learning about the golf machine.
Because of my rehab i have spent quite a bit of time at home.
I notice this site has many visitors, and to see photos of one of our
greats,ben hogan and add commentary by you ...will be special.. not only to golf machine folks but golf enthusiasts who heard so much about Hogan and now get to understand him a bit more....
what do they say?? one man's ------- is another man's gold
Did Hogan employ extensor action? Did someone other than Homer first describe EA?
Ben Hogan absolutely employed Extensor Action. No one kept his Right Arm at 'full stretch' -- given the alignments of the Plane and the Right Forearm Flying Wedge -- better than he. Even into his eighties, his 'long Right Arm' into the Finish was a thing of beauty, and it served as the model for Tiger Woods's Right Arm Finish today.
Homer Kelley named and defined Extensor Action. He identified it, gave it its precision and endowed it with the importance it deserves. But, he was not the first to teach it. In the classics, at least two others come to mind:
Robert MacDonald,Golf, 1927.
Percy Boomer,On Learning Golf, 1946.
I would also add Seymour Dun, Golf Fundamentals, 1922, except that his emphasis on the "stiff" Left Arm was via strong left triceps action, with nary a mention of the right triceps (and its responsibility).
Linear Mode
