Post by Jeff Martin on Jan 25, 2012 12:55:27 GMT -5
In a couple of other threads, there has been discussion concerning the not uncommon advice for golfers to square the right foot, maintain flex in the right knee and restrict the hip turn. I think a major force behind the popularity of this questionable advice is Ben Hogan's book "Five Lessons".
As most avid Hogan junkies know, Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons" was unambiguous on these topics (pages 42 and 43, all caps were used in the original for emphasis):
"THERE IS ONE CORRECT BASIC STANCE: THE RIGHT FOOT IS AT A RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LINE OF FLIGHT AND THE LEFT FOOT IS TURNED OUT A QUARTER TO THE LEFT".
On page 45, the text warns: "The incorrect positioning of the right foot can lead to serious errors, including dipping the left knee, swaying the right leg out to the right, turning the hips excessively, and making a forced, incorrect shoulder turn as the left arm breaks." An accompanying illustration shows a player with the right foot turned out 45* with a large hip slide off the ball and all the associated maladies.
In addition to squaring the right foot, "Five Lessons" recommends that the right knee be pinched in at address to provide a further brace and facilitate the downswing (page 56):
"The right knee should be broken a shade more in to the left, if anything, than the left knee is to the right. If the right knee is pointed in, it's "in business" all the time. It helps brace the right leg on the backswing, and the right leg must be sturdily braced to prevent the golfer from swaying his body laterally to the right as he swings the club back. For another thing, the right knee will be in the correct position for the downswing when the power of the right leg and hip is released to the target. If the golfer's right knee is pointed straight ahead or out to begin with, he can bring it in with a separate action in the downswing, of course, but he is making the knee do double work, and there's no sense in that."
In the following chapter on the backswing, all this is carried forward (page 75):
"As regards the right leg, it should maintain the same position it had at address, the same angle in relation to the ground, throughout the backswing...When you have a stable right leg and the right knee remains pinched in a bit, it prevents the leg from sagging and swaying out to the right and carrying the body with it."
"Five Lessons" also states that the hip turn in the backswing should be constrained (page 71):
"Some prominent golfers advocate making a big turn with the hips. I don't go along with that. If the hips are turned too far around, then you can make no tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders. A golfer wants this tension; he wants the mid-section of his body tightened up, for this tension is the key to the whole downswing...When you have this stored-up tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders (and in the muscles of the thighs that work with the hips), you have something with which you can begin the downswing. (This tension will, in fact, automatically help to pull you down into the ball)."
"Five Lessons" seems pretty clear: square the right foot, brace the right knee, don't sway at all, create tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs. As we know, this advice has been dutifully followed by thousands if not millions of golfers hoping, no doubt, for an "automatic" downswing.
"Five Lessons" was originally published as a series of articles in "Sports Illustrated" in March 1957. Hogan's swing from that era is sometimes referred to as the "Five Lessons" swing. Hogan suffered terrible injuries to the pelvis, shoulder and left knee in an auto accident in February 1949, and shortened his swing noticeably to accommodate the injuries.
Beginning in 1946, Hogan vanquished his notorious hook and went on a tear, winning more than thirty tour events, including his first three majors, before he suffered the accident. Although he won six majors after the accident, and in the process acquired an aura of God-like command of the golf ball, he stated in an interview later in life that he never was again as good a golfer as he was in 1948 and 1949 (see "Ben Hogan: A Hard Case from Texas" video).
In the midst of this remarkable stretch, "Power Golf" was written. This book was published in 1948 and was illustrated with stills of swings made in April 1947 at Augusta National Golf Club. Hogan wrote in "Power Golf" that in 1945 he shortened his left thumb on the grip, which greatly increased his control by adding stability to the club at the top of the swing. Much later, in 1955, Hogan revealed that a more significant change was made in 1946, what he called "the secret", which involved deliberately cupping the left wrist in the backswing. Some call Hogan’s swing from this era the “Power Golf” swing.
In "Power Golf", as in "Five Lessons", Hogan discusses the stance and the positioning of the feet. From page 24: “Turn the toes outward slightly.” Later on page 25: “Turning the toes of both feet slightly outward will also aid you in making an unrestricted turn during the swing.” Page 26: “Remember to turn the toes out slightly. This will aid you to keep your balance during the full swing and at the same time insure full freedom for the body turn.”
Regarding knee positioning, “Power Golf” offers the following from page 23: “Both knees should be flexed at all times. What’s more, they swing in toward one another. This bending, however, shouldn’t be exaggerated. You shouldn’t feel that you are knock-kneed, for example…There should be nothing in your position at the ball to prevent you from keeping perfect balance at all times and having a free swing.”
Whereas “Five Lessons” devotes a full chapter to the backswing, “Power Golf” provides just two-and-a-half pages. Regarding lower body movement, page 40 offers this: “As the club goes back, the left knee bends in towards the right knee…The weight is shifted back to the right leg with a very slight lateral movement of your hips…The right leg does not straighten on the backswing. It should remain broken about the same amount as it was at address.”
OK, then. Both toes out slightly, shift to the right slightly, maintain flex in the right knee, swing and turn freely. Quite a contrast to the directions in “Five Lessons”. So, why the dramatic turnaround, especially if Hogan liked the "Power Golf" swing better?
Let’s look at some interesting evidence. First, the positioning of the feet. Here is Hogan's driver stance from "Power Golf", both sets of toes out slightly, left more than the right:
Here is Hogan in 1954; see much difference in the foot positioning compared to 1947? I don't:
"Power Golf" said there was a slight lateral movement of the hips into the right leg in the backswing; "Five Lessons" admonished several times against any sway off the ball. So what do we see in 1954? A slight move of the hips off the ball:
In "Five Lessons", the right knee is to stay "pinched in" throughout the backswing. Did Hogan do that in 1954? No. His right knee rotated externally throughout the backswing.
In "Five Lessons", the right knee was to stay in the same position relative to the ground throughout the backswing. Did the "Five Lessons" Hogan do that? No.
OK, so what gives? "Five Lessons" Hogan doesn't seem to be following "Five Lessons" very closely.
Did Hogan really want to restrict his hip turn to build-up in tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs? I doubt it. We know from biomechanical research that too much tension can create premature muscle firings that can disrupt the proper downswing sequencing. And we know from Gardner Dickinson's book "Let 'er Rip" that he never saw his close friend and mentor Ben Hogan swing with anything that looked like restricted hips.
We also know from the authorized Hogan biography "Ben Hogan: An American Life" that Hogan would, in private, acknowledge that Snead had the better swing. And Snead turned his right foot out at address and had the fullest hip turn in golf. If Hogan envied Snead's swing so much, why would he advise so strongly against what Snead did?
The "Five Lessons" series was to be directed towards handicap golfers: it was promoted by Sports Illustrated as the great Ben Hogan's guide to how to break 80. Here's the cover of SI for the first installment:
Here's a possible clue to the real explanation. At his seminars, Jim Hardy tells a story about a conversation he had with Hogan where Hogan revealed that one of the major elements of instruction in the "Five Lessons" was essentially forced on him by the Sports Illustrated editors. Why? Because, according to Hogan, the SI editors believed that what Hogan actually did (or thought he did) would make handicap players worse. (Don't ask me what element that was; Jim can reveal it at a time of his choosing. But I will tell you that it was not any of the elements I have discussed here.)
I see the fingerprints of the SI editors all over these pieces of instruction. I believe they had a conviction that a major swing flaw of amateur golfers broadly was swaying off the ball and they wanted to make damn sure that nothing in "Five Lessons" would encourage that. Hence, all the advice intended to prevent any kind of sway off the ball that neither Hogan or the other greats actually followed. So, we have generations of golfers squaring the right foot, pinching in the right knee, restricting the hips, creating tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs, prematurely firing the lower body (hip thrust anyone?) and using just a fraction of their athletic ability. Thanks, SI!
Now, when presented with this argument, "Five Lessons" loyalists will inevitably say something along the lines of "Well, Ben Hogan would never let magazine editors dictate the contents of his book! What an absurdity!"
What those folks usually don't know is the genesis of "Five Lessons". Without permission, SI had published pictures of Hogan that first appeared in a sister publication, Life Magazine (perhaps photos illustrating the article where Hogan reveals the "secret"). Naturally, Hogan was unhappy and demanded compensation and presumably threatened legal action. As a settlement of those claims, Hogan agreed to "author" a series of five instructional articles in exchange for $25,000. Noted golf journalist Herbert Warren Wind did the actual writing. It is worth noting that Wind was never much of a golfer and, at the time, had never authored any instruction pieces.
So, it is not unreasonable to conclude, at least in my mind, that Hogan was more interested in collecting the $25,000 than what went into some articles directed at players trying to break 80.
A couple of other points I typically make to the "Five Lessons" loyalists. If Hogan cared so much about what went into "Five Lessons", why are there two pretty significant factual errors in it? One is the claim that Hogan was left-handed, something later in life Hogan flatly denied. If loyalists persist that the book "had to be right", I direct them to an illustration toward the end of the book that shows Hogan writing in a notebook with the pen in his RIGHT HAND!
The second blatant error is the claim that Hogan used a two-iron for this iconic shot on the 72nd hole of the 1950 US Open:
Everyone knowledgeable about Hogan knows it was a one-iron, and that it was stolen out of Hogan's bag before the playoff the following day, and wasn't recovered until fairly recently.
BTW, the stills of "Five Lessons" Hogan are taken from Kelvin's outstanding on-line article "How to Turn Your Hips Part 3: The Backswing":
www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2011-07-how-to-turn-your-hips-part-3-the-backswing.html
Jeff
As most avid Hogan junkies know, Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons" was unambiguous on these topics (pages 42 and 43, all caps were used in the original for emphasis):
"THERE IS ONE CORRECT BASIC STANCE: THE RIGHT FOOT IS AT A RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LINE OF FLIGHT AND THE LEFT FOOT IS TURNED OUT A QUARTER TO THE LEFT".
On page 45, the text warns: "The incorrect positioning of the right foot can lead to serious errors, including dipping the left knee, swaying the right leg out to the right, turning the hips excessively, and making a forced, incorrect shoulder turn as the left arm breaks." An accompanying illustration shows a player with the right foot turned out 45* with a large hip slide off the ball and all the associated maladies.
In addition to squaring the right foot, "Five Lessons" recommends that the right knee be pinched in at address to provide a further brace and facilitate the downswing (page 56):
"The right knee should be broken a shade more in to the left, if anything, than the left knee is to the right. If the right knee is pointed in, it's "in business" all the time. It helps brace the right leg on the backswing, and the right leg must be sturdily braced to prevent the golfer from swaying his body laterally to the right as he swings the club back. For another thing, the right knee will be in the correct position for the downswing when the power of the right leg and hip is released to the target. If the golfer's right knee is pointed straight ahead or out to begin with, he can bring it in with a separate action in the downswing, of course, but he is making the knee do double work, and there's no sense in that."
In the following chapter on the backswing, all this is carried forward (page 75):
"As regards the right leg, it should maintain the same position it had at address, the same angle in relation to the ground, throughout the backswing...When you have a stable right leg and the right knee remains pinched in a bit, it prevents the leg from sagging and swaying out to the right and carrying the body with it."
"Five Lessons" also states that the hip turn in the backswing should be constrained (page 71):
"Some prominent golfers advocate making a big turn with the hips. I don't go along with that. If the hips are turned too far around, then you can make no tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders. A golfer wants this tension; he wants the mid-section of his body tightened up, for this tension is the key to the whole downswing...When you have this stored-up tension in the muscles between the hips and shoulders (and in the muscles of the thighs that work with the hips), you have something with which you can begin the downswing. (This tension will, in fact, automatically help to pull you down into the ball)."
"Five Lessons" seems pretty clear: square the right foot, brace the right knee, don't sway at all, create tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs. As we know, this advice has been dutifully followed by thousands if not millions of golfers hoping, no doubt, for an "automatic" downswing.
"Five Lessons" was originally published as a series of articles in "Sports Illustrated" in March 1957. Hogan's swing from that era is sometimes referred to as the "Five Lessons" swing. Hogan suffered terrible injuries to the pelvis, shoulder and left knee in an auto accident in February 1949, and shortened his swing noticeably to accommodate the injuries.
Beginning in 1946, Hogan vanquished his notorious hook and went on a tear, winning more than thirty tour events, including his first three majors, before he suffered the accident. Although he won six majors after the accident, and in the process acquired an aura of God-like command of the golf ball, he stated in an interview later in life that he never was again as good a golfer as he was in 1948 and 1949 (see "Ben Hogan: A Hard Case from Texas" video).
In the midst of this remarkable stretch, "Power Golf" was written. This book was published in 1948 and was illustrated with stills of swings made in April 1947 at Augusta National Golf Club. Hogan wrote in "Power Golf" that in 1945 he shortened his left thumb on the grip, which greatly increased his control by adding stability to the club at the top of the swing. Much later, in 1955, Hogan revealed that a more significant change was made in 1946, what he called "the secret", which involved deliberately cupping the left wrist in the backswing. Some call Hogan’s swing from this era the “Power Golf” swing.
In "Power Golf", as in "Five Lessons", Hogan discusses the stance and the positioning of the feet. From page 24: “Turn the toes outward slightly.” Later on page 25: “Turning the toes of both feet slightly outward will also aid you in making an unrestricted turn during the swing.” Page 26: “Remember to turn the toes out slightly. This will aid you to keep your balance during the full swing and at the same time insure full freedom for the body turn.”
Regarding knee positioning, “Power Golf” offers the following from page 23: “Both knees should be flexed at all times. What’s more, they swing in toward one another. This bending, however, shouldn’t be exaggerated. You shouldn’t feel that you are knock-kneed, for example…There should be nothing in your position at the ball to prevent you from keeping perfect balance at all times and having a free swing.”
Whereas “Five Lessons” devotes a full chapter to the backswing, “Power Golf” provides just two-and-a-half pages. Regarding lower body movement, page 40 offers this: “As the club goes back, the left knee bends in towards the right knee…The weight is shifted back to the right leg with a very slight lateral movement of your hips…The right leg does not straighten on the backswing. It should remain broken about the same amount as it was at address.”
OK, then. Both toes out slightly, shift to the right slightly, maintain flex in the right knee, swing and turn freely. Quite a contrast to the directions in “Five Lessons”. So, why the dramatic turnaround, especially if Hogan liked the "Power Golf" swing better?
Let’s look at some interesting evidence. First, the positioning of the feet. Here is Hogan's driver stance from "Power Golf", both sets of toes out slightly, left more than the right:
Here is Hogan in 1954; see much difference in the foot positioning compared to 1947? I don't:
"Power Golf" said there was a slight lateral movement of the hips into the right leg in the backswing; "Five Lessons" admonished several times against any sway off the ball. So what do we see in 1954? A slight move of the hips off the ball:
In "Five Lessons", the right knee is to stay "pinched in" throughout the backswing. Did Hogan do that in 1954? No. His right knee rotated externally throughout the backswing.
In "Five Lessons", the right knee was to stay in the same position relative to the ground throughout the backswing. Did the "Five Lessons" Hogan do that? No.
OK, so what gives? "Five Lessons" Hogan doesn't seem to be following "Five Lessons" very closely.
Did Hogan really want to restrict his hip turn to build-up in tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs? I doubt it. We know from biomechanical research that too much tension can create premature muscle firings that can disrupt the proper downswing sequencing. And we know from Gardner Dickinson's book "Let 'er Rip" that he never saw his close friend and mentor Ben Hogan swing with anything that looked like restricted hips.
We also know from the authorized Hogan biography "Ben Hogan: An American Life" that Hogan would, in private, acknowledge that Snead had the better swing. And Snead turned his right foot out at address and had the fullest hip turn in golf. If Hogan envied Snead's swing so much, why would he advise so strongly against what Snead did?
The "Five Lessons" series was to be directed towards handicap golfers: it was promoted by Sports Illustrated as the great Ben Hogan's guide to how to break 80. Here's the cover of SI for the first installment:
Here's a possible clue to the real explanation. At his seminars, Jim Hardy tells a story about a conversation he had with Hogan where Hogan revealed that one of the major elements of instruction in the "Five Lessons" was essentially forced on him by the Sports Illustrated editors. Why? Because, according to Hogan, the SI editors believed that what Hogan actually did (or thought he did) would make handicap players worse. (Don't ask me what element that was; Jim can reveal it at a time of his choosing. But I will tell you that it was not any of the elements I have discussed here.)
I see the fingerprints of the SI editors all over these pieces of instruction. I believe they had a conviction that a major swing flaw of amateur golfers broadly was swaying off the ball and they wanted to make damn sure that nothing in "Five Lessons" would encourage that. Hence, all the advice intended to prevent any kind of sway off the ball that neither Hogan or the other greats actually followed. So, we have generations of golfers squaring the right foot, pinching in the right knee, restricting the hips, creating tension in the mid-section, hips and thighs, prematurely firing the lower body (hip thrust anyone?) and using just a fraction of their athletic ability. Thanks, SI!
Now, when presented with this argument, "Five Lessons" loyalists will inevitably say something along the lines of "Well, Ben Hogan would never let magazine editors dictate the contents of his book! What an absurdity!"
What those folks usually don't know is the genesis of "Five Lessons". Without permission, SI had published pictures of Hogan that first appeared in a sister publication, Life Magazine (perhaps photos illustrating the article where Hogan reveals the "secret"). Naturally, Hogan was unhappy and demanded compensation and presumably threatened legal action. As a settlement of those claims, Hogan agreed to "author" a series of five instructional articles in exchange for $25,000. Noted golf journalist Herbert Warren Wind did the actual writing. It is worth noting that Wind was never much of a golfer and, at the time, had never authored any instruction pieces.
So, it is not unreasonable to conclude, at least in my mind, that Hogan was more interested in collecting the $25,000 than what went into some articles directed at players trying to break 80.
A couple of other points I typically make to the "Five Lessons" loyalists. If Hogan cared so much about what went into "Five Lessons", why are there two pretty significant factual errors in it? One is the claim that Hogan was left-handed, something later in life Hogan flatly denied. If loyalists persist that the book "had to be right", I direct them to an illustration toward the end of the book that shows Hogan writing in a notebook with the pen in his RIGHT HAND!
The second blatant error is the claim that Hogan used a two-iron for this iconic shot on the 72nd hole of the 1950 US Open:
Everyone knowledgeable about Hogan knows it was a one-iron, and that it was stolen out of Hogan's bag before the playoff the following day, and wasn't recovered until fairly recently.
BTW, the stills of "Five Lessons" Hogan are taken from Kelvin's outstanding on-line article "How to Turn Your Hips Part 3: The Backswing":
www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2011-07-how-to-turn-your-hips-part-3-the-backswing.html
Jeff
