Make Hogan's magic work for you : Never-before-seen photos illuminate the master's thoughts - Excerpt

Golf Digest, Nov, 2000 by David Leadbetter

Hogan's sequence went like this: He made his initial lateral move, and after his arms started their downward movement he then fully rotated his entire torso at speed--not just his hips but also his upper body. I'm sure that Hogan's focus was on his strong glute and hip muscles clearing and opening up to the target. But I feel they got fully into the act much later than he thought; in examining photos of his swing, you can see that when he is halfway down, his hips are still square, not open. I've seen tremendous improvement in consistency in better players when they learn to develop a calmer, quieter lower-body and hip action.

Further into the swing, I firmly believe that at impact the left leg is not totally locked, but should be straightening as it receives the full force of the hit. It has to resist as the arms and the club fly by; many better players over the years have thought about a braced left leg through impact, and I believe players should apply this thought today. Keeping the left leg too bent, in my opinion, doesn't supply the necessary resistance. Hogan in action did bow his left knee to some degree coming into the ball, but I'm absolutely sure that in the impact area it straightened earlier than he felt; his foot seems very well planted with only a little weight to its outside. It really is an unbelievably powerful, dynamic position, and offers a superb image for golfers to copy.

My view: The hands

Hogan talks in depth about supinating the left wrist, where the palm goes from being downward to upward through the impact area so that the wrist bone is raised--the left hand having the appearance of being bowed and arched. He, in effect, thought in terms of the back of the left hand being the clubface, and was then able to control the trajectory and shape of the shot through this supination.

A couple of things to bear in mind regarding supination: It takes quite a bit of practice, and many better golfers who attempt it tend to initially hook or smother the ball. Golfers with stronger grips than Hogan's and squarer faces coming down will get the clubface very closed at impact if they try to get into the impact position that he is exaggeratedly posing for in the photos shown earlier.

One further point regarding supination: It is easier and more desirable to supinate with the irons, where in order to take a divot it is crucial that you make a slight descending blow. However, as a general rule, when using the driver, it is preferable to imagine fully releasing the clubhead; the reasons are simply that you want to sweep the ball off the tee and not take a divot with a driver. Imagine that in the impact zone the top of the grip almost points backward, toward the navel, rather than leading the clubhead all the way through, as with an iron. In other words, the clubhead is being released and encouraged to swing past the hands as you try to hit the ball slightly on the upswing.

In Five Lessons Hogan makes a very interesting statement about the hands, a comment to which I referred earlier. "As far as applying power goes, I wish that I had three right hands," he writes. His natural left-handedness enabled him to support the club through impact, and his open clubface coming into impact allowed him to hit as aggressively as possible with the right hand without fear of it taking over. Although Hogan may have felt it was his right hand, he was actually using his whole right side, and maybe the statement should have been "three right sides." Not only was his right hand involved with hitting the ball, but so were his right foot, knee, hip, arm and shoulder (see photo below). This is a great thought, and for players in a good position halfway down, the right side should play a major role in the hit--just like throwing a ball, as Hogan describes.