Ben Hogans Letter Lessons

Ben Hogan's Letter Lessons 101

What Does The Hybrid Stance Do?

The Hybrid Stance grounds the golfer to the ground. I believe Mr. Hogan
would say that the secret is in the dirt with different meanings. Good old hard
work would certainly mean that it is in the dirt., but I believe that the Hybrid
Stance gives the golfer optimal use of the ground that is used for the address.

The standard parallel lines or the railroad tracks are not what the classic
swingers used. They used their lower bodies, their pivots to drive their hands
into the golf ball. They were electric and constantly moving like a wild cat
when the addressed the ball. The modern golf swing is driven by upper body
strength and little regard for the pivot. It is high wide and handsome as they
used to say, or reach for the sky or stay back and launch it.

They do not control the golf ball in flight, they hit the ball so damn far that
they go over the trouble, Sometimes. When this does not come off they cannot
maneuver the ball. The positive things about the hybrid stance is that you can
alter your feel over the ball you are not locked into these straight lines. The
world is not in straight lines.

The golf ball is round, our eyes and our mouth is round, the world is round.
You get the picture. Even a game of golf is a round of golf. You need to alter
your stance and feel what is underneath you., that is where the power,
accuracy and balance is.

The Hybrid Stance allows the golfer to use his pivot on both sides of the ball
and utilize the left side of the body for steering and the right side for power. It
tames down the finicky left side and gets it moving correctly on the
backswing.

It gives your the power of physics the use of centrifugal and centripetal forces.
It gives you a shape of your swing that you can remember, the inside figure 8
shaped swing or the hips controls the shoulder, arms, hands and club.

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The Inside Figure 8 Swing Shape

Take the club straight back but to the inside, around to the right shoulder

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Down a little and then in front of you and to the inside and up to the finish

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Hybrid Stance – How It Ties In The Other Lessons

The Hybrid Stance relies on the other Letter Lessons to be effective. By
this I mean that a change of the the other Lessons would alter your Hy-
brid Stance. This goes for the other Lessons interact with each other.

While you are behind the ball and visualizing the shot in your mind, the
trajectory, high or low and the shape of the flight of the ball, fade, draw or
straight, you want your body to settle into your Letter Lesson A, the Correct
Address.

Everything thing that you envision in your mind about the upcoming golf shot
would be as if you would be going on a trip. You would have planned to
know where your destination would be first. You would sense how you would
finish your golf swing. So it is with a well executed golf swing.

In my golf swing I can see my one piece handless takeaway that is giving me a
club path, and the shape of my swing. I know where my head is in my
address which would be from my Letter Lesson H for steady head position. I
have a mental awareness of the upcoming shot.

As you can see, that no one letter in the Letter Lessons work independently of
the other.

If you change one of the Letter Lessons, for example your grip or Letter Lesson
G, you would change all of the others. Mr. Hogan said to Kris Tschetter that if
you change your grip you would change the entire shape of your swing.

This is what happened when Mr. Hogan received a lesson from Henry Picard.
Mr. Picard convinced Mr. Hogan to weaken his grip to get him fading the ball
and to stop the hook. Mr. Hogan was also influenced by Jimmy Demaret in
that he could control the ball with a fade trajectory with the utilization of this
grip change.

Mr. Demaret had a narrow and slightly opened stance that worked with his
strong forearms and that created a controllable ball flight. Mr. Hogan made his

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changes to his grip which changed his entire golf swing.

In the Address you do not want to be tight. Especially in your arms and
shoulders. You want to relax when you play golf and want to find ways to
take the tension out of your body and your golf swing. You want to be like a
cat ready to spring. You want to look electric when you step up to the ball.

You want to feel a tightness in the right groin area. This will be taken care of
by the Hybrid Stance. This will give you a straight shot of electricity to the
your left heel. We want to have an address that will stop the golfer from
immediately creating bad angles with the club and body. Here are some
checkpoints for your address.

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Hybrid Stance – Things To Know

You want to use the ground pound for pound.

Your pivot drives your hands!

Have the right arm and hands arched as in firing a 45 to the ground.

The golf swing is a push push action.

Feel the left side of both thumbs pressures at address. We will then stop the
left hand from pumping out on the takeaway and then help us in our impact
positions in our downswing.

Incorporate the feeling of steering a car at your address position.

You control the swing and where it is going from the front side of your body.

Try doing the walking drill and sense you are steering a car.

Keep the left knee flexed and moving in a circle coming through the ball. This
will help your sideswipe motion of your right knee and do the close the door
action on the downswing.

The address meshes with the sighted line. Your body, eyes and hands go
together. You have to know where to move your momentum. This is your
sighted line.

The Address, Swing Shape, Lessons Work Together!

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The Hybrid Stance Gets You In The Race

A correct address is the same as getting ready to run a race. Note the
feet and hands are just like the Hybrid Stance. See where I even have
my arms and hands. I could grip a club here and I would be ready to
swing the golf club. I would move my head to the right it's done!

Be cognizant of head placement to have a correct address position. The elbows
should not be contorted in but aiming at your hip bones. Mr. Hogan wanted a
adherence of the under the left bicep fleshy part of the upper left arm to be
against left side of the body. This area would be if you were sleeping on that
left side the arm would meet the body in the correct place.

You can do this also in your putting. This will allow your putting to be
smoother because your body moves slower than your hands that want to fire
off.

Relax your upper body, your chest and your shoulders. When looking at your
setup in a mirror from a down the line angle your should see that your
shoulders are on the edge of your feet. This is the go position.

Suck your belly in and don't try to have a straight/stiff military look to your
setup, but more of a concave look so your arms and hands will have enough
room on your forward swing to the golf ball.

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The runner's stance is the Hogan Hybrid Stance. Check the feet, knees,
shoulders and even the arms and hands alignments. I simply have to move my
head horizontally to the right over my right groin area and I am there.!

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The Golf Swing is forward. You need to get into the same mind set as a punch
or a throwing of a spear.

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You need to hook up like a boxer. Have the part of the under the left tricep
hook up to the left side of your rib cage. This goes nicely with the opposing
hands on figure 2. You are containing your left arm and prepping for a inside
figure 8 swing shape and concentric circles in your golf swing.

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You want to have the impression that you are at a starting line for a foot race.
The position that I am here looks just like Mr. Hogan's address position.
Notice the foot placement, body angles going towards the target and even
where my arms and hands hang.

Mr. Hogan was ready to go in a forward direction where the golf course was
and not behind him. Do not lean back on your heels. Feel as though you could
lift both of your heels off of the ground.

I am relaxing my mind and I see what I want to do with the golf club. I have
my hands on the club and I have it placed off of the ground in front of me and
not on the ground. I do not take practice swings. A couple waggled of the club
is all that is needed to keep the tension out of your golf swing.

Going thru my checklist of what I need to do, back of heels aimed at where I
want the ball to start and my hips and shoulders opened slightly due to the
bending in more of my right knee. I am in the go position and ready to have a
slight forward press with my hands and my right knee towards the target.

If you put a golf club on the ground and put your heels on it so it will elevate
them and have your weight more on the balls of your feet it will help you
move the club around the corner in the inside figure 8 shape. Just hit some
easy shots. You can press the club down into the turn so as to keep the raising
of the heels to your liking.

This is a athletic posture used in throwing a spear or punching something. A
boxer used to squash a cigarette on the ground with the front part of his right
foot. He would turn and pivot off of it to get leverage from the ground. You
should do likewise in the golf swing.

You want to be always moving while getting into you address position. None
of it is static. I have hit a tremendous amount of golf balls and can get it done
with a 1, 2, 3, 4 move the left knee and close the door. On 1 my right foot slips
in place, 2 my left foot moves into position, 3 and 4 are a couple of waggles
and then a movement from my left knee to my right knee. I am almost 64 and I

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can kick the top of a door jam just like Sam Snead. Keep it loose baby!

With the Letter Lessons you have the flexibility to mix different lessons
together. One day it is Letter Lesson H with Letter Lesson A. Other days, I
would work on my Letter Lesson O for one piece takeaway matched with
Letter Lesson N for the Hogan Finish. I would even think about my finish
position first and then play it back in my head where I want the club going
back in my one piece handless takeaway. You do the same. It works like a
charm!

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Hybrid Stance Creates Sighted Line And Target Line

There are many ways to shape your shots. Mr. Hogan believed that
there is a correct way that a golf ball should be moving into a target be
it a green or a fairway. You do not want to alter your grip because that
would change the machinery. Change your follow through by coming
under for the fade or over for the draw.

The Sighted Line And Target Line In The Address

I believe Mr. Hogan had two targets one I will call the Sighted Line Target
where the golf ball starts its ball flight and then the second one, the final
resting place called the Landing Target.

On the fade it was obvious that he looked at the Sighted Line Target, (a
fairway bunker on the left of the fairway) which was left of the eventual
Landing Target (the center of the fairway). On the draw his swing it was
reversed.

Both of the references clicked in which helped me understand that this would
help tame the hook instrument that Mr. Hogan called the golf club.

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Under the shaft for a fade, over the shaft for a draw. It's in the follow through!

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The Sighted Line is what you see and envision where you want the ball flight
to start. You want to feel the wind. Look at the trees on both sides of the
fairway. Look up to the clouds that are out in front of you and maybe pick a
cloud formation that you want to try to use as a target. It will take the stress
out of potential problems on both sides of the fairway.

If you were going to go on a trip you would know in advance where you
wanted to end up. It is the same thing in a well planned and executed golf
swing. Letter Lesson H and Letter Lesson A together will do this for you. I see
a path, I see my one piece handless takeaway, I see movement. That would be
H and O in the Hogan acronym that we are using in the Letter Lessons.

In the Hogan letter lessons we have Letter Lesson H for steady head position,I
believe like Hogan when we look behind the ball to where we want the ball to
start, we are using our mind, our creativity and our eyes to accomplish the
flight of our golf shot.

We need Letter Lesson H to sight where we want the ball to go, to visualize it
after we make contact with it. So what I have here on the wall is the sighted
line target. It is just a belt that I taped to a wall. For this illustration this will
work for us beautifully.

We are in a box, we have a shape, we understand where we are in time and
space so this will be a simplified version of how to accomplish the Hybrid
Stance.

The back of the feet will be going to the Sighted line target and the left side of
the body, the left knee, left hip and left shoulder will be open slightly to the
Sighted line target do to the bending in more of the right knee.

Mr. Hogan moved the club in these concentric circles that we have made with
the Hybrid Stance. You do not need the parallel lines, the clubs down like a
railroad track.

Mr. Hogan applied his grip while he had the club in front of him at waist high.
You do the same. He did not do a lot of practice swings. Use your waggle to

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loosen up and feel how you want to take the club back with your left hand and
apply power with your right hand.

Put the clubface square to the Sighted line. Mr. Hogan had his driver set open
with a reminder grip that was placed at 5:00 or 5:30. When you have this on a
club you will have the clubface open. I am showing you a squared clubface at
address.

Again we have two targets. One where the ball will start, ( the Sighted Line)
and the other one where the ball will land, (the Target Line). With a natural
release of the hook instrument the ball with start at the Sighted Line and drift
back a little to the Target Line. A nice playable draw trajectory.

I have 2 videos for you the one that is going over the draw and the other that
will cover the Hogan Fade. This is what you should try first to get these two
targets in your mind.

My head placement, my vision and my imagination are in a horizontal
position over my right groin area. I have these two lines in mind. I am not at
all going to try to jump out of my swing and maneuver the shot to the final
resting place of my golf swing, which would be the Target Line. It will happen
with a good golf swing.

I talk about the Popsicle/Cigarette drill, and how it is out of my left corner of
my mouth. It would be aiming at my Sighted Line which is the on the right. If
you wanted to fade the ball, all of this would be reversed.

Now you go with me 1, 2, 3, 4 move the knee, (left) and close the door!Bang.
You have just used the concentric circles, the Hybrid Stance and the Sighted
and Target lines. Cool Huh!

You will find that if you do this correctly the swing is a Push, Push. You will
not be hanging back and pulling a cord and then have to flip your hands. You
will be coming around the corner, your right hip and be getting the club in
front of you and you will be on top of it and will finish with a beautiful Hogan
Finish with the club behind your neck. Take a bow!

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What Each Side Of The Hybrid Stance Does

The opening of the left side with the Hybrid Stance helps with accuracy and
power.

We have a finicky left side. We need to find a way to optimize the right hand.
The left steers and right supplies the power. We want to setup to the ball so we
don't hitch hike with our hands but throw a pie in our face.

In the walking drill you start with the right side coming forward and the left
side stays back. Then whe we take the club up to the top we stride out with
our left side all while we are moving in a straight line ahead of us.

This creates concentric circles and a dynamic Hybrid Stance while walking
forward. We want to create these angles in our address position.
The movement of the exchange from the front side to back side in the swing
the arms video proves that we need get the club to the right side properly
without an inappropriate movement of the left side. By just switching hands
we have stopped the path of the left side in front of the body. A ferris wheel
does this and destroys the inside figure 8.

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The Clubshaft Plane And Shot Shaping

With studying the Address or Letter Lesson A we have to include shaping
your golf shot. I own a copy of the Shell's Wonderful World Of Golf match
between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead and have analyzed Mr. Hogan's swing
using CSwing software.

There were two tees shots that had the same alignments to use for comparison.
One was a tee shot that Mr. Hogan faded off a fairway bunker and another one
that he hit a draw. It was exciting because the camera was set in virtually the
same place behind him and I could do a side by side comparison of his driver
swing.

What I saw was that on the fade he came back down underneath his right
elbow/clubshaft plane that he established at his address and the draw was that
he returned the clubshaft a little above what he established at his address.

His follow through on the fade was a little bit more upright and he held off
the clubface just a little, where on the draw swing he rotated his body more
and had a lower follow through. He allowed his right hand on the last part of
the finish to come over.

They were very small differences, but they were there. This all went with what
Kris Tschetter said in her book "Ben Hogan, The Man I Knew" that Mr. Hogan
told her how important it was to return the clubshaft back to the ball at impact
to where it was at setup.

Also Ken Venturi talked about Mr. Hogan's finish in the book "The Hogan
Mystique" how he knew by just looking at this follow through what Mr.
Hogan did with the golf ball.

Shot Shaping With The Hybrid Stance

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Ben Hogan 1953 – Down The Line

Ben Hogan 1953 - Down The Line Swing Summary
Ben Hogan 1953 - Iron Swing DTL

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The Hybrid Stance Drills

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Belly Button Through Door Post Drill

Mr. Hogan talks about the belly button or belt buckle and how it
should move in the golf swing. I have incorporated the door jam pivot
drill into the belly button concept. Note the Hogan impact position that
happens with this drill.

Belly Button To Door Jam Drill

In the pictures above I am utilizing the concept of the belly button or the belt
buckle placement as Mr. Hogan talks about in the letter.

Think of the golf swing as a door jam. Put a golf club right into your belly
button and make swings. If you have room to swing a club half way and half
way through. Note where I have my body placed. Look at my feet . I have it
aligned at the target and my hips and shoulders are slightly opened due to the
bending in more of the right knee.

Place your head so it is directly over the inside of your right thigh. Utilize the
golf club as I am illustrating to get the angles correct. If you do so you will
have a electric connection as I describe it for where you will have it plugged in
into the left foot. That is the first thing that moves in the downswing. So set it
up in the setup.

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If you had a club laying across my hips and then across the front of my
shoulders they would be parallel to each other. The cognitive placement of my
head makes everything line up. This is where Mr. Hogan put Al Barkow's
head. Note the perfect alignments that occur through the impact position. That
looks like Mr. Hogan to me!

Going back to the first picture. This is all what the golf swing is. It is a opening
and closing of a door and you must put yourself on the frame. The frame is
tilted and canted because of the Hybrid Stance but that allows you to swing in
concentric circles. You will get it. This is how you can use the ground for
power and stability.

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Crowbar/Crossbow Drill – Address To Top

Things To Remember- Hips control the shoulders, inner and outer cir-
cles, centripetal and centrifugal forces. -

Arms are coming in and then out as in the aikido spiral movement.

Your golf swing is a inside figure 8 shape. Your left side sags in and right side
straightens and then vice versa on your downswing.. This neutralizes the
hook instrument of the club and keeps the hands more inactive as far as
closing the face of the club.-

Golf is played from the inside, twisting around the spine. You don't need to
have your arms away from your turn.

The crowbar drill brings the left knee in . You turn the club with the lower
body and keep your upper left arm against your body. This gives you a
tremendous ability to circle, with that arm.

Your legs would spin your torso. Strive to have your left knee move in a circle
which will help the action of your right knee.

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As a young caddy Mr. Hogan admired how Ed Stewart's left knee broke nicely
behind the ball. This drill does this and more. It does the belly button/belt
buckle movement for you and gets your head where it should be. Note where
my left arm is and that it is not moving up. It is around my body. Let the pivot
do this for you.
Crowbar Crossbow Drill
Swing your left arm back to your right shoulder height. At the same time have
a club hooked under your left thigh and on top of your right. Left knee moves
to right knee and turn your belly button or your belt buckle as far around as
possible. You have achieved a powerful well balanced backswing.

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Letter Lesson N
The Hogan Finish

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Letter Lesson N-End – Hogan Finish

Key Concept 5 – Evaluate And Be On Balance

Key Concept 5 – The Hogan Finish is when the belly button or belt
buckle is facing your target. I believe it is your Sighted Line Target.

Beautiful Hogan Finish

Due to the opening of Mr. Hogan's shoulders and hips, he could use his right
arm extension more. Go ahead and do your exercise “Out Of My Head Right
Arm Only -The Hybrid Stance And Hogan Finish” in the Letter Lessons
Exercise portion of this Ebook to get you to utilize your right side properly.

If you are using the Hybrid stance correctly your right knee will be side
swiping the golf ball. By that I mean you will not be stuck and just firing the
right knee directly forward or towards the ball but at a glancing blow like a
car being struck at an angle.

This action will keep your downswing to the inside. Remember the shape of a
inside figure 8 swing. Straight back BUT to the INSIDE up and in, then
DOWN A LITTLE and then IN FRONT of the body and then INSIDE and then
back UP to the Hogan Finish with the golf club behind your neck.

You want to be off of your heels at address. Remember in grade school when
you would go out to the blacktop recess yard and do the shuttle run. You
would instinctively get in the correct body position for a proper weight
distribution and body alignments to swing the golf club. Your body would be
instinctively setup to do everything forward.

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When coming into the impact area hit down on the ball using the shaft of the
golf club and not just flip the clubhead. Remember the little left thumb
pressure on the left side of the shaft will rotate the entire club in front of you
so you can have power and forward of the golf ball.

Stay in motion before the shot. Use the rotation of the body and get the hands
out of it. - You cannot trust your hands, they will run off and leave you. Power
in the golf swing is slow and steady and you collect it coming through the ball

Remember to use the left side pressure of both thumbs to help you with your
backswing and most importantly on your downswing. Mr. Hogan said that
the golf swing is like driving a car. The left hand is the steering and right hand
is the gas!

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Ben Hogan 1953 – The Hogan Finish

Ben Hogan 1953 - Start To Finish

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The Walking Drill

You can see what I am doing. It looks easy, trust me it isn't. We do not
normally build up golf muscles. As Mr. Hogan says they are the inside
muscles that run inside our arms and our legs. I am trying my best to walk a
straight line. I say to myself, “Swing Step Swing”.

I want to end up in my follow through in the Hogan Finish with the club
behind my neck and my belly button pointing to the target as much as I can.
On the backswing I am trying to move my belly button as far as I can to the
right.

I am trying to do the above movements while walking forward and swinging
a Golf Fan. I am concentrating on where the left side pressure of both of my
thumbs are. This helps me in my backswing and in my downswing.

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Have your club in front of you and step off with your right foot and swing the
club all the way back to the top of the swing. AT THE SAME TIME move your
left foot forward. STOP. You are in a Hybrid Stance and have created a perfect
backswing.
Keep moving forward. Right foot forward, swing back. Step forward with left
foot and swing through to the finish, but keep moving straight ahead. You can
do it!
The Walking Drill To The Hogan Finish

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The Swing Summary

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Letter Lesson BEN-Beginning To End-Swing
Summary

Steady Head Position Text In Hogan Letter

A lot has been written and attempted to be explained about taking the club back on the
back-swing with the left hand. The left hand does play an important part in taking the
club away from the ball, but that is not the primary factor in developing a good sound
golf swing.

The basis of a good sound swing is correct leg work and body position.

The center of gravity of the body must stay in one place throughout the swing. This is,
if a line is drawn through the nose or head to the ground, the head must stay in that
position throughout the swing.

To verify the correctness of this, take a short club and make this move with a light
behind you so that it casts a shadow (a fairly long one). Note the position of your head
when you address the ball.

Take the club back by moving the left knee toward the rt knee and sagging the left side
in slightly (no movement of the hands or arms is necessary if the legs are worked
correctly in conjunction with sagging slightly of the left side)

Doing this correctly will move the club head at least six feet away from the ball
without moving the hands or arms in relation and the shadow cast by your head will
still be in exactly the same spot.

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One Piece Handless Takeaway Text In Hogan Letter

Now the most important part of a good golf swing is to take the club back correctly so
as to keep the head in one place. This can be accomplished in only one correct way; by
moving the left knee in toward the RT knee while moving the left shoulder in a
slightly downward arc.

This will take the club away from the ball without using the hands at all. It cannot be
accomplished by sticking the left knee straight out. That will only throw you off
balance and move your head which you don’t want to do, or must not do.

As the club is taken back the left knee moves toward the RT knee and the left side
bends like a bow so that the weight comes to the inside of the ball of the left foot, and
the left heel comes off the ground about one inch.

Once this move has been accomplished you are in position to make a strong true arc
swing into the ball.

At the top of the back swing the left arm is on a horizontal plane to the ground that is
sufficient to provide a good strong swing at the ball. The left hand should not be
turned over on the back swing.

To verify this you should be able to see only one knuckle of the left hand at the top of
the back swing. Turning the left hand over clockwise creates a very flat swing and
takes the club off the correct plane of the swing.

At the top of the backswing, the belt buckle should feel like it is protruding out farther
than any part of the body or legs or feel like it. This will permit the hips and shoulders
to turn. It feels like the hips are moving to the right but this is not so. Sagging the left
side keeps the hips in one position and permits them to make a true concentric turn,
and as a consequence the shoulders turn correctly, and the head stays in one place.

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Proper Grip Text In Hogan Letter

First the club must be gripped (lightly) correctly. The left hand should be in such a
position that the V formed by the thumb and the index finger points to the right
shoulder.

The right hand grips the club so that the V formed by the thumb and index finger also
point to the RT shoulder. The small finger of the RT hand overlaps between the small
finger and the third finger of the left hand. The thumb of the left hand should be placed
slightly to the side of the shaft.

The grip should be adjusted slightly to the RT or LT until you have the grip that
permits the two hands to work together. To achieve this hit a number of balls and make
these slight changes in the grip until you acquire one that permits you to stroke the
ball smoothly and hit it straight; and so that no jerking movement takes place in the
hand grip.

The Correct Address Text In Hogan Letter

To achieve this in the golf swing the correct stance must be used with the knees
slightly bent and the shoulders very slightly open to the target. If a line was drawn
through the shoulders it should point slightly left of the target. The feet should be on
the line to the target. This openness of the shoulders is accomplished by bending the
right knee slightly more than the left knee.

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The Finish Text In The Hogan Letter

The first move on the downswing is to set the left heel back to the ground as the club
head starts down and bring the right shoulder slightly down as the hands, arms and
feet work spontaneously. As the club comes down the right knee sags in toward the left
knee as the left knee did toward the right knee on the back swing.

This will tighten the left side and bow the right side so that when the swing is finished
the belt buckle will be pointing toward the target and the force of the swing will cause
the hands to finish high. It will not be necessary to force the hands to finish high, they
will do this automatically and spontaneously.

[On this page there is another stick figure with the following notes] head is still in the
same position as throughout the swing – belt buckle or belly button closest part of the
body to the target. Rt knee sags in toward left. Do not straighten rt leg. Keep rt knee
bent and sag it in. Keep on file and refer to when in doubt. If used correctly you can
belt the ball a country mile (Drive for show and putt for dough) green stuff. To verify
correct backswing; At the top of the back swing the groin muscle on the inside of your
rt leg near your right nut will tighten. This subtle feeling of tightness there tells you
that you have made the correct move back from the ball.

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Ben Hogan 1953 – Swing Summary

Ben Hogan Front View Iron
Billy Martin's Analysis Of Ben Hogan's Front Iron Swing

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The Letter
Background Information

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Pat Mahoney Information

Research Documents Used In Ebook

Here are the documents that are mentioned in the Ebook. Again thank you so
much, the Mahoney family for sharing this information about your wonderful
Father Pat Mahoney!

Note that the handwriting is from Pat Mahoney writing that the contents of
the envelope is from Ben Hogan!

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Note the date is before his accident. Thank you Mrs. Mahoney.

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The Letter

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