Ben Hogan Book Five Lessons

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Roman Bayramdurdiyev

unread,

Aug 5, 2024, 2:00:04 PM8/5/24

to lyporsragon

Learnto swing like one of the best golfers in this guidebook. Ben Hogan discusses his own techniques to achieving the perfect swing, going over everything from the grass to the club that you choose. This is a great gift for any golf fan.

Timothy E. Sick Calgary After reading the first two articles, I had a 73 for the first time in my life, and hadn't played for six months before that.Frank Sadler Professional, Bellingham Country Club, Bellingham, Washington It's the first time words and illustrations have made golfing technique absolutely clear. I'm applying the lessons to my teaching program here and highly recommending them to my pupils. I'd say it's the greatest instruction series of all time. Women are particularly keen on it. It'll make a lot of new golfers good golfers.

Golf god Hogan released this primer in 1957. The five "lessons" covered are the grip, stance and posture, the first part of the swing, the second part of the swing, and a summary and review. Each lesson is well described and pictured in numerous, detailed illustrations. The basics of hitting a ball with a club haven't changed much since this debuted, so this still offers valuable advice from one of the greats. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

First off, let me say that I have the upmost respect for all golfers and especially those who have spent countless hours trying to figure out the ideal way to swing a golf club. I personally have spent many many hours studying film on Mr. Hogan as well as his book, Five Lessons. I've also had extensive training from TGM & Morad instructors as well as instruction from Grant Waite. While I know that TGM, Morad, Waite Mayo golf, etc. all have their differences, in my opinion, they're all at the top of modern day instruction. I find myself going back and forth between methods (modern swing vs. Hogan fundamentals) and want to hear everyone's thoughts on why one method is better than the other.

So, the intention of this thread is to discuss the similarities/differences and pros/cons of Modern day instruction (TGM, MORAD, WM golf, etc.) vs. the fundaments set out by Mr. Hogan in Five Lessons.

I will give my two cents on each of these. I don't think I can directly debate because 5 lessons is book and books are left up to the reader to interpret. Interpretation leads to many forum debates and likely no agreements. Hogan is certainly one of the best golfers every to play the game, but that does not mean reading a book by him will do you any good? I feel that Hogan has many good pieces in his book, but they are more or less breadcrumbs of Hogan's real secret, hard work.

The others you mentioned are live instruction on video and in person. Except TGM. TGM is really only a classification system. There are some imperatives, but hardly one way to swing taught in that book.

MORAD is likely to get you tons of heated debate but very little substance unless someone is willing to share secrets and even then someone will jump on here and say that that info is out of date and/or wrong. I truly wish that Mac would publish his work because of the treasure troves of information contained in there, but that is his choice. He did the research he gets to decide what to do with it.

To your question, it's tough to compare Hogan, MORAD, TGM, 5SK, Waite/Mayo because it's an evolution. Hogan's "fundamentals" are basically "this is how I swing". TGM attempts to apply science to the golf swing and begins to classify the components of golf so that they can be categorized into a measurable, workable swing model. MORAD is an investigation of how the body conforms to the geometry required to hit a ball. It builds upon the geometry and classification laid out in TGM. Mac did research on importance of the eyes, body's balance system and a lot of taxonomy. Mac's system, at least the way he teaches it, is waaaay too rigid. I think a Mac school might be beneficial for an instructor to attend and learn cause and effect of certain movements but can be too much information for most golfers. Mac gives you a laundry list of things you need to do, like I said earlier, I believe in focusing on a priority piece. But there is no doubt that golf instruction is much better off for having Mac involved.

So with Hogan, TGM and MORAD, there is a lot time spent with taxonomy using pictures and video. With 2D info you can make pretty good guesses but you're still guessing. Now we have 3D information like AMM, Swing Catalyst, Biomechanics guys like Dr. Kwon come in and add their knowledge to the pot. Obviously the other difference is that we (5SK) and Waite/Mayo use 3D ball flight measurements from Flightscope and Trackman. Utilizing these tools, there is a lot less guessing and instructors like 5 Simple Keys and Waite/Mayo can further the understanding of what's really going on to perform an efficient golf swing and how that golf swing relates to producing solid, predictable ball flight numbers.

One is to assume that these are all different, competing methods of learning golf. The other is a belief that all these different methods, or philosophies, are trying to explain fundamentally the same thing - albeit from different angles.

I still think 5 Lessons is a great bedrock of instruction. If someone was looking for an overview of the golf swing, I'm not sure where they'd get a better one. Inevitably, some moves are open to exaggeration - and I think it's hugely helpful, if not essential, to have a teacher who can pick up on the small ways in which people tend to get off track.

Also, some people get hung up on the details - as if the book is going to give you the blueprint to repeat Hogan's swing. I thought the book was pretty clear on that NOT being the case. It's an attempt to catalogue the few things that all effective swings have in common. I'd always suggest reading it in that spirit - and comparing what you think you've read to what you think you see in good swings and players - if you're not sure how much emphasis a particular point deserves.

Grant's done good things. We've obviously had the pleasure to work very closely with him, and I think he'd say the same for us. What he - and 5 Simple Keys ( you should really look into this) - have done is take a TGM background, to take some MORAD knowledge, and add a whole lot more to evolve and continue to grow. Grant is what I call a fellow "explorer." Explorers are constantly looking for new information.

For example, the whole "center of mass versus center of pressure" talk that's going on in certain Facebook groups among instructors? It's old news to a few of us, and our observations, predictions, and rudimentary experiments were spot on. Grant was highly interested in that information when we shared it with him. That's why we were able to get him on the SwingCatalyst at the PGA Show. That's why he bought a SwingCatalyst of his own. (And heck, 99% of golf instructors still have no idea what we're talking about, and won't ever see this study, work, research, etc.).

Grant's also not beholden to the MORAD way of doing things, in terms of how EVERY swing must look EXACTLY the same. He in fact takes a much more "5SK-like" approach - fix the student's priority, let them do whatever other "personality" type stuff they have in their swings, and just focus on a few key things to improve their golf. It's a system of teaching (prioritizing, that is) that works for everyone from beginners to PGA Tour players. 5 Simple Keys is heavily based on prioritizing the five things (and yes, even PGA Tour players will have to work on Keys #1 or #2 sometimes).

Anyway, long story short, you've listed an odd mix with TGM, MORAD, and 5 Lessons. A lot of the instructors I respect - a lot of the "explorers" out there - happen to have a TGM and/or MORAD background, but that's largely because they're EXPLORERS. They're constantly seeking knowledge and truth. They're looking in every crevice and mining for whatever gold is available. That means TGM. That means MORAD. That means anything that seems to have some sort of logic or truth to it. So that's often the reason why good instructors have that background - because there's only so much out there.

P.S. The side of instruction - perhaps the MORE IMPORTANT side - is communication, and it's completely lacking from this discussion. It warrants mentioning, though. How you are with people is important. It's why Butch Harmon is still a good instructor, and why he continues to get so many good students on the PGA Tour.