Ben Hogan's Five Lessons

[RoyalPeeps]

So just finished reading Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. I have learn so much reading this book and can't wait to try and put what he teaches into action. My questions to others that have read his book.

1. Do you use his stance position for your feet? He says to have your right foot square to the line and your left foot is pointed out a quarter turn. I see most people with either both feet square to the line or duck foot (toes on left foot turned left and right foot turns out right.

2. On ball and foot position. How many do this like he taught? Ball always a half to an inch inside the left heel and move the right foot at the line for 5 iron, inward and forward of the line for shorter irons and back and outside of the line for longer clubs?

Think next book with be the Little Red Book.

 

[orchard53]

1. I used to keep my right foot square when I was younger and more flexible. Now I do point my right foot out as I don't have the hip flexibility
2. For driver way more forward - but that's due to technology changes and angle of attack. For irons it's probably closer to 2 balls back as I no longer make the aggressive swing I did 25 years ago.

 

[RoyalPeeps]

1. I used to keep my right foot square when I was younger and more flexible. Now I do point my right foot out as I don't have the hip flexibility
2. For driver way more forward - but that's due to technology changes and angle of attack. For irons it's probably closer to 2 balls back as I no longer make the aggressive swing I did 25 years ago.

Yeah I'm gonna try the right foot square to see how it feels on the range when i get a chance but yeah I don't have the flexibility I use to have either. As for the ball more forward on your driver where do you place the ball? I place it at my inner left heel.

 

[wazzubrew]

1. This has been working for me. Gives me room to clear my hips on the downswing and makes it so I can't turn back too far on the back swing.

2. Been using this as a general rule for consistency. Feels about right but still messing with using "feet apart shoulder length" with my 5 iron as the base. Feels a little too wide for me with that club.

The one that hasn't worked for me at all is the open and closed stances as shown on page 107, but I haven't honestly tried that hard.

 

[RoyalPeeps]

1. This has been working for me. Gives me room to clear my hips on the downswing and makes it so I can't turn back too far on the back swing.

2. Been using this as a general rule for consistency. Feels about right but still messing with using "feet apart shoulder length" with my 5 iron as the base. Feels a little too wide for me with that club.

The one that hasn't worked for me at all is the open and closed stances as shown on page 107, but I haven't honestly tried that hard.

Yeah I haven't tried the stances either but interested to try them when I'm able to get back out and hit a few to see how it feels.

 

[orchard53]

Yeah I'm gonna try the right foot square to see how it feels on the range when i get a chance but yeah I don't have the flexibility I use to have either. As for the ball more forward on your driver where do you place the ball? I place it at my inner left heel.

Front of the left arch if I'm swinging free. If it's cold or I'm stiff I'll move it back to a couple of balls in front of heel. At heel I will hit a big block right.

 

[blugold]

I've read Hogan's book. I never fault a hook so I never found the book to be overly helpful.

 

[RecGolfer]

1. David Leadbetter put out a book interpreting Hogan's instructions, which included some photographs that Anthony Ravieli used to make his drawings. Some of the photos showed Hogan addressing the ball with both feet turned out. Hogan didn't always do what he said he did.
2. In my opinion always having the ball off your left heel is a professional ball position. Amateurs would be better off hitting irons with the ball in the center of the stance, and the driver only off the left heel.

 

[JMB3]

So just finished reading Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. I have learn so much reading this book and can't wait to try and put what he teaches into action. My questions to others that have read his book.

1. Do you use his stance position for your feet? He says to have your right foot square to the line and your left foot is pointed out a quarter turn. I see most people with either both feet square to the line or duck foot (toes on left foot turned left and right foot turns out right.

2. On ball and foot position. How many do this like he taught? Ball always a half to an inch inside the left heel and move the right foot at the line for 5 iron, inward and forward of the line for shorter irons and back and outside of the line for longer clubs?

Think next book with be the Little Red Book.

I do flair my front foot (when I remember) to help clear my hips. Little Red Book is a classic with timeless advice—love it.

 

[tequila4kapp]

1. David Leadbetter put out a book interpreting Hogan's instructions, which included some photographs that Anthony Ravieli used to make his drawings. Some of the photos showed Hogan addressing the ball with both feet turned out. Hogan didn't always do what he said he did.
2. In my opinion always having the ball off your left heel is a professional ball position. Amateurs would be better off hitting irons with the ball in the center of the stance, and the drive only off the left heel.

I don't remember Hogan saying the ball position is always off the left foot. I took a quick look at my copy again and don't see anything about ball position but see the drawing at page 59 - Hogan is playing an iron and the ball is pretty darn centered, maybe a touch toward the left breast.

 

[RoyalPeeps]

Think it's page 109.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[tequila4kapp]

Think it's page 109.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Good call, I forgot about that diagram.

 

[BuckNasty]

I started reading his book a few years back and stopped when I realized it was geared towards folks who draw the ball and fight the hook (AKA not me haha).

 

[Acesteve]

on foot position do this drill at home. Find a tile floor in front of a mirror and try different foot positions. When I flare the backfoot open as I do my forward and i make a turn I tend to slide my hips vs turn. Wish it did not take me 25 years of golf to figure that out. I now keep my rear foot square and this forces me to turn not slide

every person reading has a differnet body so this is an obersation relative to me not a rule

Tommy Armour yellow back book from 1950's I got after Hogan and never really read it. About 3 years ago while killing time I could not find the hogan book so took the armour book to a swim meet. after a read and to this day I generally think it is more helpful then the Hogan book though I cross reference both.

most of my energy in the grip section.

 

[ddstanford]

So just finished reading Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. I have learn so much reading this book and can't wait to try and put what he teaches into action. My questions to others that have read his book.

1. Do you use his stance position for your feet? He says to have your right foot square to the line and your left foot is pointed out a quarter turn. I see most people with either both feet square to the line or duck foot (toes on left foot turned left and right foot turns out right.

2. On ball and foot position. How many do this like he taught? Ball always a half to an inch inside the left heel and move the right foot at the line for 5 iron, inward and forward of the line for shorter irons and back and outside of the line for longer clubs?

Think next book with be the Little Red Book.

He's my golf guru and I follow his stuff pretty closely, including position of feet and ball position. I might flay the right foot out a bit on drives which is different.

 

[Desmond]

Read the book many years ago ... I don't pick it up. If I want to see what Hogan did, I go to Youtube.

 

[Maric]

1. I flair out my left foot it helps me get my hips around. Learned this during my first lesson.
2. For irons I center the ball this inch it forward for hybrids, another inch for woods and off my left heel for driver.

 

[RecGolfer]

I don't remember Hogan saying the ball position is always off the left foot. I took a quick look at my copy again and don't see anything about ball position but see the drawing at page 59 - Hogan is playing an iron and the ball is pretty darn centered, maybe a touch toward the left breast.

You are right about the picture on page 59. The OP was referring to the drawing on page 125 that shows the ball off the left heel with all clubs and the stance progressively narrowing by moving the right foot.

 

[razaar]

No idea why Hogan wrote this book, because many of the elements he describes in detail are not what he did in his own swing. The forward in Golf Digest's Publication of the book was released when Hogan was 70, Hogan describes what he did in his prime (with Nick Seitz, Editorial Editor, Golf Digest).
The book is how Hogan would teach the golf swing. Given he wasn't a golf instructor and the book is only about the full swing and nothing else, it is a bit of a head scratcher as to why it exists.

 

[RoyalPeeps]

No idea why Hogan wrote this book, because many of the elements he describes in detail are not what he did in his own swing. The forward in Golf Digest's Publication of the book was released when Hogan was 70, Hogan describes what he did in his prime (with Nick Seitz, Editorial Editor, Golf Digest).
The book is how Hogan would teach the golf swing. Given he wasn't a golf instructor and the book is only about the full swing and nothing else, it is a bit of a head scratcher as to why it exists.

Well I still found a lot of valuable info in the book to help me out. The grip I think even helped me a lot. So even if it isn't what he did normally I still feel value in the read. I'm still learning everything from the ground up.

 

[Buckeyegolfnut]

I've read Hogan's book. I never fault a hook so I never found the book to be overly helpful.

I can appreciate this. Hogan fought a hook, as do most better players. I fought a slice, and couldn't play decent golf until I could change that to a hook, and then dial that back to a draw.

Well I still found a lot of valuable info in the book to help me out. The grip I think even helped me a lot. So even if it isn't what he did normally I still feel value in the read. I'm still learning everything from the ground up.

No doubt. Heck, when I was learning about golf I was basically self taught from instructional articles in Golf Digest, when that was still a worthwhile publication to read for such things.

The thing you need to realize is that all these books are pretty idiosyncratic. Hogan tells you what he "feels" in his golf swing, but now, with all the modern technology, we know that feel ain't real. At one point in the book he tells you that the wrists do basically nothing in the golf swing, and then devotes quite a few paragraphs to what the wrists do in the golf swing! His grip ideas are pretty sound, but you can experiment with those as well.

Penick's Little Red Book is quite a bit more general, but still has some good ideas in it.

I would advise you to become pickier about what you decide to do. That's what I had to do with all those instructional articles in Golf Digest. Some of them ran completely counter to what I had absorbed. I might try a little experiment, but I was young, physically talented, and picked up stuff quickly. So, if it didn't work right away I trashed it and moved on.

Let your ball flight be your guide.

 

[rocullen]

Guilty!
I don't do the incremental foot posture for different irons, per se. I go by my line up and target acquisition.
I've never fought a hook, actually quite the opposite like many amatuers, and still find it useful.
It's a book of fundamentals and he shared his personal deviations.
It's neither a book to prevent a hook nor a slice....it's fundamentals.
Why would he suggest a hook/draw set up for the driver if it was anti hook book?

 

[WLG1952]

So just finished reading Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. I have learn so much reading this book and can't wait to try and put what he teaches into action. My questions to others that have read his book.

1. Do you use his stance position for your feet? He says to have your right foot square to the line and your left foot is pointed out a quarter turn. I see most people with either both feet square to the line or duck foot (toes on left foot turned left and right foot turns out right.

2. On ball and foot position. How many do this like he taught? Ball always a half to an inch inside the left heel and move the right foot at the line for 5 iron, inward and forward of the line for shorter irons and back and outside of the line for longer clubs?

Think next book with be the Little Red Book.

I read Hogan's book several times. (you never really finish reading his books)

Lots of great info in that 5 Lessons book. I don't use much of his info, but worked off parts of it. I'm not Hogan. I used his book for my own ideas on my swing.

The Little Red Book is my most favorite golf book. So many little useable tid bits in there. Lot's of common sense stuff on the golf swing, and golf in general.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I think Penick's book has more useable golf info in it than Hogan's.

 

[Dcharo]

Read this book years ago and whats make sense to me to this day is the diagram where there is a plane just above his shoulder
I find all the "plane" methodology- You probably read it too - single plane/ two plane/D-plane/ is too complicated for me
The Hogan plane makes most practical sense when Im on he course , As I can feel when Im over the Hogan plan or swinging under the plane

 

[rocullen]

Read this book years ago and whats make sense to me to this day is the diagram where there is a plane just above his shoulder
I find all the "plane" methodology- You probably read it too - single plane/ two plane/D-plane/ is too complicated for me
The Hogan plane makes most practical sense when Im on he course , As I can feel when Im over the Hogan plan or swinging under the plane

I particularly like his description of how the plane shifts during the transition and how a proper transition automatically puts you in the "groove" within that plane.