The Hogan Code By CHRISTO GARCIA Copyright 2014 Photography by Howard Boylan Additional Photography by Bridget Garcia Cover Design by Troy Devolld Edited by Robert Garcia
MySwingEvolution Presents
The Hogan Code By CHRISTO GARCIA
The Hogan Code is the extraordinary story of how an average golfer learned to swing like Ben Hogan, and pass those secrets along to other struggling golfers.
Contents
PREFACE7 INTRODUCTION11 CHAPTER 1: BUY LESSONS, NOT CLUBS 19 TIM TERWILLIGER19 ROGER DUNN23 MARTIN AYERS29 CHAPTER 2: THE BIRTH OF MY HOGAN SWING
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CHAPTER 3: MY BACKGROUND
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CHAPTER 4: MY APPROACH TO STUDYING HOGAN
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CHAPTER 5: BEN HOGAN’S FUNDAMENTALS 65 THE BODY SWING AND THE PANE OF GLASS65 THE LOWER BODY INITIATES, CREATING LAG IN THE SWING67 HOGAN’S ELBOWS AND THE SHORT LEFT THUMB68 ROTATION IS EVERYTHING70 CHAPTER 6: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOGAN SWING
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CHAPTER 7: HOGAN SWING CONCEPTS 81 THE BODY SWING81 THE HOGAN TRAP90 THE SUPERLOCK GRIP92 SLACK IN THE SWING100 HOGAN’S ELBOWS104
THE SECRET106 LASER/POWER STRETCH111 SHAFT PLANE – SHOULDER PLANE – SHAFT PLANE115 ACCELERATION 116 THE KARATE CHOP/LATERAL SIDE BEND118 BALL FLIGHT120 YOUR OWN SWING 121 CHAPTER 8: THE HOGAN SWING IN ACTION 125 THE WALK UP125 THE HOGAN STANCE127 THE TAKEAWAY134 THE DEEP TAKEAWAY137 THE TRANSITION140 THE ATOMIC ELBOW145 SLOTSVILLE146 SHANGRI-LA148 HIP THRUST151 THE RELEASE154 CHAPTER 9: SWING DRILLS 157 RIGHT ARM ONLY/BELT DRILL157 SLOW MOTION SWINGS 158 LEFT SIDE PULL159 BASEBALL SWINGS160 THE CLAW161 MySwingEvolution Patronage165
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PREFACE
I am a happy golfer. I wasn’t always a happy golfer. I’ve put on some truly embarrassing displays of unsportsmanlike conduct. I’ve thrown clubs, cursed at the top of my lungs, and at one point I swore I would never play golf again. I made an absolute fool out of myself about 20 years ago playing with some of my old high school buddies. I was just 23 years old, I had been a decent high school player, but I had completely lost control of my game. I couldn’t maintain my composure, and I started tossing clubs like tomahawks after every bad shot. I was acting like a spoiled brat. So, after walking off the course with a score in the 120s, I swore I would never play golf again. Four long years later, I decided I would try to play golf again on one condition: I would never act like such a 7
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baby again. I would allow myself to play golf only as long as I could keep my composure. For the next 13 years I would maintain my composure and plaster a smile on my face even though I was playing like a total hack. I basically had to accept the fact that even though I harbored an intense desire to improve at the game, my lot in life was to shoot in the 80s, 90s, and sometimes 100s (I played once with a friend named George who tried to help me and my score was 126!). It seemed like breaking 80 would always be impossible. I thought I’d never get rid of my block/slice. I did not think I would ever be able to control the flight of my golf ball to any serious degree. I never thought that I could be any good. But, I was wrong. I simply didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. It’s hard for me to believe now that after playing golf since the age of eight, I never understood the proper way to swing a golf club! Unfortunately, by my estimation at least 90% of golfers share this same fate. I can say today, I would still be in the same predicament had I not picked up Ben Hogan’s book 5 Lessons and started studying Mister Hogan’s swing. Today, I’m proud to say I am very satisfied with my golf game. In the past few years I have learned so much about the mechanics of swinging a golf club that I am convinced I can help other golfers improve at what has been a dastardly game for so many. Mister Hogan famously said that any average golfer should be able to shoot in the 70s, for he has all the physical equipment he needs to hit fine shots. Today, I completely agree with this! There are a finite number of fundamentals to master with the 8
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full swing, and then one must spend some time learning the short game. If a person is willing to devote the necessary amount of time in learning these skills, then breaking 80 is indeed a realistic possibility for practically anyone. And for most people that would mean, you can be a happy golfer, too!
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INTRODUCTION
When I decided to examine Hogan’s swing in early 2010 to revamp my own golf swing the main reason was to correct errant driving. Who doesn’t love the feel of a perfectly struck drive and the sight of the ball rocketing into the distance? During my driving malaise over a threeyear span I bought seven new drivers and for some reason none of them worked. I bought each one and imbued them with so much hope and promise I convinced myself they would deliver the magic elixir I needed to become a great ball striker. Guess what? I was wrong. I did think lessons would help and I had recently taken a couple of lessons with two different local pros. Their approaches to solving my golfing woes were very different. At the time, I was a golfer who had the potential to hit 11
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the ball 280 yards if I did everything just right. Unfortunately, it rarely happened. Most of the time I would hit a block slice about 230. I was always in other fairways than my own, playing from the trees, and trying to hit Seve Ballesteros-style miracle shots, which I had become pretty good at by necessity. This was my typical steep golf swing in December 2009. Notice the flipped over toe (Bad Swing 1, 2, 3).
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I heard Jack Nicklaus say on a telecast that you can’t play the game of golf properly if you can’t get off the tee, so I decided I needed help, professional help. I went to my local golf course and found a pro that told me he knew exactly what the problem was. I hit the ball to the right because I was getting “stuck” before impact and I needed some space for my arms to pass in front of my body. So, he had me reach my arms and clubhead down the target line away from the ball as far as my arms could go as I started my takeaway. I hoped with all my heart that this would be the answer to my problems. I hit some good drives and thanked the pro profusely. I thought, mistakenly, that was all there was to it. And, for a while it seemed like I was hitting the ball better, but it didn’t last. After a number of bad range sessions and poor rounds I decided I needed another lesson. Now, I was really desperate. I went back to the golf course, and the pro I had been working with was gone. There was a new pro that was happy to give me a lesson and we stepped out onto the range. He knew I was a poor driver of the ball and had me take out a pitching wedge. He chose a bush as a target about 100 yards away and had me hit a half a dozen balls to it. Afterwards, he seemed impressed and confident he could help me. Next, he had me take out my driver and aim over the bush. “Now, I want you to hit that driver with the same swing speed and tempo you just used for that pitching wedge.” I took a swing and hit it right over the bush. “Great. Now, let’s try it again.” I took another swing and it went over the bush, about 200 yards. The pro was happy with what he was seeing and told me that was a drive I could keep in play. When I 13
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told him that I would probably not be able to swing that easy on the course, he told me that I would have to learn to swing much easier. I left this lesson angry because I knew it was nothing more than a band-aid on a swing that wasn’t working, and I did not want to hit a little baby drive around the course. I wanted to hit the golf ball like a professional golfer and I had the inner belief that I could do it. My natural instinct
Another bad swing.
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in regards to golf was to hit the ball with some gusto. I was not going to go around golf courses hitting a 200yard bunt off the tee. To be honest, I felt rather insulted by this teacher. I don’t think he meant to insult me, but I felt like a total hacker because he couldn’t see in me the determination to become a great ball striker. All he saw was a 40 year-old loser and this seriously bothered me. Two different pros, two different swing tips, and I was the same lousy driver of the golf ball. As I ruminated over what I considered wasted money on a lesson that only made me feel like a chump, something occurred to me. I would have to find a teacher with a “swing philosophy” I could agree with. Driving tips weren’t going to do it. I wanted to learn the best golf swing there was so my thoughts drifted to the great Ben Hogan. I needed to find a golf teacher who could teach me to swing just like the Hawk! There is an old saying, “The truth is one. The sages speak of it by many names.” Well, I soon found out that many teaching pros claimed to know how to swing like Ben Hogan, but at the same time it seemed like everyone had a completely different take on the great master’s swing. I decided I would begin going to teachers specifically to learn the Hogan swing and I’d have to have the guts to challenge them about what they would be teaching me. I called my local course for a lesson, but this time I had a plan for my swing project. I would call it “My Swing Evolution.” I finally got the head pro on the phone and told him that I wanted to learn how to swing like Ben 15
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Hogan. The head pro chuckled at the proposition. I asked him how much he knew about how the great master swung the golf club. He told me that his teacher knew Ben Hogan personally. So, he was very familiar with that school of instruction. He asked me what I shot, and I replied, “mid-to-high 80s, and sometimes low 90s.” Looking back, he must have thought I was crazy. He asked if I had any video to send him and of course I did. It was February 2010, and we booked a time for the coming weekend and my Hogan adventure began.
My vertical shaft position and cupped left wrist before my evolution (Dec. 2009).
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CHAPTER 1: BUY LESSONS, NOT CLUBS
TIM TERWILLIGER
Tim Terwilliger is the head pro at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena, California. I am so thankful he took my call and was willing to give me a lesson. I had no idea how much golf knowledge I was about to get. The one thing I will say is beware of the teacher who gives you a little tip to fix your swing. “You just need to do this,” the snake oil salesman will say. And, the desperate golfer will lap it up, and spend any amount of money hoping for it to be true. Unfortunately, it’s a fairy tale. The golf swing is an extremely complicated subject and teachers need to have a comprehensive understanding of the swing and need to be able to articulate the reasons they believe in their certain swing philosophy. 19
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Here I am meeting Tim Terwilliger for the first time in February 2010.
When I met Tim, he was modest about his knowledge of Hogan. He didn’t make any outrageous claims. Tim spent a lot of time learning the swing with a teacher from Texas who was personal friend of Ben Hogan and played many times with the master. I am a great admirer of how Tim hits the ball. He is a lefty who stays centered over the ball and just creams it with tons of lag. Tim was also an awesome baseball player who made it deep in the game before becoming a pro golfer. When we got to the practice tee, Tim had me warm up hitting balls to a dark patch in the grass he said was 79 yards away. I was hitting the ball pretty well and hit a few just a yard or two long of the target. Apparently, that told him a lot because he seemed to intimate that he could see some potential in me unlike the other teachers. 20
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Then, Tim told me he had seen the video of my swing that I sent him. In the video at the top of my swing I was jamming my way into my wrist hinge and I was too “gouge-y”. I told him I was trying to create lag (I had always thought you created lag by float-loading the crap out of the club and maintaining a crazy wrist angle into the ball.). Tim told me I was overdoing it and suggested I work more in the direction of Steve Stricker who had recently found great success on tour with what looks like no wrist hinge, or at least very little. Tim then said one of the most profound things that I ever heard about the golf swing when he made the following statement: “When the pros are on the range the two things they are working on the most is their transition, and their tempo.” Up until this moment in my golfing life I had never given any consideration to the importance of my transition. Thirty years of golf and I never thought about the importance of the transition. I can’t really say I even knew what the transition was. I believed there was a backswing, and a downswing. Sometimes I would hear the guys on TV talk about this nebulous area of the swing called the transition, but I didn’t know what was supposed to be happening then. When I was a little kid and played fairly well in the 8th and 9th grade, I remember I tried to swing with a silky action. I was imitating my older brother, Don, who was my golfing idol and still has a beautiful classic swing. But then, as I hit a growth spurt in my mid-teens I suddenly became much 21
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stronger, and my transition changed. It got very fast. Now I was all about hitting the ball as hard as I could, as fast as I could. This destroyed my smooth transition and would plague me on the tee for the next 25 years. The comment I would get the most was I was swinging too fast, but I never understood what that caused or why it was bad. Tim obviously saw my bad tendencies and had me pull out my driver. He told me when he was working on his game, his mentor would make him hit the ball 100 yards with his driver over and over again. You might think I would rebel from this “short driver” practice drill but I didn’t because now I really understood that I needed to calm down my transition and keep the club square through the impact zone. And, this exercise was much harder than I would have anticipated. Tim told me to do the Stricker move with my wrists, make a smooth transition, and hit the ball at my target just 100 yards out. I had zero accuracy and I bent the ball in both directions at first. That was okay because Tim had given me a nugget of gold to carry me on my way. One thing I’ve learned through other disciplines is you can’t expect perfect results overnight. This absolutely applies to golf and I believe it is one of the things that makes the game worth trying to master. A few days later after work I stopped by a driving range in Studio City that has nightlights on a street called Whitsett. I tried to do Tim’s 100-yard drill with my driver but it was not working out at all. The ball was going all over the place. After awhile I just went ahead and started hitting drivers as I usually do as hard as I can, and I ended up spraying them all over kingdom come. I had 22
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zero control over the golf ball, and I remember thinking, “I have a good swing. This can’t be happening!” I literally couldn’t believe my eyes. I had done some good work on my transition and I could not understand why I didn’t hit it straighter. While I was hitting balls an older gentleman wearing all khaki was walking up and down the range, pausing at various stalls to watch the struggling golfers. I remember his gaze falling upon me and I made a point to put on my prettiest swing when he watched. My first ball was not very solid. I did not grumble, but rather I patiently teed up another ball and maintained my composure. The second ball was just as bad. Although I was steaming inside I tried to stay calm as I bent down to tee up another ball and before I could stand up an outstretched arm held a card. And, the older gentleman spoke… “ Your head’s in front of the ball. I can help you with that. My name is Roger Dunn.”
ROGER DUNN
Most golfers who are from Southern California are familiar with the name Roger Dunn because one of the largest golf superstore chains in the Southwest is called “Roger Dunn Golf Shops”. In addition to carrying all the latest equipment, Roger Dunn stores have one of the widest selections of quality pre-owned clubs out there. I have bought more clubs from Roger Dunn than anywhere else and here was the man, indeed the legend, handing me his 23
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This was my first lesson with Roger Dunn in March 2010.
card! He told me the rate would be $45 and we set a time to meet a couple of days later. I met Roger after work one night, and he walked me inside where we both took a seat so we could talk about the swing without distractions. [Note for teachers out there, Roger talked to me about the swing for an hour and a half before I even touched a club.] Roger had many photos of great golfers cut out from magazines that were pasted onto white poster board to help him make his points about the swing. He had some pictures of David Ledbetter demonstrating wrist cock and lag, so I mentioned that I had taken some lessons with him as a youth. Mister Dunn said he disagreed with Ledbetter’s thoughts about lag and used some photographs of Vijay Singh to make his point. Roger: “You see here Vijay has thrown his punch.” 24
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Roger went on to say martial artists make great golfers. Of course, I had to tell him about my background in karate. Roger was happy to hear that I had been a karate champion and told me I would have to learn to thrust in golf the same way I thrust in martial arts. Roger said, “When they break those boards they don’t think ‘at’ the board. They think ‘through’ it!” Truer words have never been spoken. Roger Dunn was a great admirer of Ben Hogan and referenced his swing throughout our lesson. He also told me a story about defeating the great Paul Runyon in a head to head match back in his heyday. Roger told me he had shot a 62 at Brookside Country Club, which is one of the toughest courses for me that I regularly play. I could not imagine shooting such a low round with persimmon and balata! When I asked Roger why he didn’t play professional golf he chuckled and told me he “did all right” with the golf stores. When we went out to the range, Mister Dunn had me hit a few golf balls for him. Right away he told me we were going to need to flatten my swing. I wasn’t sure how to go about it and he said to reach into my right pocket with my left hand! This was a very odd feeling at first but it was one swing component that I would begin working on in earnest. Little did I know at the time that Mister Dunn was keeping me under Hogan’s “Pane of Glass.” Mister Dunn took out a kid’s 7 iron and began hitting balls with it. I was amazed that he could hit it so well at 78 years of age with only one arm! [Roger had some se25
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vere arthritis and used only his right arm to demonstrate the golf swing.] Next, he handed the club to me and had me start hitting balls with it (I had no idea how important this “right hand only” drill was at the time.). He liked to refer to other sports that utilized swinging a stick or racket, like tennis. He said growing up in Iowa he had to cut the grass by hand with a grass whip. He swung flat and low, which gave him the best insight into how to hit a golf ball because he had to develop a low flat swing with maximum speed at the bottom of the arc. Once he moved to California and picked up a golf club he knew what to do with it. When I asked Roger about the backswing he told me not to move off of the ball. He talked about how in tennis you don’t move away from the ball as you take the racket
Roger demonstrating his takeaway, pushing into my hand with his left hip (March 2010).
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back. In fact, the way Roger demonstrated his move it looked like he moved into the ball as he took the club back! It seemed like he was expanding during the transition (I would not begin to understand the importance of this hip opening stretch until much later from Kelvin Miyahira.). He opened his hips, and drew the club back to the inside, and then snapped the club through the ball. It was a beautiful move the way everything worked together. Finally, Roger told me that there was a secret position he and his friends would see that was common to great golfers of his era. Roger raised his right hand with his elbow at his side and rotated his forearm externally away from the ball and made a “claw” with his right hand. “When we saw that, we knew we were in trouble.” Roger didn’t have a name for this position but from his demonstration I learned to imitate it. I would soon come to call it “The Claw,” and I worked it into my swing immediately (In order to find this position with two hands, it would naturally bow the wrist in the left hand in order to cock the wrist with the right.). Along with the flatter swing, the bowed wrist position gave me a consistent draw that I used quite effectively for months. It would take three years before I fully understood The Claw and realized it was a result of how you do the Hogan Roll into the perfect pre-impact position before the wrists unhinge. This is what I now call “Shangri-La.” Simply put, it squares the face of the club to the arc of the swing before you reach the ball, not as you reach the ball. Once I got a handle on The Claw, my scores began dropping quickly. That spring I broke 80 for the first time 27
The Hogan Code Roger showing me the Claw for the first time.
since 1989. I would do it 14 times in 2010 reaching a low round of 74 in August. With The Claw most of the shots I hit had a slight draw. I hit it solidly, not terribly far, but I was keeping it in the fairway off the tee and giving myself a chance to score. At the end of our lesson, I realized I’d been with Mister Dunn for two hours and 40 minutes! It was an amazing lesson with an amazing man. Again, this was not a tip-driven lesson but rather a seminar on the philosophy of the entire golf swing. In my opinion, if more teachers gave lessons the way Roger gave me my lesson, this game would be more popular and there would be a lot better golfers out there. Simply put, he helped me become a 28
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much better golfer that day. I had a lot to work on for the next few months and I would visit Roger two more times in this period. In these subsequent sessions, there was not any new information because Roger had given it all to me during the first lesson. He just lent a watchful eye, and encouraged my progress. He was happy to hear my stories about finally beginning to break 80. I wouldn’t take another lesson until August when Tim called me up to tell me Steve Elkington’s swing coach was coming into town.
MARTIN AYERS
I remember the first time I saw Steve Elkington swing a golf club. It was in the mid-90s when he stormed onto the PGA scene. I remember seeing his swing and being in awe of his action. I didn’t know who he was but I stuck
Here I am taking my first lesson with Martin Ayers in August 2010.
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around the TV that afternoon just to get more looks at the swing and to make sure I learned his name. I was literally awestruck. When Tim told me that Elk’s swing coach was coming into town I wasn’t sure what to think. I didn’t know if Martin was a believer in the Hogan swing or not. Tim assured me that it would be an experience to remember and he was certainly right. I showed up at the course and met Tim in the pro shop and we took a golf cart far down range where I would meet Martin for the first time. Martin is a cool dude. He is also fiercely intelligent in addition to being a natural athlete. He had played some tour golf but found his calling teaching the golf swing and no one teaches the golf swing like Martin Ayers. The first thing Martin had me do was pull out an 8 iron and hit some balls for him. I obliged and dinked some balls out there around 135 to 140 yards. He carefully observed my action and his first thoughts were that I needed to get more power. After I could get my engine firing properly, then we would worry about the direction it was going. Martin then took the time to tell me about how he views the golf swing. It’s amazing how Tim, Roger, and Martin all took the time to talk me through what they were doing rather than just give me a couple of tips. Martin talked to me about the role of the right arm in the swing and told me I was using my right arm in a way that was the opposite of what he wanted me to do. 30
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[The best way for me to describe the basic motion Martin wanted is it is like a reverse punch in karate. If you stretch your arm in front of you like you’ve thrown a punch, the back of the fist would be pointing up at the sky. To throw another punch you pull the arm back, elbow close to your torso, the palm side of the hand rotates skyward, and when you deliver the blow the palm side of the fist turns downward again giving you maximum power. Martin would soon publish an instructional video that is called “The Most Powerful Move” that details the specifics of what he instructed me to do. Martin and Elk also refer to this move as “The Twirl” as well. If you want to learn more about this move I suggest you go straight to the source. Look up Martin Ayers on the web and you can buy his DVD at secretinthedirt.com.] After we had worked together for an hour and a half, and we had some time to cool off I asked Martin why everyone thinks Ben Hogan’s swing was so great (Granted, I love Ben Hogan’s swing, but I just wanted to see what he would say.). Martin told me that beyond the results that it produced, Ben Hogan’s swing was amazing the way it looked. Nobody swung a club like Ben Hogan in regards to how fluid, fast, and efficient it was. I was surprised that the first thing Martin talked about was the overall aesthetics of Hogan’s swing, which are obviously the by-product of superior technique. I know Martin could surely talk for hours about the technical aspects of Mister Hogan’s swing and everything Martin taught me I have carefully tried to work into my own Hogan-style action, but when we talked that day it was about the beauty of what Mister Hogan accomplished through years of hard work. It made me realize a great swing is literally a work of art. 31
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After many years of working in the arts I have arrived at a couple of definitions that have served me well in regards to understanding Fine Arts versus Popular Arts. Simply put, you can teach yourself to do a Popular Art. Examples I use are break-dancing, rap, and playing the guitar. These are all things that you can pretty much learn to do on your own. However, you need a master to teach you a Fine Art. You cannot teach yourself to dance ballet, sing opera, or play the classical violin by yourself. Now, I consider golf to be a Fine Art. Ultimately, you are your own most important teacher but even pros that claim to be self-taught were not raised in an instructional vacuum for sure. Someone introduced them to the game and gave them some sound fundamentals and they probably played with fine golfers regularly. Even if someone never stands on a practice tee with a teacher, just being amongst scratch players for many years you will pick up things that you didn’t learn on your own. Learning The Twirl from Martin (September 2010).
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One of the most important concepts that Martin left me with during my two lessons with him was the idea that the golf swing was not a backswing, and then a forward swing in two separate motions. He sees the golf swing as one swing. To say Martin blew my mind would be an understatement. There is no backswing in a tennis serve, or in a tennis forehand. They both look like a single action. There is no backswing in a baseball swing, either. Not to mention, pitchers don’t have a quick stop and change of direction as they throw the ball. It’s called a “wind up.” Now, I know why. That’s how your golf swing should feel. You are winding up, and by the time you blast free of your physical constraints, the ball is long gone. Curiously, Roger Dunn also made this point to me when he hit a golf ball with a looping swing like that of a polo player. The club stays in constant motion in a loop rather than stopping and restarting. One common trait that these three great teachers gave me was respect for my game and they gave me the necessary time to explain why they believed the things they did about the golf swing. Be wary of instructors who just want to give you a quick fix. If you are not a scratch player, there are no quick fixes. Rebuilding your golf swing is going to take time, but it will be well worth the effort.
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CHAPTER 2: THE BIRTH OF MY HOGAN SWING
As the year 2010 drew to a close I had carefully logged all of my scores and I was able to play 44 thrilling rounds of golf. I broke 80 for the first time in over 20 years in February and would do it 14 times through the course of the year. I had carded a low score of 74 and dropped my handicap to 5.6! In late December I knew I would have only one more chance to go lower. My last round of the year was set for the day after Christmas. It turns out too much Christmas revelry left me somewhat inebriated at the end of the holiday, and my dear wife asked me to take my heavy snoring to the couch. I slept on my left side the entire night. When I woke up, I could not raise my left arm– literally. It was almost unusable and I was in a lot of pain. After taking a hot shower 35
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Handicap Chart, November 2010
and some aspirin, I could still barely lift it. I was not sure if I would be able to play at all. Knowing this was my last day to play golf for the year, I wasn’t going to stay home. I decided to drive one-handed all the way to Simi Valley for one last round. It is important to note that at this point I was not trying to look like Ben Hogan in 2010. I was trying to use Mister Hogan’s technique as a model in order to improve my contact along the lines of the classic swing. But, I never expected to actually look like Ben Hogan. For the entire first year of My Swing Evolution, looking like Ben Hogan was never my goal. When I got to the course I could only use my right arm. I started to chip and pitch some balls with just my right 36
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arm because my left arm was worthless at this point. More importantly, I found that if I used my right arm too early, I would hit a chunk. So, I had to rely on the rotation of my body and delay the release of my right arm and keep it totally passive until impact. I was using my right arm and elbow merely as a connection point for the club to my body. Once I got the blood flowing I was able to put my left hand on the club for show but I really felt like I was swinging with only my body and my right arm. Discovering how to play with my right arm, and swing around my body (Dec 26, 2010).
Much to my surprise, once I got onto the course I was able to make contact with the ball. With each swing I hit the ball better and better. I remember feeling like Trevino as I dipped and cleared my left side out of the way so my right hand could hit the ball. Soon, I was even hitting straight drives around 260 yards with a funky kind 37
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of block hit. Of course I had my trusty little video camera with me and when I got home I was surprised. Taking the right arm swing to the course.
My swing looked more controlled than I had ever seen it! It just had a different look from the transition to the release. My right elbow stayed connected to my right side longer. I was using my body much better. I stayed down in my posture longer and I was being more patient. For the first time in my life, I could see a little bit of Hogan in my swing as my arms “came along for the ride,” and especially in the follow-through. I had never been able to get even close to Ben Hogan in this regard because I was still a hardcore “chopper” that relied on my arms and hands too much. 38
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My first Shangri-La!
What I discovered the day my left arm was useless was Hogan’s “three right hands” concept and the importance of his elbow exercise. I had successfully flattened my arc by this time so these concepts came to immediate fruition when they were implemented properly. Sometimes adversity opens doors that would never have been opened otherwise. 39
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The next day on December 27, 2010, I shot a video that I would call “Finding Ben Hogan.” I shuddered at the thought of naming a video something so cocky, but I felt like I had really found something. I hit the ball with a purity that I had never experienced before. I even bragged to my wife that I had discovered Ben Hogan’s secret! Little did I know I had over three more years of research to do before I would bring my work to the public. But, “Finding Ben Hogan” would be the video that launched my YouTube Channel and would introduce me to thousands of golfers around the world. Slowly things were beginning to come together, and I started to entertain thoughts of looking more like Mister Hogan himself. If I had learned to imitate Bruce Lee and Mikhail Baryshnikov, why not try Ben Hogan? My new adventure was on! This was the day I discovered I could swing like Ben Hogan (December 27, 2010).
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Christo starring in Bravo & Company, a TV pilot
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CHAPTER 3: MY BACKGROUND
After I won my flight in a junior golf tournament when I was 14, my dad decided it was time to bring me to a real golf teacher. In central Florida in the early 1980s, a young golf instructor from Africa was making waves among the top golfers in the state. My dad and I jumped in the car and I had the fantastic opportunity to study the golf swing with one of the greatest teachers in the gameDavid Ledbetter. I went to him with a classic swing that I learned from my dad and my older brother, but he taught me the modern swing and changed a lot about the way I swung a golf club for the next 25 years. After David watched me hit a few balls with my casual classic swing, the first thing David told me was I would have to gain more distance. He said I would have a hard 43
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time making it to the higher levels of the game unless I became more aggressive. As he explained it to me, I would be at a disadvantage if I’m hitting 4- and 5 irons into greens that other guys are hitting 8- and 9 irons into. It made sense. Next, he wanted me to keep my left heel planted on the ground, keep my right knee bent, and minimize the amount of movement coming from my lower body- less moving parts. I worked hard at adopting these changes that day on the range. David took a photo of me with a Polaroid camera in the “waiter’s tray position” at the top of my backswing, and told me any pro would be happy with that position.
My swing as a sophomore, 1985.
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At first I did quite well with the modern swing. I had a very flexible body that could hit all the positions with precision. I wanted very much to make David and my father proud. Within a few months, I had the chance to play the number one position on my high school golf team against the best team in our district- Kathleen. I played head-to-head against their number one player named Paul, who hit it 300 yards with persimmon! I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just a freshman and he was a senior! My opponent opened with a birdie on the first hole draining a 20-footer. I matched him at 1-under after sinking a birdie chip on the 3rd. We battled for nine holes and we both walked off the last green 1-under-par. We each shot 35. My coach and my dad were in shock! I don’t think I ever felt so proud and I still remember every shot I played to this day. As I got bigger and stronger over the next year I finally got what I wished for– distance! I began to hit the ball a lot farther, and soon my control swing gave way to a wild lash. I was all about distance and I became a pretty long hitter although my accuracy was going out the window. I took a couple more lessons from David Ledbetter, but he was pretty busy all of a sudden. David had become quite a hot commodity during the early 1980s and I’d see Nick Faldo, Dennis Watson, and many other pros hitting balls on the range with me. One Saturday I remember starting a lesson with David and he got a phone call. David came back and said, “Chris, I’m sorry I’m going to have to cut this lesson short. I have to make a trip to Ohio.” I was totally cool with that since Nick Price was leading the World Series of Golf at Firestone. He went on to win the 45
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next day and I remember watching it all and looking for David in the crowd on TV. With David making it big with many tour pros, at this age I didn’t really have a mentor in the game of golf. Being a teenager, I unfortunately didn’t want to listen to my dad anymore, and my older brother was off at college. Meanwhile, I kept trying to swing harder and harder. Soon, I became burned out and frustrated as my scores got higher and higher. The modern swing had produced good results for me at first and when you are young is when it works best because of your natural flexibility. But, after my sophomore year breaking 40 became impossible. During this period of extreme frustration, my love of karate began to take precedence as I began racking up wins on the junior circuit and found much more satisfaction in taking home trophies rather than being just an average golfer. I still loved golf and I would play often but I became a mid-80s to -100s player and that’s where I would stay for the next 25 years. The belief that I could learn the Hogan swing didn’t come from some fantasy world. I have followed in the footsteps of two other great masters of movement. When I was a boy I became a huge fan of Bruce Lee and I began formally learning the martial arts at the age of eight (This was the same year I played my first round of golf.). I was obsessed. I studied every detail of his movement on videotape for hours. I read any magazines or books I could get my hands on cover to cover and then started over once I was finished. I even practiced the facial expressions! I took karate lessons anywhere someone was teaching and watched every martial arts movie I could get my hands 46
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on. My mother considered taking me to a shrink because I had started reading every book in the library on Asian culture (even though I am half-Filipino). By the time I was in high school, I was teaching out of my parents’ garage with a ragtag bunch of gritty fighters I had assembled. I became the #1-ranked young adult fighter in the state of Florida after I won first place in the Gasparilla Karate Championship in 1987. I actually bested one of my own students in the finals after we both defeated the top fighters from the USA Junior Karate Team as well as many others. Two short years later as a 19 year-old, I became the state champion in my weight division after winning the Florida Open Karate Cham-
Christo throwing a flying sidekick at the age of 17 (Photo by Jill Pernicano).
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This is a still from “Action Movie”- a short film by Christo Garcia (2001).
pionship by defeating one of my boyhood idols! Karate really seemed to suit my quickness and courage. After winning the Florida Open, I was offered a small part in a karate movie called “No Retreat, No Surrender III – Blood Brothers.” It seems like yesterday when I was on set. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and right then I decided I wanted to become a martial arts movie star. So, I changed my major from Biology to Theater and I had a new goal in my life. I wanted to make karate movies! As a new theater major, I had to take electives in both voice classes and dance. Two months before my 21st birthday I entered a Ballet Fundamentals class. I immediately got the attention of my dance teacher. Gretchen Ward Warren is renowned in the ballet world for the books she has written on the art of teaching ballet. She asked me to do 48
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a few basic positions and poses. She laughed and told me I had the facility to do ballet at a level that only 1 in 10,000 could do. I didn’t know if I should take her seriously but I was fascinated by the art. It was unlike any sport I had ever seen. In most sports it’s great if you have natural talent, but even if you have zero natural talent, anyone can still shoot a basketball or swing a baseball bat. However in ballet, if you cannot do the basic steps properly none of the more advanced steps are ever going to be available to you. Ballet is very complicated and it’s built upon a foundation that takes years to acquire. Advanced steps are out of the question until you have had years of Christo performing a sauté from the ballet Don Quixote (2006).
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training. It was in my early 20s that I became obsessed with my new master of movement: Mikhail Baryshnikov. In a few short years at the age of 23, I was dancing with a professional ballet company. At my best, I could do seven pirouettes, triple tours, and soar through the air with the effortlessness of a superhero. Over the next few years I would work with some of the greatest ballet dancers in the world, and my skill level would continue to grow. By the age of 26, I had the opportunity do dance as a soloist for the first time with a new company, and I had learned to “Morristown”- a feature film about ballet by Christo Garcia. Christo was awarded “Best Director” at the Movieville International Film Festival in 2012.
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do almost every step that Baryshnikov could do (although not with the same level of consistency). I knew what it felt like to be in control of every limb of my body in arguably the most complex movement system ever devised. Ballet is a one-of-a-kind system that has been passed down from master to student over hundreds and hundreds of years (It would seem that golf could have been passed down the same way for hundreds of years, right? Even in today’s digital world I wonder how there is still not a dominant system of instruction with clear syllabus.). I spent a great deal of time on stage through my 20s doing ballets, Shakespeare, and musical theater. Eventually, the rigorous demands of ballet became too much to maintain as I still had dreams of being a martial arts action star. I eventually left Florida and moved to Los Angeles. I got my big break where I was slated to star in a pilot for a new martial arts action TV series as a half-Asian, half-American detective in San Francisco. I even took a meeting with the president of the network and one of the biggest action producers in Hollywood! But, alas this dream would not come true and I settled into a new life behind the camera. This suited me just fine over time and I have found it very rewarding to work as a producer and director in Los Angeles. So, at the age of 40 my glory days in karate tournaments and performing on stages in front of thousands of people were long gone. What was I to do? My body was simply no longer capable of doing martial arts or ballet at any reasonably high level. I had achieved so much in the world of movement but sadly I felt like I had no more dragons to slay. That was until I decided to try and learn how to swing a golf club like Ben Hogan. 51
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CHAPTER 4: MY APPROACH TO STUDYING HOGAN
Mister Hogan left us much to ponder. He gave us two fantastic books: Power Golf and 5 Lessons. He may have had a secret. He may have had many secrets, but to say he didn’t give us enough to work on wouldn’t be fair. The one missing element that probably allowed his wonderful golf swing to get replaced by the “modern” golf swing was the lack of film available to the public until the rise of the Internet. I remember looking at a Ben Hogan swing sequence in a golf magazine (which compared Hogan, Nicklaus, and Watson in 1982) but that was about all I had to go on as a boy. That was it. One magazine foldout with some sepia-toned pictures was all I ever saw of the great Hogan swing. I did not get to see him in action, only in still shots. I respected him out of legend, but not out of first-hand observation. 53
The Hogan Code Christo working on his Hogan-esque swing.
Today, we have YouTube and the Internet. We can search through hundreds of photos of Hogan. We no longer have to rely on second-hand accounts from old timers that saw him decades earlier. We can deconstruct the great master’s swing, frame by frame, and in slow motion a million times if we like. There are also many bonafide experts on YouTube that offer tremendous insight into what the great master left us in regards to the golf swing. My first YouTube inspiration was Mike Maves, who is also known by the handle Sevam1. Mike’s channel electrified YouTube when he started explaining in simple videos his take on Ben Hogan’s swing 54
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mechanics. These were some of the first golf videos I ever watched online. Next, I started watching Hogan videos from Wayne DeFrancesco who has played professional golf on tour. Wayne has done wonders to dispel pervasive myths about the golf swing, even showing the courage to take on famous TV commentators when their analysis is questionable. Wayne’s groundbreaking research along with his pivot/compression philosophy has had a profound impact on my course of study. A couple of years ago I discovered the brilliant work of Bradley Hughes, a two-time Australian Masters champion. Bradley is not only a master ball striker, but he has a keen sense of intuition when it comes to golf swings from the classical era that I adore– Hogan, Snead, and many others. Lastly, I am thrilled say that I’ve become a proponent of Kelvin Miyahira’s work. Kelvin’s biomechanical background, along with his skill at Christo exhibiting good extension postimpact.
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video analysis is nothing short of genius. Kelvin has given me my most recent clues to unlocking the Hogan Code. I am forever grateful to these gentlemen for inspiring my swing reconstruction, not to mention giving me the idea to start my own YouTube channel called My Swing Evolution. Indeed, I would call these the “New Masters” of golf instruction and I am honored to have corresponded and spoken with them all. Today we are experiencing a genuine revolution in golf. Even as the magazines stay focused on new clubs that promise to hit the ball farther and straighter, and tips that utterly confound the average golfer, we can all still improve our swings. You just have to get online, film your swing, and compare. My methodology is based mostly on observation. By being able to analyze dozens of swings from Hogan on YouTube and being able to search photographs of the master online, it is possible to finally see what he did. The trick is in trying to figure out how he did it. How did he get the club so open at the top? How did he get it into the slot after the transition? How did he get his body so open at impact? These are all mysteries that have taken me years to decode. I have arrived at my own conclusions and I’ve built my own “Hogan Style” swing, but every golfer’s evolution will be a unique adventure. And, what a thrilling adventure it is! I personally enjoy tinkering and trying to master Ben Hogan’s swing. It has been extremely enjoyable from a movement perspective, but I know at the end of the day I’d have just as much luck trying to perfectly duplicate a painting by Van Gogh. It’s simply impossible. 56
Christo Garcia A good golf swing should be free of restrictions.
No one will ever duplicate Hogan exactly. But, it’s what he gave us that inspires. To be fair, I think Hogan probably left out as much as he passed on. As a relentless tinkerer, I’m sure he found things that worked one day and didn’t work the next day. However, the sum total of his swing worked well enough that he was the tour’s leading money winner in the early 1940s, a multiple major champion in the late 40s, and a living legend by the 1950s, despite a near fatal car crash in 1949! One of the reasons I wanted to write this book was to come at the swing from the viewpoint of a movement professional, not from the viewpoint of a professional golfer, which obviously I am not. I’m fortunate to have 57
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other modern tools at my disposal besides the Internet. Since the advent of Trackman, many of the old myths of the golf swing have been proven false or misleading at best. I find it astonishing that so much of what has been taught about the swing historically can now be deposited in the dustbin of bad teaching. One example of bad advice is the lesson of aggressively rolling over the wrists and forearms with a flipping action to stop a slice. I’ve seen this lesson in every golf magazine, and on television coming from a number of very famous instructors. But, it is bad advice no matter whose mouth it came out of. So, in my opinion all bets are off, and I want to take a fresh look at what we are trying to accomplish with a golf swing. I’m not going to just take someone’s word for it because they are on TV or because they are famous. I believe if you’ve had the luxury of time, the money to play, and mentors to guide you all the way to professional golf, you will likely have ingrained keen fundamentals without ever Top of the backswing.
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having to go through careful analysis, and intention-driven development. If you grew up playing with great swingers of the club, it is likely you could pick up some of their best traits by observation and osmosis. But, when a golfer learns his whole game by feel, when the wheels come off it can become very ugly because there is no road that can bring you back home. I have been baffled by stories from professional golfers who decided they needed something extra in their game, and they made the mistake of going to a teacher who destroys all the good things they had going for them in the first place. Can you imagine being a proven tour-winner and then completely losing your ability to compete against the best because you trusted someone with your swing that did not really know what they were talking about? I’ve met many golf teachers in my lifetime, and in my estimation very few were really capable of teaching someone else how to swing in the true Hogan style, which to me is the perfect blend of athleticism and technique. Here is one of my favorite quotes from Bruce Lee about the challenge of blending instinct (natural athleticism) with superior technique (control). “Here is natural instinct and here is control. You are to combine the two in harmony, now if you have one to the extreme, you will be very unscientific. If you have another to the extreme, you will all of a sudden be a mechanical man, no longer a human being. It is a successful combination of both. Therefore, it is not naturalness or unnaturalness. The ideal is unnatural, naturalness or natural, unnaturalness.” 59
The Hogan Code Christo Garcia exhibiting a full release.
This book is also coming from the viewpoint of someone who couldn’t keep a golf ball in the fairway to save my life a few years ago. I really needed help! In a way, I want this book to be a primer for the amateur golfer who is reading the Hogan books for the first time. Mister Hogan’s books are filled with genius, but you have to almost be a genius to see the big picture he is painting. When I first read 5 Lessons it made some sense, but the things I didn’t comprehend went in one ear and out the other. Remember the old saying, “When the student is ready, the master will appear?” In the beginning of my evolution, I was not experienced enough to understand 60
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what Hogan was saying in most of his book. As a student, I was not ready for the master. Now, it all makes a lot of sense, but it took me four years of assiduous study and I’m not done, yet. As Hogan said, nothing about the golf swing is natural. And when you start trying to dissect the greatest swing of all time, it is going to become very confusing. I only hope to clear up some of the confusion in order to help golfers improve their overall motion to achieve better contact with the ball and more satisfaction from the game. There is a lot that I understand about the golf swing now that never would have occurred to me just a few years ago. Like ballet, the complexity is hidden by the effortlessness of the professionals we admire. The amateur’s painful effort is obvious after every fruitless swipe on the range as their balance is rocked, the emotional tirades burst out, and disappointment hangs on their shoulders. The flight of the golf ball reflects what we just did to it. Nothing more, nothing less. However, it amazes me how I used to feel as if nothing I could have done could possibly have resulted in the horror of what I was seeing from the ball. Today, I know watching the flight of the ball is so important because the ball is speaking to me. It’s telling me what I did right or what I did wrong. Now, I am thrilled by this conversation with my ball flight. In the past it often led to complete despair. At this point, I believe it should be stressed that it is important to be honest with yourself about your game. Some golfers are, and some golfers are not. We all know who they are. The first tool I incorporated into my pro61
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cess outside of my video camera was a scorecard. I would write down my score, fairways hit, greens in regulation, and my number of putts. I also had to learn to play the ball down. Jackie Burke, Jr. famously said, “Improving your lie will never improve your score.” Truer words have never been spoken. I had to get rid of mulligans, and putt the ball in the hole every time. Bruce Lee said every kick was a tool to kill the ego. Likewise, every stroke is a tool to kill the ego. But, most golfers can’t relate to the game this way because their entire sense Christo watches his ball flight with pride.
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of self-worth is wrapped up in their game. I’ve seen it up close and it’s ugly. To be honest, I feel sorry for people who can’t play by the rules and keep a legit score because they are only lying to themselves. There is nothing wrong with just fooling around with your friends sometimes and playing with some mulligans, but if you are going to play in tournaments or establish a handicap you have to be honest. There is nothing to fear from your game. It just is what it is and it can get better. But, you will not get better if you don’t even know what you score! You can’t cheat your way to a better golf game, just like you can’t cheat your way to a better swing. It is something you have to face, and put in the necessary time to make it better. If you create an idea in your mind that you are a much better golfer than you really are, every shot will wind up being a torment because it proves your ego-driven fantasy completely wrong with every wretched swing. Therefore, it is with humility that I believe you should approach your swing reconstruction. The approach I take with my swing is the Zen approach. One of my favorite quotes is, “A Zen mind is a beginner’s mind.” In other words, I accept that I will always be a beginner. I will always be learning. And, I know I will never arrive at perfection. However, I will still aspire to perfect my swing. Ben Hogan said he tried to perfect it, and came pretty close. Mister Hogan was clearly a Zen master who succeeded in the end despite years of torment.
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CHAPTER 5: BEN HOGAN’S FUNDAMENTALS
So, what are the fundamentals of the Hogan swing and why are they important? I think Mister Hogan gave us these primary fundamentals, but they don’t jump out at us when we open up his books. And, if we understand the building blocks that these fundamentals represent, we can each build our own, consistent, repeatable swing. But, I think there has to be a simpler way of explaining these extremely important concepts.
THE BODY SWING AND THE PANE OF GLASS
Mister Hogan essentially lets us know that we are supposed to swing the club around our body, and not over our shoulder when he gave us the famous “pane of glass” reference. By dividing the body into two planes, one above 65
The Hogan Code Christo under the Pane of Glass.
the shoulder and one under the shoulder, Mister Hogan gave us a fantastic visual reference to make his point. I would simply like to try and add to this concept with an easy explanation of what he was possibly trying to say. If you break the Pane of Glass, you are taking the club over the shoulder setting up a chopping motion, which is a no-no for the body swing recommended by Ben Hogan. To me, I believe that the downswing is where this paneof-glass advice is best adhered to. I have seen many examples of fantastic golfers who took the club away from the ball high and broke the Pane of Glass on the backswing. However, when they came back down towards the ball, their rear elbow almost always stays nicely tucked beside 66
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their body, thus keeping the club under the Pane of Glass for a powerful delivery into the ball from the inside.
THE LOWER BODY INITIATES, CREATING LAG IN THE SWING
When Mister Hogan appeared on Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf and gave us the famous lesson where he talked about the importance of the lower body being used first in the golf swing, I believe he was talking about lag in the golf swing. Basically, he says that the lower body leads the downswing. Here, I’m demonstrating lag in the golf swing, or the “delayed hit.”
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“At the top of the swing you move the lower part of your body first, not the shoulders. You move the lower body letting the arms and hands follow, bringing you into position to hit.” In other words, the upper body lags behind the lower body. I believe our modern definition of lag is wrong. I was taught 30 years ago that lag has to do only with the angle of the club in relation to our lead forearm and our wrists. I’ve heard this repeated in magazines and on videos ever since. However, when I took a lesson with Roger Dunn he referred to this concept more correctly as “the delayed hit.” The angle in the wrists is actually the byproduct of an efficient golf swing with all the swing levers working in tandem. The last place we see evidence of the delayed hit is in the final swing lever (the wrists), and thus the misconception was born.
HOGAN’S ELBOWS AND THE SHORT LEFT THUMB
Mister Hogan told us on The Ed Sullivan Show that we should imagine the club being connected to our body at the elbows, rather than at the shoulders. This, I believe, keeps the club connected to our center of mass while we swing it around our body. In order for the club to work in a direct line into our center of mass as we rotate, we must grip the club in a way that allows the forearms to work essentially as an extension of the club itself. The wrists then are the final swing lever that transfers the massive amount of force that has been stored during the swing into the club just before it 68
Christo Garcia Here, I am demonstrating where the club should be connected to the body during the swing as shown on The Ed Sullivan Show.
impacts the ball. So, the short left thumb allows the wrist to arch sufficiently to create a straight line from the club head through our elbow, into our center of mass. A photo of my left hand grip.
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ROTATION IS EVERYTHING
One of the most exhilarating things Hogan left us with is the knowledge that you can swing hard and still hit the ball straight, which was always my dream. We know Hogan often swung all out, and yet he never looked out of balance or like he was “muscling” the ball. The way Hogan hit the ball straight and hard required both speed, and rotation. Everything in the golf swing literally “hinges” on the rotation because it is our rotation that will determine what our ultimate delivery speed will be at impact. The central engine of the swing is the coiling spine. The pelvis and shoulders are connected via Working on my rotation is the final and most important aspect of my Hogan study. This photo shows how a complete rotation leads to a nice high-finish position.
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the spine, and what the spine provides the golf swing is rotation. Great golf swings allow for efficient rotation at the highest speed, and poor golf swings restrict rotation, thereby inhibiting high speed where it counts the most– at impact.
A great rotation pulls you onto your lead leg.
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CHAPTER 6: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOGAN SWING
Upon re-dedicating myself to the game of golf at the age of 40, I decided to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. This radical approach of changing my whole swing made all the difference with my game, and it’s even changing my life! As a result I have a new golf swing and a new philosophy. For over 25 years I was intensely frustrated with the game, but now it’s a joy. Of course, I’m far from perfect and I’m not a pro. But, I never thought I would be able to break 80! Now I can flush the ball long and straight, and shooting in the 70s is common for me. I even shot two under par on the back side at the hardest course I play in town. Since I was able to make it this far I decided to share in depth what I have learned up to this point about the Hogan-style golf swing. My hope is that it might make the game easier for others who have 73
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struggled with their swing and been tormented by this frustrating game. The biggest problem I have experienced in learning the game from various teachers is that very few of them have a clear cut vision of what their swing philosophy is exactly, or they lack the ability to explain what it is. Usually, they just tell you how they hit it. I remember we used to make fun of the head pro at my home course when I was in high school because we’d be practicing on the range when he would give his afternoon lessons. He had one answer for every ill, “It’s your weight shift. You didn’t shift your weight.” It didn’t matter what type of swing a person had. To him their problem was always their weight shift. So, articulating what we want to happen is of paramount importance. I could tell you the golf swing is multiple circular actions in shifting planes performed at high speed with leverage, but I’d rather show you how
Here I am holding the very first clinic for My Swing Evolution patrons.
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I do it. Personally, I am a visual learner and a picture is worth a thousand words. The swing that I have concentrated on has a number of things that must be done correctly in order for the swing to function efficiently. Therefore, I believe it’s crucial that we all understand what it is we are trying to do in regards to the big picture. The major tenets of the Hogan swing that I have attempted to reconstruct are: • Mister Hogan was a body swinger, not an arm swinger • Mister Hogan hit an inside trap shot • Mister Hogan had very little slack in his swing • Mister Hogan swung on a shallow plane that was deep rather than high • The unwinding of the lower body leads the unwinding of the upper body 75
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• The clubface is squared to the arc of the swing well before impact • The arms are passive until the wrists begin to unhinge • The right elbow stays connected to the midsection during the hit • The swing relies on centripetal force to create clubhead speed around the body’s center of gravity • The clubhead should be accelerating through impact • The body is opening to the target at impact • The left elbow stays connected to the midsection after the hit • The proper grip is essential to keep the clubface square to the arc • A high finish should be the full expression of an efficient golf swing These are all things that are easy to see when you watch Hogan’s swing in slow motion, however they are not that easy to incorporate. I understand Mister Hogan sometimes gave lessons, but his one-of-a-kind golf swing will look different for anyone who attempts to master it because of our own unique physical limitations. However, by using the legs, body, and arms correctly in the proper sequence we can feel something that will be close to what the great master felt at impact. Golf is deceptively simple. You just swing the club and hit the ball, right? Well, we all know how incredibly difficult golf can be. If it could just be a little bit simpler. Before we get started in my breakdown on the golf swing, I think that there are some general concepts about golf that need to be clearly understood before we get into the 76
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Putting for birdie on my home course, Eaton Canyon, in Pasadena, California.
minutiae of all the different parts that make up the fantastic Hogan-like golf swing. I do think that it’s important to remember that we are swinging a club, not a stick. The waggles and the caddie drag (a handle-first takeaway) help the golfer to sense the weight of the clubhead that is going to be swung around the body, not over the shoulder as in a chop swing. Jack Nicklaus took the club very high but always emphasizes feeling the weight of the clubhead and said he felt the “gravity drop” when the clubhead loads into the slot so he could come into the ball from the inside. If you wanted to swing a bowling ball on a rope, in order to initiate momentum into the system you would have 77
The Hogan Code Christo demonstrating a waggle.
to start swinging the bowling ball in one direction, and then back the other way. This gathering of momentum is evident in how the great classic swingers got into their motion. They weren’t static like many of today’s robots you see on the range. They were always moving their feet and hands, and sensing the weight in the clubhead as they got ready to pull the trigger. NOTE: All the directional references in my book apply to the right-handed golfer and should be reversed in order to be applied for a left-handed golfer. All clock references are to be seen as if you were in front of the golfer (caddy view) and if their back were on a clock. 78
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CHAPTER 7: HOGAN SWING CONCEPTS
THE BODY SWING
Even though I spoke about Ben Hogan’s famous lessons in Chapter 5, I would like to reiterate. The two lessons on film that Mister Hogan left us are in my opinion the two most important instructional videos of all time. In one film from Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, Mister Hogan tells us: “The most important thing in the golf swing to me is the movement of the lower body from the top of the swing… You start down below with your knees and hips. At the top of the swing you move the lower part of your body first, not the shoulders. You move the lower body letting the arms and hands follow, bringing you into position to hit.” 81
The Hogan Code Hips clearing before the shoulders (Feb. 2014).
I think this instruction is extremely important because it demonstrates how important it is to create a stretch between the lower and upper body (what I call the “Power Stretch”). It also demonstrates how important lower body action was to Hogan. By not using the shoulders and arms right away, they are given the necessary separation that will be needed as the body begins to rotate into its lateral side bend before impact, while additional power is produced from the snapping of the hips. It was the outstanding use of the entire body that characterized the great golf swings from the past. In today’s modern swing, the action of the lower body is minimized. I believe this modern style is inferior to the body-driven 82
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Allowing the left heel to rise frees my hips.
swing of yesteryear. I was taught in 1983 to keep my left heel down and I did that for nearly 30 years. But, when I grew older and less flexible I realized I needed more freedom, especially with the driver so I began experimenting with letting my left heel rise with great success, which in turn freed my hips to open up. We can see virtually every great player before the 1980s had dynamite lower body action. Perhaps the three greatest ball strikers in history all had exceptional lower body movement– Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Jack Nicklaus. I could go on and on with other examples of amazing body swingers from the past. That’s not to say you can’t play great golf with the modern swing. But, you cannot claim the masters from the past were ineffective ball strikers. 83
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I have found the work from Kelvin Miyahira to be very important in regards to the lower body engine in the swing. In order to create the most power from our lower body, the pelvis and legs should not just spin together at the same time towards the target. The first crucial stretch in the swing occurs when the left leg moves towards the target and externally rotates at the beginning of the downswing, opening the left knee. The mistake I made for years was letting my right leg go right along with it and begin inward rotation early in the transition. This is what gave me what I call the “Michael Jackson” where my right heel would immediately pop off of the turf. Now, I try to hold my right knee back as my left thigh externally rotates and opens my pelvis, much like a ballet dancer does in preparation for a pirouette, which is a purely rotational action. This pelvic stretch is what people are describing when they are talking about Sam Snead’s “squat.” This is how Sam Snead opened his pelvis with his squat.
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Hogan also resisted letting his right leg turn in early, which is clearly seen as he begins his famous lateral move. Hogan’s back leg had a tendency to be straighter than Snead’s, but the opening of the pelvis is essentially the same move. This allows for the full transfer of energy from the legs up because once the right leg can no longer resist the rotation from the pelvis, everything fires together with maximum power like a giant rubber band snapping back together. The second video that I would like to describe was from Mister Hogan’s appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. In the video Mister Hogan describes how the arms should be connected to the body during the swing.
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Swing levers releasing in the correct order is always a blast.
“Clutch your sides with your elbows and visualize your elbows being attached to your body at the arms instead of at the shoulders. And, just start moving your body from right to left around in a circle holding your elbows to your sides.” Again, this instruction from the master is telling us that we are going to want to hit the ball by utilizing our bodies rather than just our arms and hands. This is the great mistake that has plagued golfers for centuries. The natural instinct is to utilize the arms and hands to immediately hit down on the golf ball with the club. This is very apparent in golfers who pick up the game as adults because they try to overpower the club. To a child the golf club is much heavier and they tend to use their bodies more efficiently in an effort to move the club. We want to subdue this instinctual use of the arms and hands 86
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This is my nephew, Elijah, exhibiting excellent compression, and rotation.”
until just before impact. This is the “free ride down” that Mister Hogan famously described. Once we are ready to unhinge our wrists, and thrust with our lower bodies we will want to hit the ball hard with “three right hands,” but it will spell disaster if we use our arms and hands too early in the swing since this will eliminate the Power Stretch we’ve worked hard to create.
Here I am demonstrating a right hook. Followed by an over hand right. Notice the position of the right elbow.
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To me the great difference between the body hit of Mister Hogan and the arm hit of a chopper can be seen in two blows that are performed by boxers. The body swing is very similar to a right hook to the body. The chopper swing is similar to an overhand right. You can create a lot of power with both styles of swings, but I have come to believe the right hook translates to greater control. For most people since the overhand right basically mimics an overhand throwing motion, it is more natural to do than a hook. The hook is a little more difficult to learn but once you get comfortable with it, you can create a ton of force with a compact swing. The elbow stays tied to the sides, and the rotational force of the body creates the power. Again, the right hook is very similar to the Hogan swing that I use.
My impact line is very close to the position it was in at address.
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You will see from a down-the-line view of impact that Mister Hogan’s shaft angle at impact runs directly in line with his right forearm and into his center of mass. As Mister Hogan’s body rotated with full speed, the elbows kept the club tied into his center. The right elbow passes the club off to the left elbow after the ball has been struck. This keeps the arms from flying off of the body. That’s why Mister Hogan’s action looked so freewheeling, and yet he was extremely consistent. His elbow connection kept the club at a measured distance from his center so he could rotate at full speed without fear of losing control of the clubhead. Hitting a Hoganstyle trap shot.
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THE HOGAN TRAP
Ben Hogan basically hit a trap shot, and this concept forms a major part of the foundation of this book. He had tons of lag and when he describes the wrist bone being forward at impact, this creates forward shaft lean. The shot that Hogan relied on day-in and day-out was a form of a trap cut. It is very common in today’s golf parlance to hear someone say they hit a “trap draw.” However, I have never heard anyone say they hit a “trap cut.” In the modern golf game it is easy to produce a trap draw. Because the modern swing employs a strong left-hand grip and the toe of the club turns over rapidly, all you have to do to hit a trap draw is place the ball back in your stance and hit down the ball with a slightly steeper angle of attack. Because the ball is a few inches behind the true bottom of the arc, it is easy to catch it coming slightly from the inside. The ball will take off lower than usual and as it begins to rise it will also begin to turn over and curve to the left. The way Hogan hit his trap shot is much different than that. The Hogan Trap can produce a straight ball, a draw, or a fade depending on the path of the clubhead in relation to the ball and target line because the face is square to its path. There is plenty of forward shaft lean with the Hogan Trap. When Mister Hogan stared down an important shot I believe he would go with the inside trap with a square face, and produce his desired trajectory and curvature. It is crucial to understand that this is the shot we are going to try to create with the Hogan golf swing. This 90
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A Here I am working on my trap at impact.
B Trap Follow Through
trap shot can produce low shots, but you can also produce high shots as well. It is said that there are nine shots you have to learn to hit in golf – low straight, middle straight, high straight, low fade, middle fade, high fade, low draw, middle draw, and high draw. You can hit all nine of those shots with the Hogan trap. All that is needed to change the flight of the ball is a slight adjustment to the angle of the shoulders, and path of the swing. I believe Hogan would preview his path line with his waggle to determine how much he wanted the ball to curve and in which direction. And, it was Hogan’s Secret that made the Inside Trap a possibility. 91
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THE SUPERLOCK GRIP
I have one funny anecdote to mention about my grip. A few years ago I had a dream that Mr. Hogan came to me and said, “Son, you need to weaken your grip.” It’s kind of funny because I took it out to the course the next day and I tried it. I shot a 78, which was pretty good for me at the time and I played well despite the fact that it felt extremely odd at first. But, my grip always creeps back to being a little bit strong because I have had to fight the urge to be a “chopper.” Many would say that with a strong grip you can hit the ball harder. There is likely some truth to this because Handle across the palm, not in the fingers.
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most of the long-drive guys do use a strong grip and even most of the guys on tour, which might help prevent injuries when swinging at speeds over 120 mph. But I have had fun working with the weaker grip. I’ve heard that before the 1980s if a player showed up on the PGA Tour with a strong grip they would be told, “You’ll never win with that grip.” But, in the age of power golf this advice has gone to the wayside. Nonetheless, after reading Power Golf and 5 Lessons many times and experimenting with the grip on my own, I have come up with a way to hold the club that I call the “Superlock.” The major element of the Superlock is not how strong or weak the grip is, but how the club rests across the palm of the left hand. For example, I think of Freddy Couples as using the Superlock rotated on the strong side, whereas Mister Hogan generally had it more on the weak side. For myself, the amount of twist in the grip varies between really weak and strong depending on what I’m trying to do with the face of the club. But, the main element is the short left thumb. I believe the weaker grip allows your left elbow to stay pinned on the follow through better than the strong grip. I believe it’s important to have the short left thumb as this allows the latissimus dorsi to lock into the upper arm on the impact and lines everything up correctly so the entire body is reinforcing the clubhead at the strike. When you see Ben Hogan at impact he talks about having a bowed position with the wrist bone of the left hand pointing at the target. If you think about it, what that is 93
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doing is it is de-lofting the face. If you have a really strong left hand grip, and you try to de-loft the face by supinating and pressing the wrist forward, the head of the club is going to twist shut. So, one way you could de-loft the face is by pushing the wrist bone forward with a really weak grip and short left thumb. Now that I’ve allowed myself to go with the weak grip and see the new position that it puts my body in at impact, I can trap the ball and I also control my trajectory better. I do sometimes get a sore wrist if I’m not keeping my body moving the club because the left hand should not try and handle all the force from the swing in this position. I’ll continue to evolve with this grip, and I often strengthen my grip for added power, but I do not think I’ll ever return to a long left thumb. Ben Hogan used the Vardon grip. He had experimented with many types of grips over the years but he finally arrived at the Vardon grip with some slight modifications. [The Vardon grip is also known as the overlapping grip.] The significant feature of the Vardon grip is the pinkie of the right hand slides between the knuckle of the first and second finger on the left hand with the three fingers of the right hand going on to the grip. Hogan said he held the grip in the palm of his left hand. This is important to understand- the club running across the lifeline from the heel of the left hand to the beginning of the index finger- this is crucial to holding the club properly. This way the club becomes an extension of the left forearm, which is connected to the body at the elbow, closest to the center of gravity. As the body rotates and creates massive centripetal force, the club is 94
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swung around the body’s center of gravity, which creates maximum stability. What Hogan did that was remarkable with this grip is he gradually made his left thumb shorter which means he pulled it away from the clubhead letting the grip fall across the palm with the callus ridges of the last three fingers folded underneath the club. I used to press the callus ridge into the grip on the club and I would get very hard calluses that needed to be filed down or snipped over time. Now that I hold the club properly, I don’t have any calluses on my left hand and I don’t even use a glove! As Mister Hogan’s left thumb became shorter and shorter over the years this became absolutely crucial to creating the Hogan trap. Ben Hogan hit a fantastic trap shot by supinating the forearms, squaring the clubhead early, and rotating as hard as he could through the ball. Mister Hogan had the problem of hitting a hook early in his career. When his grip was stronger, and his thumb was longer, the hook is what ailed him because as he applied more power to the swing it caused the clubface to flip shut more quickly, therefore imparting the right-to-left spin that is associated with a wild hook. This caused major problems. As Lee Trevino said, “You can talk to a fade, but a hook won’t listen.” However, in his quest for perfection Hogan gradually shortened that left thumb and weakened the left hand grip into an extreme position that forced him to roll the clubhead under as hard as possible to get back to square. It’s almost like he dared himself to supinate as hard as he could, which 95
The Hogan Code Another shot at impact.
would at its maximum application result in a straight ball flight or a ball that only fell off slightly to the right. When he wanted to pour on the gas, he rolled that left hand down hard. This is often called “Harleying it” by Hoganites today because of its similarity to gassing a motorcycle. By using the extremely weak left hand grip and rolling the club under pre-impact, Mister Hogan achieved a way to trap the ball and maintain a square clubface while approaching impact. This is really crucial because he was always described as having the greatest control over his ball’s flight trajectory. I have heard Jack Nicklaus say during his career that he adopted a weaker and weaker left hand position as well, and as we all know he was 96
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probably the greatest driver of the golf ball ever- very long with a slight fade. I believe the grip that Ben Hogan used (that he also taught Tommy Bolt) is what Jack Nicklaus described by making the left hand so weak Jack could eliminate the left side of the golf course. This allows you to release the club with full power and know that there’s a limiter on how much the face is going to rotate closed. Granted, all of this requires that the player have a consistent, powerful, inside delivery. The reverse of this extreme position can be seen in the grip of Zach Johnson, who has a very strong grip with both hands, and works the ball from right to left. For him he has eliminated the right side of the course with great success. The extreme hand position is something that many great golfers have used through the years to give them the ability to know that a really, really bad shot in one direction isn’t going to occur. This is why the “two-way miss” is the most dreaded thing in golf for better players. Just think about it. You do not want to lose the ball under pressure in either direction. That would be a terribly unsettling feeling when you are needing confidence coming down the stretch of a tournament. That’s why using an extreme grip that eliminates one side of the golf course can be very important. And, I think it’s important to note that Hogan and Nicklaus were both among the longest drivers of their eras who were notoriously accurate. I think they gave themselves the green light to swing with their whole bodies knowing full well the ball would not do something crazy. I’ve also heard that hitting a fade is much more pre97
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dictable than a draw at top speed. Since I’ve adopted the Superlock and the Hogan Trap, I rarely hit a snap hook and when I do I know it’s because I stalled on my body’s rotation and the arms took over. I will still sometimes hit a few balls left because I came over the top slightly and pulled them, but still the ball usually flies pretty straight and isn’t hooking hard to the left, thank goodness. Using a super-weak left hand feels very unnatural at first, but the more that you’re willing to work at it, the greater the fruits of this practice become. Also, the shorter the left thumb becomes, the more play you have in that wrist. Now, this grip is ultimately setting up an impact position that is going to allow the entire body to reinforce the club at impact. This is very important because most golfers have a weak connection to the club as they come through the impact zone. Here I am keeping my upper arms connected to my torso.
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Rolling the club up into the cupped position.
If you can keep your upper arms connected to your torso and have your body and hips open to the target so that you’re trapping the ball with the clubhead being the very last thing to come around the corner, as you’re slinging the club around your body it imparts a tremendous amount of force into the ball that’s completely reinforced by the hands, arms, and body. I’ve always liked hitting golf balls, but with this technique I can honestly say that I understand what Mister Hogan meant when he described the golf swing as “a physical pleasure.” So much speed is created, the ball and the turf are no match for the sword-like slicing that happens when the clubface cuts through the sod. I believe Mister Hogan rolled his wrists up into the cupped position and then unrolled them down into the 99
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bowed position at impact so the club rolled in a circular clockwise motion while it was in his hands. If you are using Ben Hogan as a model, the incorrect way to use the wrist is like that of a hammer. When you use the wrists like you are hammering a nail it causes the face of the club to turn over much too quickly and this is what makes the ball less controllable. Place the palms of your hands together as in prayer, and press the palms back and forth creating a cup in one wrist and then the other. This is closer to how I use my wrists in the golf swing.
SLACK IN THE SWING
One of the biggest problems that weekend golfers have is they have too much slack in their swings. This is why their contact with the ball is so inconsistent. One of the Here I am trying to recreate the static impact position of Mister Hogan sans slack.
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most remarkable things that I see when I look at Mister Hogan at impact is there is virtually no slack in his swing when he arrives at Shangri-La, before his wrists unhinge. What I mean by this is his rotation and mechanical technique have left almost zero looseness between his hands, arms, shoulders, pelvis and legs. Everything is locked into place before it all snaps through impact and all of his energy is imparted into the ball. This gave Hogan maximum power combined with maximum accuracy because the sequence is always repeated the same with everything from his hips to his hands finding their home in the rotation before releasing the clubhead into the ball. When we watch Mister Hogan in slow motion we see first the tremendous coil that he creates. He actually begins his transition with his lower body before the upper body is completely coiled. His body becomes like a giant Shoulders waiting to fire.
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spring as he unwinds from the ground up. This great unwinding is what removes the slack in his swing and tightens up any looseness between his swing levers. As Mister Hogan clears the lower body, the slack in between the upper and lower body is eliminated. When no slack is left, the lower body pulls the shoulders around. Therefore, the shoulders must be held back and wait their turn before firing. Once the shoulders begin to rotate, the slack is then removed from between the arms and the torso. Hogan closes the distance between his upper left arm and his chest as his right elbow drops into the slot so all the slack is removed in the arm system. At this point there is no slack Energy at impact close up.
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between the upper and lower body, or between the upper body and the arms. During the slotting phase, Hogan rolls his wrists into the pre-impact position, which removes the remaining slack from his last swing lever (the wrists), and imparts great tension into the shaft. This whole time (which is only a fraction of a second in reality) Hogan is waiting patiently for each lever to firm up before their eventual release. Finally, Hogan is ready to impart the delayed hit as his entire system of levers springs into action when gravity forces the club to unhinge. By delaying the release of each lever, Hogan preserves his ability to create speed until the last second. This is what the old timers referred to as the delayed hit. Many instructors today refer to lag incorrectly. They say that The first move down begins removing slack from the levers.
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lag is only the wrist angle coming into impact, but lag is much more than that and it involves the entire body and all of its levers, not just the wrists. The reason I feel this misdiagnosis of lag needs to be understood is because you could have tons of slack in your swing, and yet still have the acute wrist angle that many people describe as lag. The wrists alone will not create power in the swing. Slack is the opposite of lag. It is by creating lag in the kinematic sequence that we store our energy, which will be saved for the hit. We create this dynamic tension between all of our swing levers, and after this tension is released, slack is introduced into the system. This is the same with our upper and lower bodies as well as our wrists and hands. Maximum power is achieved when all of the separate parts of the swing work in unison to release this dynamic tension into the shaft of the club as it approaches impact. Finally, the shaft releases its stored dynamic tension, which sends the clubhead speeding through impact compressing the ball and sending it on its way. So, we have to learn to spring the shaft at impact like it’s a bow.
HOGAN’S ELBOWS
It’s crucial that you’re able to keep one of your elbows connected to your body during the primary part of the golf swing – 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock. This is important because it anchors the club to the body at a location that is closest to your center of gravity (COG is roughly just below the navel) as opposed to the shoulders. I believe if you are connecting the club to your body through your armpits and shoulders, you are going to lose a lot of control 104
Christo Garcia Elbow in on downswing.
over the golf club. Swinging the club this way does make a longer lever between the arms and body but I do not believe you will benefit much in terms of manufacturing additional speed. Also, it will require exceptional timing and rhythm to make this type of swing work day-in and day-out. Therefore, I prefer to use the elbow connection for the greatest combination of speed and power. As you whip the club around the body through the impact zone you’re going to create a tremendous amount of centripetal force. By pulling the elbows in, you can create more speed and maintain the greatest control over the clubhead. I imagine the elbows pulling into the body to be very similar to the way an ice skater uses their arms to increase their rotational speed as they’re doing a spin on 105
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the ice or the way a ballet dancer uses their arms when they are doing pirouettes. It increases our speed as we rotate through impact so it is very important to understand this elbow connection to the midsection. The force of the golf swing is maintained through the impact zone by passing the right elbow connection to the left elbow post-impact. If you were holding onto a bucket of water and began to turn in a circle as fast as you could, I imagine it would be easier to control the bucket if your elbows were clutching the sides of your body rather than with the arms outstretched. When I apply this logic to the swinging club, it makes perfect sense to me. Also, when I am in the gym doing a seated row, I can move much more weight if I pull my elbows in by my sides and use my latissimus dorsi rather than lifting my elbows off of my body and only using my rear deltoids. This action combined with a fast rotation will give you the greatest combination of both speed and power. Another part of the swing that I think is very important to understand is the way the shoulders and arms don’t tense up until the wrists begin to unhinge. It is crucial that we don’t begin the swing with a tense upper body. We want to be able to create whip/lag in the club so our bodies need to feel loose. The arms, shoulders, chest, and back need to feel alert but relaxed in order to create the maximum amount of speed during the course of the golf swing.
THE SECRET
As many times as I have discovered “the Secret” to Ben Hogan’s golf swing, just as many times I have shaken 106
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my head when the newfound secret gave way to an even newer secret. One secret always seemed to beget another mind-blowing discovery! Gradually, the secrets I was discovering became more and more rare as my swing became more Hogan-esque. In the spring of 2013 I finally had the guts to start doing teaching segments on my YouTube channel because I felt like I had gotten really close to the basics of Hogan’s swing and wanted to share my ideas with my subscribers. Then, a young pro from the desert named Victor Rodriguez blew my mind and passed on to me what I really believe was Ben Hogan’s secret move. No one will ever know for sure what the secret was, but this secret move has made my golf game absolutely thrilling and it has
This is my friend Victor Rodriguez showing me the Secret (February 2014).
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taken my ball-striking to another level. I had been working on my release when Victor contacted me. He told me I was very close to Mister Hogan’s action but I was missing a crucial element through the impact zone. Victor had me set up in a pre-impact position with the club just above parallel to the ground. At this point, Victor turned the face of my club down so it was not fanned open. The clubface was facing the ball early. To some people this might not seem like a big deal, but when Victor showed this to me I knew he was on to something. It was very easy to see in Victor’s swing once he showed it to me. In fact, it reminded me of the Claw that Roger Dunn told me about. Victor can flat destroy a golf ball and hit it on a laser-straight line to his target with any club in his bag. He plays his stock 7-iron from 200 yards out and is a long drive competitor who can hit the ball over 400 yards. Even though Victor’s swing doesn’t perfectly mimic Ben Hogan’s, you can see almost every important detail from Hogan’s books present in Victor’s swing from the fantastic lower body action to the massive lag and trap. Ben Hogan’s secret in my opinion can all be seen at impact, notably in the bowed left wrist, short left thumb, and forward shaft lean. What he wanted to be able to do was trap the ball with full power and not be afraid of hooking the ball to the left. When he finally figured out how to do it and his competitors noticed his hook had disappeared, he said to the other pros that he had “a secret.” What he did reveal about the Secret that we know 108
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has to do with the cupping of the left wrist at the top of the backswing, the short left thumb, and a weak left hand grip. These are parts of the Secret that are very, very important because with the proper grip and wrist action the Secret is much easier to get a proper feel for but impact is where the Secret is delivered. Ultimately, the Secret is that Mister Hogan allowed the club to roll under plane as his elbow dropped into the slot so that the left wrist was supinated far earlier than before when he hooked the ball. His forearm roll is maxed out early so the clubface is squared to the arc long before impact. Then, he simply drove this square position all the way home through impact. This is crazy to me because I
This is the action of a rollover, flip release.
This is the action of a squared-early, stable release.
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was getting close to figuring it out when I first described the position I call Shangri-La, which is where the club has been rolled under plane and the club aligns with the right forearm from the down the line view just before the wrists unhinge. It effectively sets up a trapping motion with the hands leading the clubhead, yet the club’s face is not aggressively turning over as with a conventional trap draw. The club has to be allowed to roll under plane if we’re going to find this trapping position. Almost every golfer in the world keeps the club above the shaft plane because it’s a very unnatural move to go under. With the Shangri-La position, the clubface is already rolled over and squared up to the swing arc. So, there’s nothing left to do except choose how much power you want to apply to the ball. So, in summation Mister Hogan got the club into Victor hitting a 7 iron.
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the squared position early, and then drove this position through the impact zone.
LASER/POWER STRETCH
I use the acronym Laser to describe the Load, Stretch, and Release. The golf swing has always been looked at as a two-part action – a backswing and a downswing. I have learned to look at the swing with a different point of view. Martin Ayers taught me to see the swing as one fluid motion, as opposed to two smaller motions broken down into a backswing and a downswing with a pause in the middle. Upon further inspection I began to realize this single motion is actually comprised of three distinct separate actions. The first part of the swing is the Load. This is the initial coiling of the body where all of the relevant parts are moving in a clockwise motion away from
Loading – the body turns away without separation.
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the ball. I start this action with a one-piece takeaway. As the Load begins the right hip moves to the rear away from the target line and the head remains steady. Although I do not mind a slight straightening of the right leg, it should never be locked out as the hips open to the rear. Also, as I am keeping my head steady it will move slightly off of the ball, especially with the longer clubs like the driver. I want my head to stay centered over my mass so it naturally moves with my body as it coils. If I kept my head in exactly the same place it was at address I feel that I would have to manipulate my body. We can see the more Hogan wound up, the more his head would move off the ball as well. So, if I flow with my swing it will move slightly even though I do not consciously want to move. At address, the left elbow will be hanging very close to the left hip. I call this home base for the elbow. As we swing, the left elbow will move away from the left hip gradually initiating a stretch through the latissimus dorsi and the left triceps. The lower body and the upper body are turning away from the target in unison as the left arm separates from the body and the right elbow is tucked by the side before rising up off of the body on a full swing. Once everything is fully loaded, we can begin the next phase of the swing. The second part of the swing is the Stretch. The Stretch occurs when the lower body begins to turn counter-clockwise back towards the target. This will begin to build a stretch between all the swing levers. This action will maximize the stretch between the left elbow and left hip 112
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Lower body uncoils first creating the Power Stretch.
and soon begin to pull the shoulders back around towards the ball. I often refer to this as the Power Stretch because this removes slack and it is the foundation of lag, which is the source of power in the golf swing. What I’m de-
This is the last moment before the release of the clubhead.
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scribing is the upper body lagging behind the lower body as everything begins to unwind. The relative distance between the left elbow and the left hip is maximized as first the lower body and then the upper body begin to turn back towards the target. The final stage of the swing is the Release where the all of the swing levers unload in rapid succession. The upper body rapidly catches up to the lower body, the left elbow catches back up with the left hip, and the wrists unhinge. During the Release, the hips have turned the “corner” and begin to reach the end of their rotation so the upper body can fire with full power. The left leg drives backwards away from the target line pushing the left hip back as the right leg and hip begin to thrust forward. Now, the power stretch is relinquished as the shoulders whip around the corner, followed by the arms, hands, and finally the club itself.
Gravity will force the release of the clubhead.
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SHAFT PLANE – SHOULDER PLANE – SHAFT PLANE
Through the years I have found myself very confused by the different descriptions of the planes in the swing. Some people talk about the one plane swing versus the two-plane swing. Hogan is often described as having a “one-plane swing” and Jack Nicklaus is described as having a “two-plane swing” because he has a more vertical takeaway. I find these descriptions to be inaccurate. To my eyes, the golf club starts on the shaft plane, or where it is set up at address, and then it rises to a higher plane that I generally refer to as the shoulder plane. The shoulder plane is where you create your leverage in the swing. It can be lower such as Mister Hogan or a Matt Kuchar, or it can be higher like Jack Nicklaus or Bubba Watson. But regardless, Mister Hogan and Mister Nicklaus each have two plane swings by my estimation because there is the
Shaft plane at address.
Shoulder plane at the top.
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plane that the club starts on, and the plane where you derive your leverage, which is more in line with your shoulders. Hence, I simply refer to it as the shoulder plane. On full swings the club has to travel from the shaft plane upwards onto the shoulder plane at its highest peak, and then back down onto the shaft plane to deliver a matched strike where the club was aimed at address. This down swing adjustment is often referred to as “slotting the club.” But, the impact position does NOT resemble the address position because the lower body must clear out of the way and the shaft should have some forward lean when it meets the ball.
ACCELERATION
The number one problem that the average golfer faces is premature acceleration. When your club reaches top speed before impact, it can do nothing but slow down the rest of the way to the ball, which causes the shaft to kick early and the clubface to meet the ball inconsistently. If the clubhead is accelerating though impact, the speed reinforces and stabilizes the face of the club and consistent compression can be achieved through the strike. Therefore, the things we are doing with the swing are to keep the club accelerating through the ball. This is why I don’t apply force with my arms until my left arm reaches 9 o’clock and the wrists begin to unhinge. I then want to speed up the force from the arms and hands all the way through 1 o’clock, long after the ball has left for its target. 116
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This is an example of premature acceleration. Notice how the toe of my driver has completely flipped over ( January 2010).
I have heard conflicting information on whether it is possible to keep accelerating all the way to the ball, and that it is extremely difficult if it is possible at all. Nonetheless, constant acceleration is a goal to be striven for because premature acceleration is a big mistake in the golf swing. A golfer’s natural instinct is to hit the ball from the top with the arms rather than save the leverage they have acquired. When the club reaches the top of the backswing the opportunity for maximum leverage is available to the golfer. However, if this maximum leverage is applied early, your maximum speed will be reached well before impact. This max speed obviously cannot be maintained because once maximum speed is reached, it dissipates. 117
The Hogan Code The high finish Hogan was known for demonstrates the absence of premature acceleration.
Therefore, you must learn to save the leverage you have created. As the arms begin to fall, they are getting the “free ride down.” Once the elbow has dropped into place and the hips are opening, that’s when you can finally apply “three right hands” and blast through the ball with all of your saved energy. You should strive to keep the clubhead from reaching maximum speed too early on the downswing so the shaft does not “kick” before impact.
THE KARATE CHOP/LATERAL SIDE BEND
When I look at photos of Mister Hogan at impact, the thing that I marvel at is how open his body is to the target. The hips are clear and the right shoulder is low be118
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fore the club comes into the ball. It demonstrates power with control. When I’m coming into the ball correctly, the action has always reminded me of a sideways karate chop, which requires lateral side bend. I have had a difficult time trying to emulate this open body position because I was told as a youngster to keep my belt buckle at the ball and I should try to make impact resemble my address position. I would never recommend this today because it is completely wrong, just like wrist rolling, and cupped lag in the wrists. Now, I’m working hard on my Lateral Side Bend which helps clear the body. The ball is hit to the side of you much more like a baseball player with the hips completely cleared. Baseball players have their bodies open to where The Karate Chop position.
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they want the ball to go. Poor golfers often have their bodies facing the ball at impact with hunched shoulders, straight arms, and hips thrusting at the ball. In order to maintain acceleration I think it is important to clear the hips first, and then the shoulders as you come into the impact zone. I sometimes call this the Limbo Move where I try to keep my right elbow driving in front of my right hip. I do a limbo move underneath where my spine was at the top and karate chop the ball.
BALL FLIGHT
Perhaps, the most remarkable thing that I’ve discovered about working through all of the Hogan books is that I’m Playing a straight ball after years of hitting hooks and slices.
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hitting a ball that basically flies straight. I used to believe that a straight ball was impossible to hit as a choice. It was just something that happened by accident sometimes. The great thrill that I have experienced with my game today is that I can take “dead aim” at the target. I used to think Harvey Penick’s advice was wishful thinking, but now it makes total sense! Taking dead aim is something that’s rather remarkable because it just started to creep into my game more and more. I just started to hit the ball straighter, and straighter. And then, one day I realized I was no longer aiming to the left or right of my target the way I did for decades. I aim right at the target and expect the ball to fly straight. It’s a very fun and exciting way to play the game of golf and it gives you the feeling that low, low scores are just around the corner. Of course, the game is very complex and there are many elements in the game of golf besides just ball striking. But, I find the greatest physical pleasure comes from being able to hit a very solid, long, straight ball that’s similar to how the pros hit it. This was always my great desire and I never experienced it until my mid-40s. I often wonder what my life would be like if I knew how to hit the ball like this in my teens!
YOUR OWN SWING
Your swing is your own swing and it’s going to look absolutely unique. Even if you do every single thing perfectly that I have described here, due to the fact that we all have 121
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Here I am taking a lesson with the great Doug Sanders, 20-time PGA Tour winner. Doug’s classic swing is unique, very compact, and completely his own.
different body types and different degrees of flexibility we all look different. Ultimately, no two swings are exactly alike. I’ve obviously been trying to use Mister Hogan’s principles to get a better golf swing and I’ve even tried to look as close to Hogan as possible. I understand I will never be a carbon copy, but I’ve learned so much about my own action by simply imitating Hogan. You could try to create a painting like Van Gogh but it’s never going to happen, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be an important learning experience. I think of the golf swing as a work of art. At the end of the day your art is going to be unique to your own body 122
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and experiences. So that’s one of the things that I think make the classic swings of the past so much fun to look at because they weren’t robotic, cookie cutter swings like so many of the swings that we see on the tour today. I look at most of the swings on the tour and wonder how they could all look so similar. Then, if you watch the Champions Tour comprised of golfers from the previous generation you’ll never mistake one golfer for another. The swing you create with these principles is completely your own. It does not have to look any certain way, but if you apply the principles of the Code, certain constants will be obvious to the trained observer.
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CHAPTER 8: THE HOGAN SWING IN ACTION
THE WALK UP
Hogan seemed to almost sneak up on the ball. I really enjoy watching the slow motion practice that Mister Hogan demonstrated on many occasions. In my videos I often go through the shape of the swing in slow motion. [I’m asked very often why my slow motion swing doesn’t look like my real swing at full speed, and the reason the two swings look so different is because I haven’t added any momentum into the swing. Once you do, the oppositional forces created by the swing contort the shape of the body and the club.] I highly recommend incorporating slow motion practice in order to help ingrain what you are working on at the moment. At full speed, it is very difficult to get a strong sense of micro-movements that you will be working on. 125
The Hogan Code Hogan set the club in his hands before taking his stance.
In the Coleman video, we see Ben Hogan go through his practice routine and demonstrate his full swing in slow motion. This is an excerpt from my friend Mike Maves’ (aka SEVAM1) Blog about this video. In 1977, at age 65, Ben Hogan made one final trip to Florida to enjoy time with his good friend George Coleman and to play a little bit of golf at Seminole where for many years he had loved to practice in the winter months leading up to the Masters. 126
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In the slow motion sequences that Hogan demonstrates (what had been demonstrated in past Hogan clinics as The Concentration Drill), we see Hogan illustrating what he felt during the swing as opposed to what he actually did. This demonstration is so important because it shows how clearly Hogan understood that no matter what action he performed with the body, the hands could always keep up. As Mister Hogan approached the ball he chose the position of his right foot relative to the ball very carefully and delicately. Next, he settles into position with his right foot and measures out his left. At this point what becomes apparent to me is how much emphasis and weight he puts into his right leg as he settles into his stance. His weight is clearly behind the ball and it seems to me that if there is going to be any weight shift in his swing, it will be minimized on the backswing so there is little or no backward sway, but rather a more circular transfer of weight into the right foot. His action was very rotary but there was a clear forward drive of the hips as he began to unwind his coil that came out of his right leg.
THE HOGAN STANCE
Most people don’t think too much about the stance and to be honest, Hogan’s stance is one of the last elements of his swing that I began to tackle. But, my goodness, what an amazing stance mister Hogan had! Hogan stood like no other. He stood tall with his lower back straight. His shoulders and arms hung softly. His 127
The Hogan Code Here I am addressing a 2 iron.
body was electric. He was like a rattlesnake ready to strike. His arms reached slightly away from his body from the elbows and didn’t hang straight down (Hogan had long arms, and his wingspan exceeded his height by several inches.). His right foot would draw back off the target line, the longer the club was. It was this stance that allowed all the other aspects of his swing to occur uninhibited. Mister Hogan described having his weight more on the heels of his feet than on the balls of his feet, so you could lift your toes in your shoes. He was not falling forward. I believe the action of swinging the club around the body benefits from your weight being pinned in your heels. 128
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The body needs to fight the centripetal forces created in the swing that want to pull the body towards the ball, so planting your heels is a wise move. This is a very, very crucial part of the golf swing that Ben Hogan had discovered that many modern golf teachers do not understand. A lot of teachers talk about the “athletic setup” with the weight over the balls of the feet. I’ve chosen to follow Mister Hogan’s advice. I believe this set up with the weight in the heels works better for the rotation-based type of swing. Hogan used a fairly wide stance with his feet slightly wider than his shoulders for his driver. He felt his weight on the insides of his feet and towards the heels as well as tension on the insides of his legs. Hogan’s hands were several inches from his thighs even though he kept his elbows in the neighborhood of his stomach. His elbows are not locked out. No athletic motions can be initiated from locked joints. Hogan also cocked his right hand down at the ball as if he were going to shoot it with a pistol (more on that later). His short right thumb position that he adopted after the war certainly had something to do with this. Mister Hogan would often set up with his right arm riding higher than his left. This contradicts a picture of him in the Power Golf book. I believe he made various adjustments with his setup for different shots he wanted to hit. I do believe he managed his trajectory by adjusting the tilt in his shoulders and hips as he addressed the ball. He would tilt downward and trap the ball more for a lower trajectory. 129
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Hogan tilted his chin to the right just prior to takeaway. This was a common move for all the old-timers all the way through Jack Nicklaus. After that, it just faded away. I don’t really practice it and find it a bit disorienting. Perhaps, it will be the final key that unlocks an enormous puzzle for me. As of yet, I have not been able to incorporate it naturally into all of my shots. I have heard that Mister Hogan and Jack Nicklaus were left-eye dominant, whereas, I am right-eye dominant. This could have something to do with why it feels unnatural for me. This is my version of the Hogan address.
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When we look at pictures of Ben Hogan’s stance I think one of the things that stands out to me right away is that he stands rather tall at address. Since Hogan was going to compress down through the shot, it was important that he was not too close to the ball so he didn’t catch the ball on the heel of the club. I always feel that he is very connected to where he wants the ball to go. All of these things are very important for how he was able to drive the ball on a straight line to his target and create such a straight shot. Mister Hogan said that when he pointed the clubhead it was virtually the same feeling as holding a .45 caliber pistol in his right hand as if you were going to shoot a bullet right through the golf ball. And, what this setup did was put the club closer in line to his forearms. Since he kept the club connected to his body by the elbows it allowed him to swing the club at full speed while maintaining a measured distance from the ball. When he struck the ball he was coming from the inside, and delivered the club onto the original shaft plane with extreme consistency. This is one of the many things that gave Hogan the ability to hit the golf ball with such precision over and over again. People have said he looked like he was stamping out bottle caps the way he hit a golf ball, perfect precision over and over again. But, the golf ball was not where the clubhead was being delivered. The clubhead was being whipped in a circular arc around past the target and the ball simply got in the way. As we take our address position with the clubhead behind the ball, Hogan talked about having the shoulders slightly 131
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open at address and this is accomplished by a slight bend in the right knee. And what you will notice in your stance at address is if you just bend that right knee a touch it’s going to lower that side and open that left shoulder. One of the things that I see that Hogan did when he addressed the golf ball was he seems to torque his setup a bit, and what I mean by that is we know his front leg was rotated slightly open, so this puts a little torque into that left leg, and even though the hips are square they are wanting to move in the direction of the target. The right leg was torqued in with his knee slightly bent inwards and he said he felt muscular tension in his right groin. He held his shoulders slightly open to the target and it looks from his elbows and his wrists that his wrists are just waiting to roll into the impact position. So this torqueing of every limb is apparent when you look at the way he appears at address. It looks like electrical energy is pulsing through every limb of his body, as he gets ready to pull the trigger. He looks more alert than most, almost like a baseball player in the batter’s box waiting for a pitch. He’s not standing without a purpose, and many said he hit the ball with his stance because it just looked like nothing could go wrong. I first heard of this “torque” concept listening to Steve Elkington and Mike Maves talking about a golfer from the turn of the last century named Abe Froman who was believed to be the longest driver of his day. Martin Ayers has talked about this as well. Is it possible that entire volumes of swing technique have been lost or forgotten through the years? Sometimes I feel like Indiana Jones trying to dig up lost treasures from the past. One thing 132
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is for certain, the great golfers from the past could still shoot amazing scores with equipment that was by today’s standards, close to the Stone Age. So, the feeling of this torqued setup can really be felt as we turn our body towards the target. [The following directions are for right-handed golfers if they were standing on a clock with 12 o’clock in front of the belt buckle.] We can rotate our left arm counterclockwise and rotate our right arm counterclockwise, so the feeling in our upper torso is to turn it towards the target, our left leg we can turn counterclockwise and our right foot we can turn counterclockwise so everything is turned towards the target. Everything is torqued a quarter turn towards the target, but we roll it back into our address position. And this is what’s going to give us that electrifying feeling before
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Address
Forward Press
Caddy Drag
we take the club back- it is that everything is going to want to return to this central position, which is post-impact. By the time the body springs back into this torqued position, the ball will be long gone.
THE TAKEAWAY
As we initiate the swing, Hogan liked to do a very small forward press with his hands and right knee as a trigger move. It’s barely perceptible to the naked eye but he certainly felt it, he described it, and you can see it in various videos on the web. Granted, it’s not very exaggerated but we have to introduce some momentum into the system. And, this is why I like to use the caddy drag. The caddy drag is accomplished by essentially moving the handle of the club back before the head of the club. Then, we can begin to lightly swing the clubhead away from the ball and take that little bit of momentum and create an early wrist cock that will cup our left wrist. 134
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After a very slight forward press you can drag the club handle butt end first towards your right hip. This allows you to slightly cup the left hand wrist as the right hand rolls under the handle to support the club as you roll the club up and cock the wrists halfway up the backswing. The caddy drag was very prevalent in the early part of the 20th century. When you look at many of the older golfers from Harry Vardon to Bobby Jones, they would drag the handle back first and carefully roll the club up into the cupped position at the top of the backswing. I believe this is a holdover from when they had very whippy hickory shafts. They had to be very careful about the weight in the clubhead and they could not let it get loose or run away from them because with a wooden shaft it will never 90 degrees at left arm parallel.
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catch back up. So the caddy drag helped them to keep the clubhead in control as their bodies generated momentum very gradually. Even though the stiff shafts and lighter clubs of today don’t require a caddy drag, I still think it’s helpful to control the momentum of the clubhead and get the feeling of it whipping it around your body. This is very crucial because Hogan liked to cock his wrists very early in the backswing. When his left arm reached parallel to the ground the club was at a 90-degree angle to the left arm, and from this point on it makes the clubhead feel very light. Once you get that club up into the vertical position then you have “Captured the Clubhead” as you gather all of your forces to strike the golf ball. The deep takeaway. Notice the right elbow connection as the weight in the clubhead is gathered.
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THE DEEP TAKEAWAY
An important aspect of the takeaway that is not talked about very much anymore is what I refer to as the deep takeaway. Deep is the direction away from the target line behind you. High is the position that is relative to the target line above you. Most players today try and reach very high with the club but this limits your ability to go deep. I believe in order to create leverage you want to get the club handle as far away from the ball as you can. You can do this by either taking the club high or taking it deep or a combination in between the two (Sam Snead went high and deep!). When Roger Dunn told me to reach into my right pocket with my left hand, it really gave me the sense of what a deep takeaway felt like. But, we do not want to lose the weight of the clubhead to our rear. An easy way to maintain a deep takeaway is to keep the right elbow connected to your body as you take the clubhead away to the inside using the caddy drag and the rolling the club to the vertical. We want to open our hips along with our shoulders all together in one piece as we bring the clubhead to the top of the backswing. This is a big difference between the classic swing and the modern swing. The modern swing teaches you to restrict your lower body motion in order to create immediate torque against it. And, you are taught to make a big arc, often by pushing the clubhead away from you down the target line. I do not agree with this approach anymore mostly because of the fact that a real golf swing does not 137
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mimic a perfect wheel, not to mention that I’m over 40 years old and my flexibility is not what it used to be. As we keep our right elbow connected and roll the club up into the vertical position and stretch the club back upwards and behind us we are building pressure on the inside of the right leg. To me it’s important that we brace the right leg so that we do not sway to the right as we are loading into the golf swing. Many people feel the natural tendency to slide to the right because they think they are going to get more power that they can then deliver into the ball when they slide back left into the ball. I do not believe this creates any Hogan’s A.
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extra power, but instead it makes it more difficult to consistently find the true bottom of the swing arc at impact. It is true that you may move just a touch to your right on the backswing because of the turning of the body and the weight going into the right leg but it’s a minimal amount if at all. And it is more likely to happen with the longer clubs than the short clubs. With a short iron from an 8 iron through sand wedge, I try not to move my head at all. That right leg needs to stay braced and I need to keep my head positioned in one spot. I even feel much of my weight in my left side with short irons ready to fall through impact. As I move into the mid- and long irons and my spine angle increases very slightly, there may be a little bit of movement off the ball. Again, it should be minimized. And, with a driver swing there is probably a small amount that is measurable, but this isn’t on purpose and it’s simply because of the energy of the swing that’s taking me around. This is what I call building pressure inside the “A.” If you put a capital A up to your body and the two bottom legs of the “A” are where your feet are, your head would rest on top of the letter A. We’re going to build pressure inside this letter A as we prepare to strike the golf ball. In the backswing we want to build that pressure and feel it on the inside of the braced right leg. The converse would be true on the follow-through. We are going to need to feel the left leg braced in supporting the body as we whip the clubhead through the impact zone at maximum speed. As we’re pressuring inside the “A” we want to feel our 139
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The transition should be delicate and should not disturb the clubhead.
weight ride into our right heel and it should feel very, very secure in the ground as we move our weight into our right side. We’re going to be using this pressure very much as we build ground forces through the transition bringing the club down into Slotsville and eventually through Shangri-La and impact. This force should flow around us and we should feel our weight in our left heel by the end of the swing.
THE TRANSITION
The Transition is the least talked about and perhaps the most important part of the golf swing. It’s the second phase of what I call the “Three-Part Swing.” The backswing is setting up the transition, which is going to allow 140
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us enough stored energy to hit the ball with great authority. If you don’t manage your transition properly, you’ll inevitably waste all of this stored up energy that your body has created. This is what frustrates the average golfer. Since the swing takes place in three parts (the load, stretch, and release), the transition is the beginning of the second phase, which is the stretch. In the first part of the swing, everything moves away together- the knees, hips, the shoulders- the arms turn to the right. But for the first time in the course of the swing, during the transition the lower body (specifically the left knee and hip) begins to move to the left, with the right leg holding back to open the pelvis. Meanwhile, the rest of the upper body is still Beginning my transition with a 3 iron.
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coiling and creating the fullest stretch possible between the upper and lower body. This is what I call the “Power Stretch,” which is a rubber band-like tension that is created by the left elbow being stretched as far away from the left hip as possible. At address, the left elbow is close to the left hip. During the back swing the left elbow and the left hip are gradually separating as the club is drawn back high and away from the lower body. This stretch between the left elbow and the left hip is maximized during the transition. This maximum stretch should then be held for as long as possible. As the upper body begins to unwind, the soft left arm should lie across the chest maintaining the power stretch until it is time to engage the arms just before impact. As the upper body eventually gives way to the pulling action from the lower body bringing it back around in the direction of the ball, the arms and hands will engage to deliver the clubhead into the ball when gravity begins to take over. It may be difficult at first to try and remove tension in the arms, but you will find the arms cannot resist springing into action when the time is right. As long as your head is steady and your feet don’t move, the club will find its home on the back of the ball. One of the greatest secrets of the transition is that the arms, shoulders, and upper body must remain relaxed. It’s a very common urge to feel like you want to hit the ball using the arms at the top of the swing. We want to resist allowing the arms to get involved at this point. It’s normal to want to chop down on the ball, but you should stay tension-free as the lower body builds the tension into the upper body. 142
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The wrists, arms, and shoulders are soaking up momentum during the transition, waiting to spring into action.
The upper and lower body will instinctively snap together like a rubber band if you can allow the proper sequencing to work in your favor. By keeping your upper body supple as you are going to the second phase of the swing, gravity should be your friend as you allow the weight of the clubhead to settle and drop in behind the upper body. This is what keeps you from coming over the top. The amateur’s instinct is to fully power the arms at this point and chop down on the ball like an ax. This is what causes so much grief to recreational golfers every day. If you could learn to keep your arms, shoulders, and chest relaxed as the transition occurs, gravity will do the first part of the job by helping to pull the club down into the 143
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slot as momentum is gradually increased. It doesn’t need to be forced. You don’t have to do anything physically with your wrists, hands or arms. All you have to do is simply let gravity take control of the clubhead. This is what begins to flatten the swing arc and it’s a crucial part of transition. Once the lower body begins to pull the upper body back down into the ball a tremendous amount of force will be created that must be managed by compressing the weight of the body into the ground. If you stand up, you will leak the energy that you worked so hard to store. These valuable ground forces will give you the leverage you need to strike the ball with full power. When we look at Mister Hogan’s golf swing, you can see very visibly that he lowers once on the backswing, and he lowers again as he strikes the ball. His head does not rise until the ball is long gone. The club whips around his body with his elbows connecting the club to his core at nearly a 90-degree angle to his spine. If you look at a weightlifter that is going to hoist a heavy barbell, where does the weightlifter get his leverage? It’s not from his arms. It’s not even from his back. The weightlifter uses his leverage against the ground to lift the object. This is the same way that a golfer builds power. You need to harness the ground forces underneath you and build your power from the ground up. As you begin the center of gravity should feel as if it’s gently falling to the left, and sinking into the earth as the 144
Christo Garcia I try to keep the clubhead behind me as I drop my “Atomic Elbow” into the slot.
unwinding begins to occur and then it circles around to the rear. Lee Trevino describes his weight transfer as a “slide/turn.” I’d say Hogan was close to this description. Your chest should feel like it’s pressing into the ball and not rising. Gradually as the speed increases the arms will come into play. This is all easier said than done at the beginning, but as you begin to work on these concepts they will become second nature.
THE ATOMIC ELBOW
I feel like most of the strength in my arms is used for keeping the club from flying away from the body as it rotates. We keep our elbows connected because it is the strongest 145
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position that the body can maintain with the club. Not with the arms completely outstretched, but rather, with the elbows tied into the body so we can rotate at maximum speed and have maximum control over the club. As the body compresses towards the ground, and our shoulders begin to rotate around, our right elbow is going to drive down in front of our right hip as we are rolling down into impact. Hogan was able to get his elbow way in front of his right hip. This is one of the important parts of the swing that completes the transition and gives us stored power. The right elbow, which has gradually risen up and away from the body, is going to return in front of the hip as we rotate our body towards the target. This is going to keep the clubhead from getting stuck too far behind us while giving us the essential delayed hit. This will give us a repeatable position so the clubhead can fall onto the back of the ball with maximum speed and consistency. When I really want to attack the ball, I open up my chest as far as possible on the backswing and stretch my arms up keeping the hands in front of my chest. Then, as I begin my transition I pull both of my elbows down in front of my stomach while levering my torso down onto the ball with lateral side bend. This gives me tons of lag and maximum power.
SLOTSVILLE
By keeping our upper body relaxed while building our ground forces during the transition we’re going to arrive at a position that I refer to as “Slotsville” once our elbow finds its home. Slotsville is a lot of fun because once you 146
Christo Garcia Waiting for the Bullet Train in Slotsville.
can get the club into this position regularly you will begin to feel the free ride down that Hogan talked about. The arms and the club are not being forced. They are simply coming along for the ride that gravity, ground forces, and this unwinding of the body have created. There’s very little we have to do at this point in order to strike the ball purely and have the ball fly straight and far towards its target. It’s very important to keep the right elbow connected to the body and we want to feel our left is arm pulling down across our chest as the club rolls into Shangri-La. This is going to allow the clubhead to fall behind us on a shallower plane than our backswing as we begin to un147
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wind into the ball. From the front view the body has already come around, belt buckle towards the target, and the viewer wonders, “Where’s the clubhead?” Well the clubhead is coming around too; it’s just going to be a fraction of a second behind the upper body. When you create this delayed hit or lag, you’re going to be able to whip into the golf ball with maximum force. This delayed hit is what creates the extreme whipping action and the crack that you hear when you see a fantastic golfer strike a golf ball. As the right elbow comes into Slotsville, it’s very similar to the way a shortstop would throw a sidearm or underhand ball to second base. Another example is of a person throwing a Frisbee with the underhand throwing motion palm up, or the way a black belt would throw a karate chop snapping a board in half from the side, or a boxer throwing a right hook into the body. It involves a feeling of the right side rolling under the left. I call this the “Limbo Move,” which begins to create our secondary axis tilt. It’s as if we are going to do the limbo under our own spine angle. Slotsville is very crucial because it is the very last piece of the puzzle that comes directly before we actively use the arms, release the hands, and ready the club for impact. This is the heavenly position that I refer to as Shangri-La.
SHANGRI-LA
Once the ground forces are employed and the body begins to unwind, the club falls into Slotsville. As the elbow drops, with only a flick of the wrist that I call the “Hogan 148
Christo Garcia It took a little over three years to find what I was looking for – Shangri-La.
Roll” the clubface is squared early to the swing arc, the left wrist begins to supinate, and you’re ready to strike the ball with accuracy and 100 percent of your power. This is where I have found my Shangri-La! It is this moment of Shangri-La when the clubface begins rolling over to face the ball squarely well before the clubface makes contact. Once this becomes ingrained, solid contact with the ball will become the norm. Knowing that perfect contact is coming produces “the feeling of greatness” that Moe Norman described. Mister Hogan said the golf swing is a “physical pleasure.” A lot of people call me a range rat, but if they knew what I was feeling out there they’d probably be hitting balls right next to me. 149
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I remember seeing photos of Mister Hogan where the club was riding along his right forearm coming into the ball and I was confused. With my chop swing, I was under the impression your club should be above the right forearm across the right bicep coming down. But, then I noticed Sergio Garcia also had the club riding low along his forearm with the hands rolling the club under plane. To be honest, I didn’t even know if this was possible for me to do! Then I started seeing a lot of great ball strikers finding Shangri-La – Trevino, Jordan Spieth, and JJ Henry just to name a few! They are all trappers, not choppers! I’m an athletic person. I’ve played many sports with a high 150
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Here I am adding a little thrust from my hips towards the target.
degree of skill. And, I’ve even played some decent golf for stretches here and there. But, for the first time, what I’ve discovered since studying Ben Hogan’s technique is the feeling of Shangri-La with the clubface screaming at the ball perfectly square. It’s a feeling that nothing can go wrong. It’s a feeling devoid of anxiety and only hopeful anticipation. Shangri-La is that moment just before you know something wonderful is going to happen.
HIP THRUST
One day while I was observing Hogan I saw something that I’ve seen a million times before but it didn’t click. 151
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This journey is so bizarre how one door leads to a whole new hallway with ten more doors, but this is Hogan’s hip thrust. I was watching a down-the-line view and I noticed something peculiar when I was looking at the way his right hip was working. It looks like Mister Hogan’s hips are rotating really hard, then they seem to stop rotating, then there’s a thrusting action through the ball with the right side that pulls him up and off of the letter A. It was not until I learned to clear my hips completely that this thrust was beneficial. When my hips didn’t completely clear and I tried to thrust, it was too far towards the ball rather than towards the target. Now, my thrust adds an extra power gear when I execute it properly. Roger Dunn urged me to use my martial arts background and learn to “thrust” through the ball. At the time I didn’t quite understand what he meant. To be honest most of the things he taught me would take on greater significance months and years later as my understanding of Ben Hogan’s technique increased. I have read a lot of instructors who say you should “post up” on the left leg through impact. Although I get their point, I disagree with this idea. I do believe there should be resistance in the left leg and it should straighten, but I do not believe it should straighten vertically like a post. Rather, it should straighten away from the target line at a slight angle, thereby forcing the left hip to the rear. It should also straighten inside the Hogan A. Baseball players do a great job of creating power this way. This move also clears the lower body efficiently so there is plenty of space for the arms, hands, and club. When the 152
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left leg is posted vertically it tends to create a bunched up follow-through, a hunched back, and a more vertical spine angle. This is due to the lack of space for the arms to efficiently apply the clubhead, and it stalls the rotation. One of the techniques I’m fooling around with is having the hips unwind until impact and then make the left leg drive the hip to the rear. At this same time the right side thrusts through the impact zone adding a great deal of power. Because there is plenty of space between the golfer and the ball, the head should not have to rise, if at all, through the impact zone. But, instead the spine angle is maintained as demonstrated by Mister Hogan or even lowered in some cases like Lee Trevino.
The low-left, rotation-driven release.
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THE RELEASE
The release is the essential component of the golf swing that should be a reaction to everything that has led up to this point in the swing. The club doesn’t flip over as in when the natural instinct is to chop down on the ball. What you’ll notice about Hogan is when the club comes into impact, his elbows stay tied to his body and he doesn’t lose control of the clubface. Mister Hogan maintains control of the club through the impact zone and from the down-the-line view you’ll always notice that there is this nice little L-shape between his arms and the club. This is largely because the butt of the club is still pointing towards Mister Hogan’s center of mass as he rotates through the ball. One of the elements from the Hogan swing that I find remarkable is how the club drops down onto the ball. The club comes to square and it stays square to the target line for a long time. I sometimes refer to this as “falling into the pocket.” I hear some people talking about chasing the ball down the line or hitting out to right field, but I personally disagree with this. The clubhead cannot make a straight line at any point during the golf swing and trying to keep the face square down the target line will require unnecessary manipulation. One of the things I’ve fooled around with is releasing the club around my body low and to the left. The more I’ve improved my hip action and overall rotation, the more naturally the low-left release has become and I don’t have to manipulate it anymore. The reason why that’s important is it maintains this connection with your upper 154
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left arm and your chest so you don’t lose control over the clubhead. The clubhead comes at the ball from the inside and leaves the strike going back to the inside on a square path. The ball is contacted just before it reaches the furthest point away from the golfer, which is the bottom of the arc after contact. The club should not come from the inside, hit the ball and continue flying uncontrollably out to the right. Remember, we are creating speed by whipping the club in a circular path around us. So post-impact, the club comes back to the inside. One good way to practice this move is with a standard pitch shot. Since there isn’t the need to create much leverage, the club is kept very much on the shaft plane. As you work on pitch shots, try to keep the butt end of the club pointing at your belly button and use your rotation to create power. It’s an easy way to ingrain that feeling of not letting the arms fly off the body. The full expression of energy transferred into the ball exemplified by a high extension through the finish.
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CHAPTER 9: SWING DRILLS
RIGHT ARM ONLY/BELT DRILL
As I mentioned earlier, it was when I tried to play golf with a useless left arm that I began to get a better elbow connection in my swing. One thing I still practice that I learned that day is right arm swings. I’m sure left arms swings will be good in the future, but right now I actively practice hitting balls with just my right arm. I start with chip shots around the green. I’m really focusing on just making solid contact. If you can do that you will find that you can actually hit good chips. For me the key is to maintain my right elbow connection. As I make longer swings I try to make sure my right hand is leading the clubhead through impact. This makes me try to clear my body before my arm comes through. It’s hard to do at first, but it’s a very good drill. 157
The Hogan Code Belt Drill.
Another variation on the right arm only swing is to use a belt tied around the elbow of the right arm. This guarantees the right arm will stay connected through the hit. At first it’s a little tricky to do, but as you get used to it you will find it’s not so unnatural for a good golf swing.
SLOW MOTION SWINGS
Slow Motion swings are a great way to practice what I call the Laser- the “Load Stretch Release” concept. I look at the swing as one motion with three parts. Most people look at the swing as a backswing and a downswing. I believe the first part of the swing is the Load where 158
Christo Garcia Slow Motion Drill.
everything turns away from the ball together. The second phase is the Stretch where the lower body begins to turn back to the ball maximizing the stretch between the upper and lower body, and the club head drops behind. The release occurs when the upper body relinquishes its stretch away from the lower body and the arms allow the club to hit the ball.
LEFT SIDE PULL
I find it helpful to have a friend hold my club head waist high along my toe line behind me down the line. From this position I can work on my left side pull. I want to 159
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Left Side Club Pull
feel like my hips have already turned the corner. They are leading my shoulders that are just about to turn the corner. I want to try and pull the club from my friend’s hands with my body and my hips, not with my arms. You can work club head pulls from different angles, which I’ve found to be helpful.
BASEBALL SWINGS
For some reason, practicing baseball-style swings with the club a couple of feet above the ground makes it easier for me to feel my body opening up before the club comes through the impact zone. I’m reminded of Mister Hogan’s demonstration of the lower body sequencing where he keeps his elbow tucked and he practices his lower body 160
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Baseball Swings 1-4.
opening up to the target. Then, when Mister Hogan rolls his wrists downward, suddenly the club takes a different path, diving down towards the ball ready for the crush.
THE CLAW
When I learned the Claw from Roger Dunn, I began to incorporate it by doing pitch shots first (the same goes for the Twirl). I would draw the club up halfway with the face shut the whole way. Upon reaching the top I try to Working on the claw with Roger Dunn.
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keep my arms in place and then turn my body towards the target while keeping my head steady. This reminds me of how Dustin Johnson hits the ball. I have used the Claw to play some really good golf and I still use it sometimes, mostly when I wish to hit a draw.
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Michael and Lance, two of my best students and patrons.
Christo Garcia
MySwingEvolution Patronage
Thank you very much to all of my Patrons for making this book a possibility. It would not have been possible if not for your generous support. It is my honor to share with you what I have learned over the past four years and I hope to continue on my journey of discovery. I’d like to thank my father, Dr. Fausto Garcia, for teaching me the game, and my older brother, Donald Garcia, for being the perfect model for an older brother and gentleman golfer. I’d also like to thank the rest of my family, and especially my dear wife, Bridget, for supporting me as I’ve undergone my Don Quixote-type journey. 165
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This is my father, Dr. Fausto Garcia, and my lovely wife Bridget, along with our two beautiful children, Avery and Evelyn.
I’d like to say a special thank you to Jose Hernandez for giving me unwavering support and encouragement. Without your help this book would have been next to impossible.
Here I am with Jose Hernandez at Doug Sanders 80th birthday tournament.
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Co-hosting Eddie Bravo’s podcast a few days before his rematch with Royler Gracie, with guest, Emmy-winning reporter, Amber Lyon.
And, I’d also like to give a special shout out to my main man, Eddie Bravo, whose revolutionary system of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu served as a major inspiration for the structure of My Swing Evolution. And, thank you to the the Golf Club at Terra Lago for providing such a spectacular backdrop for the principle photography. And, thank you to all of my subscribers and viewers on YouTube. You have made my golf dream become a reality. Without your constant encouragement, this would never have turned out as well as it has. Hit ‘em long, and hit ‘em straight.
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PLATINUM PATRONS Jose F. Hernandez Donald Reid Gary Gisclair Jason Vasquez Vincent Broring Todd Hibbert Min Matsumoto Ralph Caccese Mario Canal David Cash Ryan Kastern Karan Rai Sam Patrick Robert Haley Francios Canches Chris Peterich Jerry York Dr. J. Terry Aford Dr. Andrew Lee Jan Willem Helms Ramesh Srinivasan Vincent Dugan Kevin Alas Jong Suk Jin Clyde Bass
Paul Kim Thomas Sultana Steve Huerth Rob Graessle Hakan Olander Jan Hans Pieters Keiichiro Miyazaki Joshua Hay Aaron Heafield Chris Maye Eric McCall Stephan Imbach George Supol Thomas Santiago Gerald Thomas Roger Haag Christophe Tchoun You Alvin Voon Andre Sjoberg Thung Lee Troy Tinnes Bob Kaylor William Dayton Roger Haag David Cordero Santeri Huvinen Mark Lewin William Manser Richard McKinnes Bauyrzan Sarkytbayev Edward Herman Alex Simanovski Dan Petchell
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Christo Garcia is a director/producer whose television shows have been awarded both an Emmy, and a Peabody Award. Christo is also a martial artist, ballet dancer, and nationally certified personal trainer.
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Mr. Garcia has distilled 60 years of supposition concerning Ben Hogan's work into a simple and easy to follow progression. The Hogan code is a must read for the do it yourself golfer. -Zack Axelton I had never learned the proper fundamentals of golf despite playing this game for 13 years. I was without proper educational materials until I stumbled upon Christo's "My Swing Evolution" series. This series takes you through a journey to learn and master the basic fundamentals the great Ben Hogan implemented in his swing and transfers that knowledge onto us. -Anthony Beltran Christo Garcia set off on a golfing journey, one that many of us followed via his regular YouTube updates. This book is certainly his map, a path that others may follow and also enjoy the secrets of the iconic Ben Hogan. -Greg Patmore Cutting my handicap by 12 strokes within an year was a direct consequence of learning to take charge of my own development. My Swing Evolution has been a great example to follow. -Krasimir Ivanov Reading and hearing what Hogan said was never the same as understanding what he meant. Thanks for breaking “the Hogan Code" and translating his genius into game lowering lessons for all of our swing evolutions. -Don Raymundo De Monterey
