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I don’t usually watch the videos I do once I finish and send them off to be processed and eventually posted, but I watched this one over again and I have to say that the information here is new and different and very cool. In a rant against Tiger Woods and Sean Foley a couple of weeks ago Brandel Chamblee made the argument that flat swingers (such as Hogan) had to practice more (where he came up with that idea is anyone’s guess) and that he couldn’t understand why more people didn’t try to emulate Nicklaus’s swing over Hogan’s. I think the fact that Hogan was of such normal (even on the small side) stature and utilized such a powerful, fluid athletic motion, combined with the fact that even Nicklaus (along with most everyone else) recognizes Hogan as the preeminent ball striker of all time make the study of his swing a national pastime among players and teachers alike. I will continue to insist that if Hogan hadn’t been hit by that bus he would have set records that Nicklaus would never have approached.
If you have watched any of the lesson videos (online or face to face) you must have noticed by now that two swing issues that crop up over and over are the tendencies to steepen the shaft in transition and to drive the right leg toward the ball, pushing the hips “out of the box”. The focus here is on Hogan’s leg movement, and I primarily use a swing filmed at an odd camera angle to show a different view of his leg and footwork in transition. And corollary to that movement is the focus on the openness of the clubface in the start of the downswing, which I have already found has helped more than a few chronic shaft steepeners to actually shallow the thing instead. Finally, I look at his hand action from the open position on the approach to the bowed left wrist at impact and his full release in the follow through, items that Johnny Miller should study before he makes videos claiming that Hogan cut the ball curling his left wrist “under”, in the opposite direction of what he actually did (whoops-too late). This is pretty neat stuff and I think you will enjoy it.
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