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Let me quote from Hardy’s book: “Instead of pushing that right elbow in front of his (Hogan’s) hip, almost simultaneously with his two-move that we’ve discussed, he turned his left forearm counterclockwise at the start of his downswing. This move caused his right forearm to drop and rotate so that the right elbow now stayed up and behind him and the hands dropped very close to the right hip”. This contention of Hardy’s is proven untrue by every video ever shot of Hogan’s swing. The “move I mentioned at the top” is the exact opposite of what Hardy just described. If Hardy were correct Hogan’s hands and the butt end of the club would move downward, his right forearm would tip to more horizontal, his shaft would steepen, and when his left arm returned to parallel to the ground in the downswing it would be more across his chest than when it passed that same point in the backswing. Hogan’s elbow actually moved inward toward the ball, his right forearm tipped to more vertical, his hands moved outward, the shaft flattened, his upper right arm drove in front of his ribcage, and when his left arm passed parallel to the ground in the downswing it was pointing more down the target line than when it passed that point in the backswing. All this happened in the 30’s, the 40’s, the 50’s, the 60’s, etc. You can’t show me a Hogan swing in motion where his arm does not move the same way. And that goes for any and every era. Hardy is wrong, period. I have no idea how he got away with selling this stuff to the public, but I’ll hand it to him: he is a great salesman. That’s not saying that he hasn’t helped some good players play better. A lot of people think he’s a great instructor. My point is not that he is not a good teacher. My beef with him is on this one particular technique oriented aspect. It just so happens that he bases his whole “one plane” deal around this false read on what he thought Hogan did. I admire Hogan the man more than anyone in the game, and I think his swing is of the highest level ever achieved. I don’t like seeing it referenced so incorrectly. What Hardy is describing obviously works for some players: that point I am not debating. But Hogan never did what Hardy says he did.
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