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Hogan won 30 tournaments in the years 1946, 47, and 48 (and won two majors in 48), before the bus hit him in early 49. It is my belief that he had his game and his swing pretty much grooved, and that had he not had the accident his record in the decade of the 50’s and into the 60’s would have made him the greatest player of all time. My bet is that Hogan would have won upwards of 25 majors and over 100 Tour events. He was always the hardest worker amongst all the great players, and he would have had no physical limitations to the amount of tournaments he played in. As it was, he barely played at all after the accident and won his last major in 1953.
This swing is from a newsreel that was shown in movie theaters shot at Augusta National in either 1947 or 48. This is Hogan at his peak. He was extremely long for his size, but he had learned to control his tendency to hook the ball every now and then and preferred a straight ball or a slight fade, which he was able to accomplish by cupping the left wrist at the top and keeping the face open longer into the downswing. There are a bunch of cool things to look at in this beautifully shot slow motion swing, and as I watching it again I figured I would just do a video. Enjoy.
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