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WOW! I commented on pt 1 this is moe and mind blown. I hope this guy is a pro making millions playing or teaching bc he SHOULD BE. I will pay good money to speak to this man no joke
This is Moe Norman.......tiger said only 2 people truly owned their swing: Hogan and Norman. This video is gold......unbridled enthusiasm is there BECAUSE he knows the secret!
When I retired in 2007 at age 55 I’d been a weekend hacker for 23 years and decided to make trying to play golf like a pro my new ‘job’ and to make that easy financially I took a min. wage, post retirement job as a starter/ranger at a nine-hole par 35 public course called Broad Run Golf built in the late 1970s as a golf academy with a huge driving range, short game practice area and a very challenging course I was able to use as much as I wanted for free! Four years earlier I’d bought a house with an artificial turf green and started collecting thrift store putters, wedges and golf instruction books. One of them I had in my collection but hadn’t ever seriously read was my engineer fathers 1960s first edition paperback copy of Hogan’s Five Lessons and I decided to to use it start over and decided to do it with a set of circa 1979 Wilson Reflex ‘slot’ irons I’d found at a thrift store and re-gripped. The thing I found very helpful were the cutaway drawings in the book which shows which muscles in Hogan’s body were tensed at address and during the swing. The idea of needing counter tension in the forearms to control the club face was illustrated by two hands wringing a towel and I struggled in vain to get that feel - because that analogy was WRONG! The feeling need in the forearms isn’t wringing the hands opposite directions it is the feeling you get if try to bow a stick straight down U to the point it snaps \ / in half. I realize this one day when out playing a solo practice round when out of frustration over poor ball striking I put my 7 iron in just my lead left hand and extended in front of me letting it rotated my left arm in to maxed out palm-up supination and then placed my right hand on top, totally relaxed, which required maxing out the pronation in my trail right forearm and hand. It was the first time I was COMFORTABLY able to get my right hand in a correct Vardon grip (because I have short fingers) and when I lowered the club down to address my arms and hands felt like they were welded together because as the club was lowered both forearms counter-rotated against each other other, the left one rotated clock-wise, the right one counter-clockwise. The tension I felt in the arms was like twisting a three-strand hemp rope. I realized what the way I gripped and lowered the club had done was start both forearms MAXED OUT forearm rotation of radius bone around ulna and when lowering they both rotated to the exact MIDDLE of their ranges of motion and in the process of lowering and rotating STRETCHED the muscles, tendons and ligaments in forearms and the fingers the forearms control. I realized the illustrations in Hogan’s book were not showing CONTRACTION of muscles but rater BULGING FROM STRETCHING! What I had been doing is gripping tighter with my fingers in the grip to try to feel tension in my forearms, but with my new grip / lower routine I realized just by causing the forearms to counter-rotate and stretch my forearm muscles it was increasing pressure of trail hand pad on lead thumb and causing my fingers to curl tighter on the grip - without any contraction. The difference in my swing mechanics and ball striking was astounding. The counter torque in the arms force my trail wrist into extension and force the elbow down and arm into external rotation automatically the same way with every swing. The way the club head swung back, turned over and whipped up around the hands made it feel like it was in a groove because of the way the trail arm folded and its ‘waiter holding a tray’ leverage supported it. I got the same ‘in the groove’ feeling for the first time and because the counter-torque in the forearms made my arms/ shoulders/hands feel like a welded steel triangle there was no “give” and loss of energy at impact. The ball compressed on the face in a way I’d never experienced before and with less apparent effort my balls started flying 30% further and much higher due to the spin loft I was putting on them. The sound of impact / release was a high pitched ‘click’ instead of the lower pitched ‘thud’ I had been hearing. With more experimentation with Hogan’s waggle using my new grip forward then lower technique I realize that having the hands together in the Vardon grip correctly with trail hand pad AND having both forearms in the middle of their range of motion with STRETCHING counter-rotation made it very easy to waggle the club as Hogan did freely. By using only the waggle action with my re-torqued arms I discovered I could hit dead straight high lofted chip shots very consistently because my hands would lock up and stop the face square to target just as it reached the ball. I realized that locked squared action only happened if ‘waggled down’ until the ulnar deviation in my wrists was maxed out. That’s when I did screen capture of videos of Hogan swinging so I could play them back one frame at a time and what I realized was that Hogan also let the club force pull his hands down into ulnar deviation locking them up with bowing flexion/supination in lead wrist and some retained extension in trail wrist to prevent the rotation of the club toe in the waggle from snapping the face shut through impact. I realized this by starting to hit a lot of pulls and snap hooks in the process of discovering that, exactly like Hogan was known to swing. At age 72 I still use that grip/rotated down technique to counter-torque my arms at address and snap both hands down into maxed out ulnar deviation BEFORE impact with the ball, with flexion in front wrist and extension in trail to prevent the snap hooks and have not lost any distance in my shots and hit my irons with much more compression and spin loft than anyone I play with and use it to shape shots with as much as 20+ yards if fade and draw when needed to land balls on / or \ angled greens.
I came across these videos shortly after they were posted and they inspired me at age 55 to start from scratch with my father’s first edition paperback edition of Five Lessons and a set of 1979 Wilson Reflex irons with unforgiving very small heads which revealed every swing flaw and finding and reading Abe Mitchell’s 1933 book “Down To Scratch” on PDF which Elk mentioned. The two of you made an entertaining and informative team with Elk a fount of wisdom from the ages and Mike proving anyone willing to take the time to practice can learn to swing like pro, albeit probably not scoring as well with 10,000 people watching and show a person doesn’t need a PGA certification to understand how the golf swing works and teach it to and inspire others to learn by reading books and trying what they suggest.
Hate to tell you a bit, you're wrong. I know you're confident in your swing and you have a method. But you do not look like benhogan when you swing. Sorry dude
When I worked my way through Hogan’s Five Lessons book with an old blade 7 iron I realized the secret to correct hinging of the trail arm is the proper use of the Vardon grip which will literally force the trail arm to fold elbow down which is what give it the leverage to control the force generated by the club head. That’s easily seen by swinging the club in one hand: you can get a lot of power swing it with just the lead arm but not much control - the direction of the toe tends to steer and control swing plane like the rudder of a ship as it swings because the arm rotates and pronates/supinates so freely at the shoulder joint. The folding down of the trail arm prevents pronation but only if grip is established with the ulna and radius of both forearms in the middle of their 180° range of pronation / supination. I discovered this myself one day out by rotating the club as far forward in front of me with just my lead hand forcing the elbow done and into my body and lead arm into external rotation maxing out the travel of my wrist and elbow joint of the lead arm THEN placing my trail hand on top in the Vardon grip. It was the first time in my life I felt comfortable getting my trail hand thumb pad up over the lead thumb. When I bent over and the club swung down straighten my arms my forearms twisted inward against each other not in an opposite “wringing towel” action as illustrated in Hogan’s book. The illustrator got that wrong! The counter rotating in my forearm made them feel like twisted steel cables and I started hitting shots 20 yards further and much straighter because it took all the slack out of arm triangle and grip and FORCED my trail arm down properly in the backswing so it reconnected properly in the downswing. Analyzing what happened I realized that by starting maxed out forward in external rotating of the lead arm then adding trail hand back down at address both forearms wound up in the middle of their range of supination / pronation and that was the key to the trail and lead arms folding action being a mirror image in the back swing and finish. The key was the overlap of the thumbs that allows the wrists to turn over like a hinge pin on gate controlling the path of the hands and club head and keeping the force from pulling hands further away from the body and outside the ball like a lead arm only swing of the club will do. I realized I had been using the Vardon grip incorrectly because I grounded club then gripped it. My trail hand had been too low and the separation made the butt end of the club and hands swing in an arc pulled away from body as it turned over. I realized that’s why I had been slicing the ball - club head moving outside center on the ball then being reflexively steered back down the target line setting up pull-slice. I with my new grip technique I started hitting draws and miss hitting with snap hooks because of the way my wrists seemed to lock up just before turning over if I didn’t lift my back foot at the right time. Then I rediscovered Count Yogi’s odd swing in George Peper’s book “The Secret of Golf” and got a new insight into Hogan’s waggle action and squaring the face before impact with radial-ulnar deviation.
An alignment trick I picked up from watching Count Yogi videos was to swing and hold my finish extension and judge the flight of the ball (starting path). It very similar to sighing a rifle if your swing is consistent. Just pay attention to where the club is pointing at extension and how it relates to the flight of the ball.
Mike: I know I'm late to the game here but if you see this could you comment on the if there is any utility in the knuckle of the forefinger and palm on the interior of the right hand? When I wrap my right hand around the club, the club sits in the notch between this knuckle and the middle finger knuckle and provides some stability at the top. Not sure where I picked this up but it feels right.
Certainly, you would appreciate this. -- Hogan "built in" your "resist" concept via the Lead Foot Open a "Quarter to Half Turn" @ Swing Address (I think he experimented with the degree of angle.) -- Given this, what you say -- in your own words -- is true. -- Of course, I too am a Hogan Man. -- "No One" Ever Better" and the only man I know in golf who shared "all he knew" without necessarily providing the anatomical facts to support his point of view. -- Nevertheless, the Five Lessons will "forever" remain within the Annals of Golf. -- Can't thank Hogan enough for the Master-Piece. -- DrDom
miss this guy where the fuk he go? sevam was onto something very special, before the good good s ,could of been a youtube goldmine for him ,but he disappeared
Yeah bumping the hips like that ain't the most efficient way to move laterally. Don't believe me? Watch long drivers... 0 do it like that. You lose stored power in your legs!
An oldie but goodie. I went down the same rabbit hole of following Hogan’s Five Lessons and came to many of the same conclusions. The reflexive brain learns to react to the wide, low sweeping backswing with bracing on the inside of the back foot (leverage) and counter fall (shifting mass). The rewards for learning to stay in balance while doing that is the club head mass reacting by whipping up and forward pulling lead arm and shoulders around hips to the top EFFORTLESSLY as if the hand are tied to and lifted by a hot air ballon. Balance in the backswing and downswing is accomplished like a figure skater in a scratch spin by keeping the club head mass below the hands and as close as possible to the center of rotation. In the downswing keeping the club head mass in close allows the explosive firing of the hips which were torqued against the squared and spike embedded back foot. Balance through impact is maintained via the sitting on invisible stool dynamic tension in the legs and “ass ballast” nothing is seen to move back or towards the ball but without those things the golfer would be pulled on their toes, causing club head to move outside the line setting up an inside-out pull or pull-slice depending on whether or not the reflexive brain senses the loss of balance and tries to save the shot by steering the face back square to target. Hogan’s waggle action wasn’t just a pre-shot tension reliever. When viewed frame by frame a very distinct snapping down of the wrists from maxed out radial deviation to maxed out ulnar deviation is seen. That’s the same biomechanics used when cracking the tip of a bull whip past the sound barrier and why Hogan (and Moe Norman who did something similar ) were such powerful ball strikers. The secret of angling the front foot 22° open is revealed in the finish. The tight inside path makes the club head fly out at that angle through impact and it will if it snaps off at impact (which it has for me a few times). Balance in the finish Hogan style swing is accomplished by allowing the club force to pull the trail arm straight to absorb the force and transmit it through body to ground and “counter falling” upper body mass backwards opposite the direction the foot is pointing with the club force “catching” it and pulling the body upright in the finish not unlike how the wires on a carrier deck snag and arrest a landing jet.
Hey Bret and Beau, this is another way of seeing the big picture. Move the belly button (represents the COG) by leveraging the ground with the feet and legs; that is the start of the swing. No great athletic motion in any sport starts with a top down approach. This is how the body was designed to work safely. Let your natural rhythm come from the ground up. Keep you spine above the hips safe by letting it go for the ride early in the downswing. Thanks Mike as always for you timeless truths.
well ole mike is like ayres. he has talked to a lot of people, been to a lot of places, done a lot of wondering, sitting around contemplating my navel. big damn deal. why not tell us golfers how to swing a club. not about all the dreams and experiences of a golfer that has never done anything. shit!
Apperently Hogan told Mo the secret and Mo said "its like nothing you've ever heard before". Mo was sworn to secrecy and like Hogan took it to the grave!
I think he would have elaborated more... rumors he did tell Schlee, Knudson, Venturi etc. But later in life he got Alzheimers and it all went down the drain.
