I have been studying Ben Hogan’s swing for about 20 years now and I’d have to say he’s the best ball stiker in the world.

Here’s some analysis into his iron knockdown swing, which he was very good at and Tiger Woods has copied his moves.

Ben’s takeaway is simply rotation of his triangle formed by his shoulders, arms, and hands to the right. (sorta like shaking hands with person on the right)

There’s no “visible” weight transfer whatsoever here. His belly or the stomach, also turns along with his triangle.

This is probably the most important takeaway you can learn from Ben.

To put it simply:

Rotate your triangle and belly together to the right from a fixed single axis.

At top of Ben Hogan’s swing, you can tell that he’s almost doing a “reverse-pivot” by traditional teachers’ standards. In my opinion, he’s proving to you that there’s no need for a visual weight transfer to the right side. Hey, this picture proves that point.

This might be why there’s so much buzz with the tilt and stack swing when in reality, they are all derivatives of Ben Hogan’s swing.

On the downswing, you can notice Ben’s head has “dipped” 2-3 inches compared to position at address and top of his swing. This proves that the “dip” is actually a necessary natural action to a golfer’s swing provided the golfer doesn’t dip too much. Look at every top player in the world, they “dip” their head a little because it’s human nature.

Do note the fact that Ben’s lower body has aggressivly cleared to his left side while his spine tilt is actually a little straighter, meaning his upper body “moves” toward the target.

This move is inevitable to Ben’s swing in order to hit the ball square, you need to feel like you are on “top” of the ball on the way down in order to extend your arms correctly through impact.

After impact, notice how straight both of Ben’s arms are and the club dissecting between the two arms. This is something Ben is really good at.

At finish, notice how straight Ben’s lower body is and his upper body is pretty straight too. What impresses is how much his whole body is stretched on his finish while he remains in perfect balance with no sign of extra force exertion.

Bloody Ben Hogan, he’s the greatest golfer with the greatest swing ever. Even Tiger has great swing but won’t come close anywhere near Ben Hogan in my opinion.

Now, this is way back in the 50-60s when they had no cameras or any type of visual feedback for the pro golfers. How amazing is his swing when you think of that?

Very amazing indeed that Tiger’s still trying to copy Ben’s moves.

Even after 50 years, every tour pro including Tiger is trying to copy Ben Hogan’s moves, not Jack Nicklauses, not Arnold Palmer, but Ben and only Ben Hogan.  That my friend, IS amazing.

Here’s Ben Hogan’s Iron Knockdown Swing in action:

(Mind you, Ben Hogan was the first master of these knockdown shots, not Tiger. Tiger only copied his moves.)

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Zach Johnson’s swing reminds me of Ben Hogan’s swing.  Here’s why:

At takeaway, note how still Zach’s head is.

At top of the swing, Zach’s head is still in the same position.  A lot of golf teachers teach you to transfer weight to the right but Ben Hogan didn’t do that.  (Well he did without moving his head to the right)

At halfway down, Zach actually moves forward with his head and his body, something that Ben Hogan did to prevent him from hitting his bad hook.

At impact, Zach looks pretty good with his left arm and club forming a straight line.

After impact, take a look at how well Zach extends both his arms, and also note that his wrists are straight as hell, no angles anywhere.  This is the most awesome extension I’ve seen, probably slightly better than Tiger’s.

Note how Zach’s arms are extended even at finish, this is something sorta like what Ben Hogan did, although Zach does a little more extension with his left arm than needed.

Zach Johnson shows you how to extend your arms after impact.

Why is this important?

Well, the more you extend and if you extend correctly through impact, you are thereby creating a bigger arc and more room for your clubhead to stay square to the target.  Now if you have bigger arc than anyone else you play with, you are more likely to hit your shots very very straight.

Increase chances of hitting the ball straight, hit more greens, and you score less.

Here’s Zach Johnson’s swing in slow-motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

One of the most important part of the golf swing is your takeaway and how you come into the ball through impact.

Unless you have a super-strong or super-weak grip, you will want to rotate your arms, hands, and the clubface so that the clubface points away from your body and shown here. (The blade of your clubface should be pointing straight up at the sky)

Why is this so important?

The correct takeaway allows the golfer to come into the ball without manipulating the hands. It also lets the golfer to unleash the rotated power.

Think of it this way.

Golf is not a game of vertical or horizontal, it’s a game of rotating naturally around your body.

In order for you to swing the club, you must turn your body sorta like you are shaking hands with the person on the right. Now, you wouldn’t shake hands with the back of your hand facing up or down, would ya?

The second most important position in golf is probably right after impact. You want to feel as though the triangle formed by your shoulders, arms, hands and the club are one, pounding into the center of the golf ball.

Here, I am only hitting a 30 yard pitch shot. Still, you can see that I’ve extended my whole upper body.

This impact position will only be possible to achieve if you have a correct takeaway.

It’s feels almost like a 2-handed basketball pass. But when you do it right, you will feel that both of your arms and hands are hitting the ball with “equal” force.

Try the takeaway and the impact position the next time you are on the range, you will hit the ball more consistently.

Well, I spent 3 hours watching Tiger today on TV.  Although he doesn’t seem 100% yet due to his knee surgery, he did okay today by shooting 1-over.  Phil Mickelson shot an even par while playing with Tiger.

My Prediction This Week?

Tiger won’t win the U.S. Open because he just got back from his knee surgery.  Man, talk about getting back too soon I think…

Phil?  Nah, Phil’s not gonna win it either.

I think it’s either going to be someone who’s unknown or Stuart Appleby might win it at this point.

Oh yeah, btw, I found my swing today.  I am swinging like Tiger and Ben Hogan!

Today swing keys:

1. Really feel the triangle on the backswing.  Make sure to rotate in-plane.

2. On the downswing, really feel like the both left and right arm form a triangle and hit the ball with the same force, sorta like basketball 2-handed pass.  I did this and hit the ball like super straight and hit it a mile too.

3. Same thing with short pitch shots.  Really feel the plane, rotate, then just swing through with arms extended.

J. B. Holmes is another player who recently appeared on the PGA Tour with a power swing.

Continue reading ‘J. B. Holmes Iron Swing Analysis’