Bravo
Well-Known Member
- Aug 27, 2004
- 5,822
- 15
Most of the oldtimers here know what a big fan I am of Ben Hogan's book/DVD...a couple of years ago, it lead me to my lowest handicap ever.
I have strayed away from the very innate details of Hogan's teachings and my scores have crept upward. My index is 9.2 but I haven't had a score below 84 all winter long... So I dragged the book and DVD out again and started going through the minutae of the fundamentals.
I went back to the grip. As those of you who have read the book know, this section alone is about 15-17 pages long...just on how to hold the club..
One of the things he advocated was the 'short thumb' which was a slight 'squenching' of the right thumb upward toward the rest of the hand rather than having the thumb extend downward as it would naturally do. When I re-read the book, I noticed I had forgotten this extremely small detail in the grip and actually had my right thumb over to the left about half an inch. So I decided to scootch it back right half an inch and squench it up just a bit...
Magic.
Hitting it much straighter and much longer. All clubs are improved. Interestingly, this one tiny change is helping me keep from getting laid off at the top. Making a much better swing plane and (not surprisingly) generating more juice.
Shot an 80 on Friday and an 81 this morning......it is no wonder he was anal about this grip stuff. He and Harvey Penick agree that the grip and set-up and incredibly important. If you have both correct, the variables in your entire swing can be compensated for in a big way...
I have strayed away from the very innate details of Hogan's teachings and my scores have crept upward. My index is 9.2 but I haven't had a score below 84 all winter long... So I dragged the book and DVD out again and started going through the minutae of the fundamentals.
I went back to the grip. As those of you who have read the book know, this section alone is about 15-17 pages long...just on how to hold the club..
One of the things he advocated was the 'short thumb' which was a slight 'squenching' of the right thumb upward toward the rest of the hand rather than having the thumb extend downward as it would naturally do. When I re-read the book, I noticed I had forgotten this extremely small detail in the grip and actually had my right thumb over to the left about half an inch. So I decided to scootch it back right half an inch and squench it up just a bit...
Magic.
Hitting it much straighter and much longer. All clubs are improved. Interestingly, this one tiny change is helping me keep from getting laid off at the top. Making a much better swing plane and (not surprisingly) generating more juice.
Shot an 80 on Friday and an 81 this morning......it is no wonder he was anal about this grip stuff. He and Harvey Penick agree that the grip and set-up and incredibly important. If you have both correct, the variables in your entire swing can be compensated for in a big way...