CE Golf

Your First Instincts Are Wrong!

On the first page of the Introduction to Ben Hogan's book "Power Golf", Hogan writes

...when you grip a golf club to take your first swing at a golf ball every natural instinct you employ to accomplish that objective is wrong, absolutely wrong.

Reverse every natural instinct you have and do just the opposite of what you are inclined to do and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing.

I believe that the first instinct to which Hogan refers is the natural tendency of a new golfer to swing primarily with the arms, which tends to result in a more upright swing plane. With an upright swing it is impossible to swing without manipulation, as Hogan did.

Of course, that doesn't mean one can't play very well with an upright swing, it just means that a golfer will never hit as well with an upright swing as did Hogan!

Note that I don't call Hogan's swing flat, although it is by any measure. The reason I don't like to use the word flat is that if a golfer tries to intentionally swing flat, they will inevitably do it incorrectly.

For my Ben Hogan Golf Swing Instruction students: The further along you are with your practice, the better you'll understand the fundamentals—to truly understand a concept, you have to be able to do it to a reasonable degree. Remember, your initial swing was, to some significant degree, a swing in which the arms and body were conflicting objects in motion and the Hogan swing is a swing in which the club, arms, and body all work cohesively to provide a powerful, repeatable, and most importantly, highly accurate golf swing.

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Casey Eberting Golf Instruction