Ben Hogan’s imprints remain all over the golf world – especially the world of golf swings.
Except over the years, one of Ben Hogan’s tips has been thoroughly cast by the wayside, which is interesting because Hogan insisted on this tip, and it was actually pretty mainstream advice at the time.
Here’s why:
What was Hogan’s tip?
Hogan insisted on multiple occasions that the ball position shouldn’t change based on what club you hit. It should always remain in the same spot: between the middle and your left heel. Put your driver there, and put your iron there.
Many coaches nowadays teach something different. They say that the ball should be played in the middle of the stance with your shorter irons and move progressively further forward until it reaches the inside of your left heel, which is where you play your driver.
So what’s going on?
Hogan’s confusing tip, explained
Golf Digest Top 50 Teacher Brian Manzella shared some interesting comments on this Hogan tip a few weeks ago, so I phoned him to learn more. Basically, there are a few things going on.
1. Stance changes
Hogan said he didn’t change his ball position based on the club, but that golfers should change their stance depending on the club. He would open his stance more on shorter clubs and close it more on longer clubs. He also made his stance narrower with shorter clubs than longer clubs.
Hogan changing his stance meant he was actually changing his ball position, whether he realised it or not, as Manzella explains:
“He was 100 percent tricking himself,” Manzella says. “He’s widening his stance and aiming left, which in effect is putting the ball position further back. If I get 90 degrees to where he’s actually hitting it, his ball position would be pretty much like Tiger and Rory McIlroy.”
**This is an updated corrected version**
Lots of folks over the years have tried to make some modern D-Plane sense out of the famous ball position chart in Ben Hogan's classic 5 Lessons – The Modern Fundamentals of Golf . I had a free 5 hours to really help the golf community… pic.twitter.com/hMrsVhcwiz
You may have asked yourself why Hogan would be aiming so far left with his short iron shots, yet still hit them straight.
Well, the answer has to do with something called D-plane, which is complicated but here are the most basic basics:
Your golf swing is an arc
The club goes out to the right then curves back to the left
The further the ball is back in your stance, the more you hit it with a swing that’s moving out to the right
The further forward the ball is in your stance, the more you hit it with a swing that’s moving in to the left
On short irons, when Hogan was hitting more down on the ball, he would compensate for swinging more right by aiming more to the left.
On longer clubs, when Hogan was hitting less down on the ball, he would compensate for swinging more left by aiming more to the right.
“They didn’t understand D-plane at the time, but they figured it out,” Manzella says. “The more down on the ball you’re hitting, the more rightward the path, so then you’re going to have to aim further left the shorter the club. They didn’t actually think they were aiming left, but in fact, they were aiming for the left.”
TLDR: What you need to know
Hogan’s tip was basically a more complicated way of doing the same thing. It’s why coaches, instead of making various adjustments to your stance width, suggest just playing the ball a little further back with your irons and further forward with your driver.
