Secret in the Dirt: Ben Hogan Move - Down The Line

[tiger2995]

Don't think Mr Hogan hit it any further than 165 with a 6......so who cares as long as you knock the pin out? This fella has a decent. compact and repeatable swing, anyone want to criticise it who isn't on tour themselves!

[thetruthaboutgolf]

bro.... a 6 iron 165.  You are a serious short knocker ! A steep short knocker !

[derekgbraun]

Il pay you 1000 bucks an hour for lessons.

[Hexznutznig]

The secret is right in your face guys, go and practice, the rest is just show.

[eto121212]

not even good

[djmac100]

Mike,

You obviously hit the ball well, but great ballstrikers don't peg balls up on tall grass and blast away into the ocean. Great ballstrikers hit to targets. There are clips here on Youtube of Hogan practising with his caddy shagging balls (and he hardly has to move). Why don't you get that fool behind the camera to shag balls for you instead of uttering complete nonsense.

[FairwayJack]

So you are pushing the right hand down the line post impact ??

[tigercity72]

good job you didn't hit a 'grass cutter' with your dog out in front.. as good as you are it could happen! I find the times I've played best, I wasn't even thinking about anything & that is the zone.. a simple repetitive swing certainly helps you get in the zone more often..

[TheJimmyNewc]

Sevam, I made the comment about rhythm and tempo on the dirters website.

My mind is the conductor and my body is the orchestra. Please comment.

[needforspeedv9]

fukin douchebag how dare you put a video comparing yourself to hogan.

[sevam1]

Yep. I keep that feeling of the ball of the foot turning clockwise into the ground right through transition even on shorter shots.

[yummpyummp]

@sevam1 you have the most solid strong swing i think ive seen!!

i wish you could critique my swing im workin on

[Kingdome007]

So your still twisting your right heel clockwise in the ground SEVAM and would you do that in a 50 to 30 yard shot

[momo671]

Thats a nice swing. Did hogan really play the ball so far from his stance? Looks like you're reaching for the ball; but hey, as long as you can hit it straight, any swing will do. =]

[sulakleo]

pretty big target your aiming at the OCEAN

[sevam1]

@sulakleo Yes it is very, very big.

I know when I miss it that I have really hit a bad one ;)

[Skateb0ardS]

Does anybody pick the balls up afterwards? I don't think that's too good for the environment.

[sevam1]

Yep. The balls all originally came out of that lake. There is a golf course down the way and the guy filming scuba dives. That's how he wound up with all those balls in the first place. He also goes out and fetches the ones we hit back in.

[Kingdome007]

@sevam1 SO your still twisting your right leg or I should say your right heel clock wise in the ground.

[swingtrade2]

5 fundementals: hogan advocated left thumb on top of shaft. i would like to see one tour player in such a position.

look at els, snead, woods, nicklaus, and anyother great striker - thumb at 1pm. this is a HUGE deal because thumb on top promotes a palm facing outside the target line at address. fought this for years until i moved thumb. hogans book set me back. its why hogan held the driver handle pointing at him rather then forward- allowed left palm to face straight back.

[klxracer92]

are you talking about the thumb being bent against the shaft/grip , rather then being flat on the shaft/grip, becuase me and my friend have been trying both and with the bent thumb you get so much more control, i have studied hogans book for couple years now.

[georgek817]

what did you say about holding the club hard?

[sevam1]

I squeeze the golf club very firmly. I can hit it further if I hold it with less grip pressure but the dispersion pattern gets loose. I like to hit it far just like anyone else, but there is a balance and a practical limit to everything and I am unsatisfied with a loose dispersion pattern. After all, golf is a target game.

[georgek817]

yea i agree... how long have you been golfing... what do you play off of?

[secrettogolf]

A great tip for keeping grip pressure medium to light add distance and keep control is to cement the right(rear) wrist.Keep that wrist tight you gain control and do not affect the hands very much.also adds distance.

[SimpleAz]

Where do you live.. what a beautiful view.

[MrCapital2010]

My bad, George Knudson.

[sevam1]

Reading George Knudson's book The Natural Golf swing is what turned me onto studying Ben Hogan. I admire George Knudson, his swing and his ideas a great deal.

[MrCapital2010]

What are your thoughts on Gary Knudson?

[Goynes42]

I can't believe the kind of comments people write on here. It's not SUPPOSED to look like Hogan. The style of swing is up to the individual swinging the club. The fundamentals remain the same, however, and this guy has them down as well as anyone.

Like emncaity said, listen to the sound at impact. That's a purely struck ball, time after time. Not many people in this world can make a golf shot sound like that.

Sevam1, keep up the good work. Your work is inspiring.

[kyleroar]

Your swing does have hogan characteristics in it, but look at shots of you at and just past impact. Your shaft is much steeper than hogans and thus you have a lot more hand action in the impact area than he does.

[sevam1]

Yes. That is a fair comment.

How I load into the right leg and how I transition and leave the right leg are what I took from Hogan. How I land on the left leg and how I release the club is what I learned from Moe. Those two actions are matched with one another. Keep sitting and let the chin release through impact and the club heads to the sky and turns over. Stand up through the ball and swing into your chin and the clubhead heads left.

[cmarusiak89]

love the swing, really simple. what is your handicap?

[irltractor]

Great swing. I like the simplicity of your golf swing. Your seem to get a very consistent strike with this swing. All other things being equal simpler is better.

[jdogma2003]

Great videos, love the swing, hate the haters. I've noticed that the negative comments all come from users who have no videos of their own swings posted. Yet they can critique someone else's swing. Don't tell me what I'm doing wrong, show me, or shut up. Any fool can pretend to know what he is doing, the world is full of them, prove post a video of your swing or get off the site, and lie in your own negativity.

[emncaity]

"I've noticed that the negative comments all come from users who have no videos of their own swings posted."

You got that right.

I come back here frequently just for the sound of the shots. Seriously.

[VanillaRice24]

Seriously. I've been playing golf for 8 years now and I can only get that sound once every 18 holes if my condition is on point. Hey Sevam1, are your clubs cavity back? I'm assuming you're using blades. I'm just curious because I hit with cavity back clubs and although it goes straight, it seems that that's all I can do (but I need the forgiveness.)

[emncaity]

For what it's worth, I was a plus-2 at one time and always played forged until I got the cavities I'm hitting now (Wilson Deep Red II, got 'em back when Paddy was playing them), and I think it was a huge mistake. Just like with the woods, I practically have to mishit them to get any big shape to them either way. Everything wants to straighten out.

[hogansquest]

Question for you mike

do you feel you shift your weight via a small hip slide or via foot action as GK said to start your swing?

[sevam1]

I don't really throw a lot of weight around. I am moving the middle leveraged against the ground, but I am not trying to push off and sort of resisting that urge so to speak. Knudson used the transfer of mass to manage the sequential motion. Shift to load and then shift back to unload. I differ from this in that my thought is to let the body move the feet. The weight shifts, but the shift does not lead an govern my motion. My shift is felt throughthe ball.

[sevam1]

Of course they are a reaction. A reaction of torque against the ground. There is a difference, however, between a motion which produces a linear shear with the ground vs. a rotational shear producing motion. The engine is the pivot and is leveraged against the ground. You feel it in the feet and it is anchored by the feet. It is executed through the movement of the middle of the body back to the target. Utilizing your relationship with the ground to execute this motion is what I am on about.

[1tontomato]

I thought Hogan practiced on wet ice with high heels, wow am I off the mark.

[thechessstick]

Of course the engine is not the feet, Dora. But the only place the body is touching the ground or anythings else on which it can anchor is the feet. The body pivots on the right foot and then the left. And to maintain a stationary head up until impact the right knee must be still while the pelvis inclines while on the forward swing the right knee moves toward the target while the pelvis "un-reclines". Cheers....

[daveincl]

I look forward to your next video. Your vid "the move" explains the lower body in a way I had never heard before and makes total sense when applied.  This move finally taught me how to move into the left side vs. hanging back. I would like to hear your thoughts on the club face at different points of the swing. Some suggest it is closed or square to swing path. Thanks

[sevam1]

I'd love to see your list and also I don't dole out the minus signs. Other users do.

I believe in open forums and so I don't delete people's comments unless they contain profanity so just keep it clean and you are free to air your critique and commentary here.

[sevam1]

Keep going.

[sevam1]

Nope.

I believe that I am using the same engine to motivate the swing and also tapping into the same ground based rotational shear forces that Hogan tapped into.

I'm not talking about geometry. I'm talking about anchors and motivators.

[rdub1050]

pretty decent swing but it does not resemble hogan very much except for possibly the shallow plane of both of your swings.your club face is much stronger throughout your golf swing that hogans as you release it much more than hogan did as indcated by the position of your club face after impact. compare his tp yours and you'll find that hogans club is much more "held off" than yours.another way to tell is that hogans club is more horizontal in his finish than yours asyou shorten your swing to do

[Gomer1994]

stand pretty far away from the ball

[TheMemoryShop]

A question about posture and plane here. From this target-line view you set up with your hands out under your chin, a bit further away from your body than most pros would recommend. You're also more upright with no severely stiff back. Does this better allow you to swing down and through on plane?

[sevam1]

The back has a natural arch in it and the hands reach a little to keep my chest out of the way and because on the downswing I have a bit of a spare tire to navigate around. A skinnier version of me would probabaly reach less. The arms are sort of stacked on top of the pecs. I want to be balanced but mostly I want to set up so that I don't put myself in my own way. I also want to feel a little stretch in the back muscles and the arch in the spine helps me to engage those muscles at address.

[mycatrocko]

That is pretty darn close to his swing, the tempo is on point

[sevam1]

That's OK. I met Gary Player very briefly in 1997 in Orlando. What struck me was his eyes. When I looked at them I felt that I just might be looking at the healthiest person in the world. It was quite remarkable.

[twittek1978]

great swing but that's an awesome view

[satchmo9]

Sevam,

No one has come closer to demonstrating what Hogan was doing than you (and Moe). I knew Hogan, and I knew Moe. I look at your swing and I completely see Ben Hogan. Since you are built differently, the swing must correspond to your physique. Otherwise I see the same powerful move. People here don't seem to understand that it is more important to OWN a move that works, that to not own a swing that looks great. Thanks for all of this you are providing very hard to find information.

Byron

[xxStrkeb4ck]

Great swing sevam, and thank you for all of your videos, they've helped a lot.

Just a question. At about what point in the backswing do you start to fold your right arm?

[hogan1948]

Watch enjoy and learn, i have been a Hogan fan for years and this guy makes more sense of what Hogan

did than a lot of high priced teachers.

Great work, thank you.

[emncaity]

Ditto that.

[Badmoodboy]

Hey Mr X, Take a breath and relax dude. Don't like it - don't watch it. This information is free and most of us appreciate the time spent by sevam to put it out there. Keep an open mind maybe.

[sevam1]

I'm helping a guy on a beach and I'm not ashamed in the least. because lots of folks have benefitted from these little vids. You seem sort of rude. I'm fine with the criticism, but the swearing bothers me. There's kids learning from watching this too you know.

[TheHoyster13]

Ive got your ebook. Its amazing i recommend it to anyone. More videos explaining the move and secret and such other subjects tht I wont mention would help me alot. Also when you mean by squeezing the club hard.

[sevam1]

TheHoyster13,

I was checking out you action. You are getting it down pretty darn good.

Grip pressure affects a lot. The first thing to do his hit balls and excercise the hands and develope what I call the requisite strength. Once you have developed it you will find that you will need less effort to keep control of the clubhead. When I want to have better control of distance I have a firmer hold on the club. More videos will be coming.

[cmartingolf]

Nice action! Very old school. Reminds me a little of Knudson.

[sevam1]

The Natural Golf Swing, 5 Lessons, some conversations with Moe and a ton of golfballs and this is what I wound up with. Thanks for mentioning George Knudson. He had a strong influence.

[mrbiggsy]

Thanks for posting your videos and your generosity in trying to make a difference for golfers. We all have the tendency to get caught up in nonsense regarding positions or swing plane etc. I think your videos emphasize balance which is the first thing we ever learned by ourselves when we learned to walk. Somehow we forgot the importance of balance when we started playing golf. Keep the videos coming and thanks again.

[andysh1]

Why copy Moe Normans left hand grip and Ben Hogans right hand grip ? Why aim the club open ? And which part of your swing do you think is the Hogan move and why ?

[andysh1]

You take the club back beneath the shaft plane set at address with a disconnected left shoulder and left arm compressing the whole of your upper right side . Hogan took the club back on the shaft plane

[sevam1]

What does the shaft plane at address have to do with anything? Isn't that just dictated by the grip you form and where you set your hands?

[andysh1]

Assuming that you have soled the club face squarely to the ground and target line , the shaft plane set at address dictates the angle at which the club head must strike the ball from in order to start the ball on the target line. If it is below the line approaching the ball it will start right , above the line and it will start left. Remember , we are talking about down the line (the title of your video) and not face on which i think you are referring to.

[sevam1]

I don't quite understand that. I just try on the downswing to move my hands precisely through the same space they occupied at address. I very rarely set the clubface square to the target at address. It is usually a hair open. I typically use a hybrid grip with a Moe style high palm left hand and a more Hogan style right. This I think must influence where the club heads in the backswing. Perhaps I should not have called it Down The Line. I was referring to the camera angle and the release.

[latepivot]

very true plus he flip releases and tilts are out in every position..a joke

[BillKelly13]

The reason your swing does'nt look like Hogans is due to you being too detached with your arms.Try standing closer and more upright,this way you will look more powerful and less HANDSY.Your position at the top is great but getting closer to the ball will enable you to get Hogans connected BODY hit which made the swing so powerful.

[sevam1]

I thought my swing doesn't look like Hogan's at the bottom because I am too fat and have to reach a bit to get over my gut. ;)

[fedorianko]

Nice swing, its just not producing the power that real Hogans swing would...

[sevam1]

Gary Player is a nice guy. I met him at the PGA Show in Orlando around 1997 I think. The healthiest looking person I have ever set eyes on. Visually it was stunning see him that close and he was such a pleasant and classy guy to talk to.

[Kumabjorn]

Would you say that the Hogan fade would yield similar results today, considering the differences in equipment?

[sevam1]

Yes the shot would still yield similar results in terms of distance and accuracy.

It is however, more difficult to produce the shot with newer clubs which are lighter and generally have offset designed to get the ball up quickly. The Hogan fade is a boring shot, like a draw in reverse but it doesn't bend until it crests. The club I'm using above is a 1962 Hogan Power Thrust 5i with original factory shaft. There is no offset and this club is balanced differently than today's clubs.

[emncaity]

Man, I'm tellin' ya, that is one great-looking action and a great sound of the ball off the face.

[plentyofouts]

By the way, Hogan gets the club moving very quickly left of the target through impact with almost no 'flipping', not so much 'down the line.' Would this be preferable to you even in your own swing?

[sevam1]

I'm going to do another video soon where I discuss the mechanics of the Hogan Fade. The Low Left release will be touched on then. Here I'm just showing a novice how to hit some basic golf shots. The Hogan Fade is not a topic for beginners. The Hogan fade is not like any shot you've ever seen I guarantee you. It goes out on a straight line and holds that line at a medium trajectory and does not really curve until it hits its' apex then it just tumbles gently right as it falls. Amazing shot.

[plentyofouts]

I think it's important but wondered to what extent. Think it might be the reason i get a slightly steep(although shaft pointing inside the ball to target line) half way down.

Thanks,

Your thoughts would be great!

[plentyofouts]

Hi Sevram, really like your moves. Great lag and striking similarities to Moe and Ben when you try. I work on alot of Homer Kelley (Golf Machine) and Mac O'Grady theories which you probably know have alot of foundation with these guys. Do you feel like the right hip stays very much DOWN and BACK while it moves laterally in the transition?? That seems to give that 'Roomy' look (shaft behind the hands) on the way down. Mine seems to come a little up and forward to try and put power into the shot.