Ben Hogan’s Dynamic Golf Swing
October 5th, 2009 | 
Author: If you have been following this blog you more than likely have heard about the 84 degree secret. Let’s take a look at how this line applies to the swing of Ben Hogan. It is important to remember that top golfers generally are flush up against the 84 degree line prior to any part of the body initiating the downswing. Some of the golfers are not necessarily all the way to the top of the backswing when they initiated a dynamic downswing, i.e. their hands and arms were actually still completing the backswing while their bodies (hips and legs) had already begun the downswing. A dynamic move is when one part of the body is travelling in the opposite direction to another part of the body. Starting the lower body forward while the arms and club are still going backward creates energy or snap in the swing – just like when a whip is cracked.
Ben Hogan with the Club at the Top
Ben Hogan Approaching the Top
Let’s look at the swing of Ben Hogan. In the first illustration notice how he is just about against the 84 degree line with his right side and his swing appears to be the correct length. This is due to the fact that his arms and club have not completed the backswing, yet his body is about to start its move to impact. In the second illustration Hogan has completed the backswing with his arms and club, yet notice how far his mid-section is off the 84 degree line. This is because he is already halfway through the downswing with his body. I have read many an article about Hogan’s so-called reverse pivot, but he did not have a reverse pivot, merely a very dynamic swing.
It is this dynamic motion that allows golfers to have what appears to be a slow and easy swing, yet efficiently generates tremendous speed in the clubhead and causes the ball to go a long way.
If you try this in practice start with small swings with a 7 iron. Focus on the rhythm of the shot – it should almost feel like you are making miniature figure 8′s with your body. Well, you could either do that or take some rumba lessons!
Thanks for reading and please feel free to post your thoughts and questions.
Posted in Long Game, Practice, Swing Philosophy | 
Tags: 84 degree secret, ben hogan, crack the whip, dynamic swing, figure 8, rhythm
I will try in the practice range, it worked for me in the past but I forgot about. I have good back but poorly and slow down swing, make me shorter hitter.
The ability to move in two directions at once has been a long sought after trait of the swing. Doing so definately assists in creating and maintaining “lag” in the downswing, which is one of the holy grails of golf. Much has been written and spoken over the years about this powerful and dynamic move but little has been said about how to actually create such a powerful and graceful motion. It has been my personal experience as a player as well as my observations as a teacher that simply trying to move in two directions at once, in itself, usually doesn’t work to well. There must be more to it! I beleive that the secret to starting the lower half forward while the upper half is still winding is a RESULT of proper backswing sequencing. If your backswing turning and swinging ratios are out of proportion on the backswing thus causing the various parts of your body, arms, and club to arrive at the top at the wrong time, attemting to move in two directions at the same time will prove to be a futile effort. Here’s a tip that may help…. In as few words as possible and in a roundabout way, Make sure that the clubhead and arms get an ample head start early in the backswing. In other words, don’t turn your hips and shoulders too soon to start that backswing. If you do they will arrive at the top too soon and have to “wait” for the arms and club to catch up. This tends to remove the taughtness and coil from the swing adding too much slack to the transition. Creating a dynamic and powerful transition is not an easy thing to do which would explain why only athletic and advanced player’s tend to have this trait visible in their swings.
Well said Brian!
Andrew, I wonder if you could give a bit more detail about what you meant when you wrote about doing “a miniature figure of 8″ with a seven iron. Is it the club or the body doing the figure of 8? If it’s the body which part of the body? How is the figure of 8 orientated relative to the target line? Sorry if these are dumb questions but I’m looking for the feeling one needs to have for a good swing.
Thanks for a great website.
Dr Trevor Hyde
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for reading and for your question. It certainly is not ‘dumb’ as I could have a little more specific as to my figure 8 statement.
The hips make a figure 8 and the feeling should be as follows:
Take your address position without a club and your arms across your chest. Prop your back hip up against the edge of a table. Now pivot your body to the top of the backswing – the hips have wound back here. As you initiiate the downswing, feel as if you store the rotation in your hips as you drive/shift toward the target. (Only shift – do not unwind) This might feel as if you are keeping your back to the target. Once your weight gets to the front foot, then you can allow the hips to rotate around and face the target in the finish. After doing this a few times continuously you should get a sense for the figure eight that I referred to.
If this does not help feel free to let me know and I’ll have another shot at explaining it.
Take care,
Andrew
Hello Andrew. Wanted to give you a heads up on our 5 Lessons project casting call for someone who can serve as a model for the motion capture shoot. Here are the details.
Well we are finally at the beginning of the projection phase of the ‘Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf’ by Ben Hogan avatar project. A schedule is now under development for the production activities and one of the first things we need to do is select a swing model for the motion capture shoot. The location will be in California and should occur within about a month from now. The shoot will take most of a day in the motion capture studio.
We are looking for:
o Male: 5′ 7″ tall +/- 1″ 150 lbs. +/- 10 lbs
o Age: 18 to 45 years old and very flexible
o Amateur or professional
o Able to demonstrate via video clip an ‘exact’ replica of Ben Hogan’s golf swing circa 1947. Need two views, down the line and face on.
The golfer should contact me directly. If you want you can forward this contact information if you think someone would be interested.
My contact information is: mcctee@aol.com or by cell at 305-297-6276.
The data from the shoot will produce a ‘wire frame’ or ‘bones model’ showing the motion of the golf swing. The data will later be supplemented with laid on CG artwork to perfectly resemble Ben Hogan circa 1940-1950.
Thanks. Tom