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Besides Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus whose records are the best
known, there are of course Moe Norman, Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones from a previous
era, and they
have received probably more adulation than any other people in their time. For
good reason.
Each of these men contributed an enormous amount to the game
itself and to our understanding of golf technique -- Jones and Hogan are
especially responsible for a great deal of what we
now take for granted and routinely consider to be "common sense"
about how to swing a club.
Hogan's book "Five Lessons..."
is clearly the best selling golf book ever - having been
purchased by just about every half-way serious golfer in the world for the last
50 years! And The Golf Channel continues to show, week after week after
week, the instructions and swings of the great Bobby Jones that were put on film
and later into video format. Both are timeless.
Ben Hogan
emphasized his pivot, the force he could apply with his right arm
and hand, and several principles and concepts that he came to grasp and was able
to communicate passionately about.
Bobby Jones
was equally as passionate, and when you get to hear him "give a lesson" to his
audience on camera, he is extraordinarily articulate and clear--anyone who has
tried to instruct to a camera will appreciate his fluidity and the ease with
which he makes his points.
Moe Norman [he passed away in 2004] had a
unique swing, reference to which has been characterized and misreported by
proponents of a marketing initiative called "Natural
Golf." My own opinion about that is anything
but complimentary--it is a "system" of movements and swing mechanics that is, to
my way of relating to efficient motion, anything BUT "natural,"
But my admiration for Mr. Norman
is as great as can be: his achievements, in spite of some personal dysfunctions
that beset him, were so incredible as to defy belief, even in the face of
indisputable evidence. Do a search on Google for him: there are
uncountable pages of
anecdotes that will take hours to read. As for his swing, it was so
unique to his person that I cannot in good conscience recommend that it be
"copied" at all: there is no question that his mechanics were near perfect as
evidenced by the most accurate ball striking ability in the entire universe of
golf history. But so much of that is likely attributable to his
"savant" mentality that I don't think what you can really discern from his
swing why he hit the ball so well. That precision seems to me to have
come from his "savant brain" (which I address in my latest book, Even GREAT
Golf is Not That Hard.)
When it comes to the quality of golf instruction itself,
Hogan and Jones were both masters. What they taught is mainstream because indeed
what they did and passed on "works
the best" - their advice has stood the test of time-50 years and 75 years or so,
respectively. There are differences in their approach in some ways, there
are some differences in what they talk about and did in other ways, but the
basics of body movement, swinging on plane, aiming, thinking right, and
understanding how to go about it all are the same. Make no mistake, then, in
wondering whether I have included their wisdom in the books and videos I have to offer here:
I have incorporated everything these men did and taught, and the chapters and
video clips flesh out in much greater
detail many of the things they touched on only briefly. My "mistake"
as a writer and teacher is in the other extreme, i.e., a tendency to give
too much detail. (I like to characterize myself as my ex-wife would: she
was a very articulate, lettered and published poet, and a "wordsmith" - so I
called her "Doctor Word." She called me, "Doctor Wordy!")
So you can be reassured that our instruction here has included
"the best of..." Hogan, Jones, Austin, Ballard, Nicklaus....and all of the rest of the masters. Describing a golf swing is not unlike asking 6
different blind people to describe the elephant they had been introduced to: one
stood at the trunk; one at the tail; one at the left ear; one at the left front
leg; one at the rear leg, and one on his back: each one described his experience
with the elephant: each one said something different, BUT EACH ONE WAS TALKING
ABOUT THE SAME ELEPHANT.
It has been my ambition to have "all six of them" give their
feedback in every book and video I did, so that each work includes everything on
point to the best of my ability. There are many details and aspects to a
golf swing and to the game: Hogan talked about having a "check list" of 50
different things to remember: I liken the swing and its issues to a credit card
transaction where there are 16 digits for the card number, 5 for the zip code, 4
for the expiration date, and 3 for the confirmation number on the back of the
card -- a total of 28 digits. If any one of the 28 digits are
incorrectly entered, the transaction fails. Hence the title of the
second book (my sequel to Perfect Impact); GOLF'S CRITICAL DETAILS.
Regarding my supplying too much information: you can always ignore what you already know and understand,
but you can't
supply information if it was left out. My main complaint about most golf
instruction is that they do leave out too much, that they ask YOU to "learn by
yourself" things that are the teacher's responsibility to give to you.
And, after all, the need and desire for detailed information is why you buy golf
instruction books and videos in the first
place!
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