golf

I am a follower of Ben Hogan and have used his small but brilliant book for close to 40 Years. When I found out that David Leadbetter had written the new book, I immediately ordered it, hoping it would further elaborate on Hogan's techniques. While Hogan's techniques are well-described, Leadbetter then goes on to explain why those techniques won't work for the average golfer. For example, our hands are not as strong as Hogan's, our left thumb is not as long or shaped the same, we are not as athletic as Hogan. It seems that Leadbetter just took this as an opportunity to use the Hogan name to publish yet another book of instruction in his own name, knowing it would be purchased just because of the panache of the Hogan name. I think we have been had.

In addition to the many details in the other reviews, I have a few brief points.

THE best aspect of this book are the black and white photos of Hogan that did NOT inspire the graphics in his book, Five Lessons. I remember reading Five Lessons as a teenager and taking Hogan's pointers very literally. The points about ball position (keeping the ball in one place, but adjusting your feet as you change clubs) and the insides of your arms pointing skyward really threw my game for a loop as a teenager. Watching the latter day pros and their technique (where they did NOT follow these points), however, made me realize that either Hogan had an incredibly unique swing or what he was teaching in his book just didn't make much sense today. As Leadbetter points out in his commentary, and as the new photos confirm (the ones taken when Hogan was actually swinging at/addressing the ball--NOT the ones where he stood still and displayed what he "thought" he was doing) Hogan didn't adhere to all of his "lessons"! It was very comforting to finally learn the truth about what Hogan was actually trying to portray in his book as explained by Leadbetter (thank you David!). If you are serious about improving your game, upon reading this and some careful review and study (the text can be a bit laborious at times) you should glean at least a few tidbits that will help you. What helped me the most (besides finally seeing the real photos) were the points about a shorter backswing (mine tended to get too long--like Daly's) and having equal grip pressure in both of your hands (I tended to let my right hand get loose).

All in all an excellent book that helps marry older and modern fundamentals of golf. Plus the vintage photos of Hogan make it a great coffe table book.

This book clearly deserves more than five stars. It will be an essential resource on the full golf swing for all top-flight pros, instructors, and average golfers who dream of breaking 80.

My best score on a championship 18 hole course is 83. So I am part of the prime market for this book. I will share with you what I learned from the book in my quest for a slightly lower score.

David Leadbetter is one of our most talented teaching pros. If you are like me, you are accustomed to seeing him on television so his ideas will seem familiar.

Mr. Leadbetter had a great resource to start with. This book is an update of Ben Hogan's famous book: Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf that was originally published as five articles in Sports Illustrated in 1957. The book, illustrated with drawings by Anthony Rivielli, has been a primary resource for those who wanted to understand the pure ball-striking ability of Ben Hogan. And Mr. Leadbetter was much aided by the recent discovery of the photographs taken by Mr. Rivielli, upon which the drawings were based. Eighty-five new photographs of Ben Hogan are included, which were mostly designed to be illustrative of the material in Five Lessons. So, if all you got were the new photographs, you would be way ahead of where anyone has been before now.

The first part of each of the sections in the book (The Hands, Addressing the Ball, Backswing, Downswing, and Summary and Concluding Thoughts) is there to summarize Mr. Hogan's original message, along with the proper illustrations and captions.

In the second part of the section, Mr. Leadbetter goes on to describe why Mr. Hogan achieved the results he did with his approach, and what some of the problems are that that approach could present for other players. This section was fascinating. Mr. Hogan had a tendency to hit wild hook shots, and many of his adjustments were to open the club face in order to make solid contact. He had several unusual physical characteristics, including very large and strong hands and arms that presented special opportunities and challenges. This discussion basically contradicts Mr. Hogan's advice in many areas, and points out places where Mr. Hogan's demonstrations of his own style were inaccurate versus what shows in films from the same era.

Finally, Mr. Leadbetter takes what the average golfer can use from Mr. Hogan, and adds other elements that are complementary. You will find this material the most familiar to you. It is well done though, because it addresses ways to compensate for current weaknesses in your game.

My own lessons from reading the book related to developing a much better understanding the objective one is looking for from a good grip, more ways to adjust the grip than I had ever dreamed of, helpful ideas about how to take the grip properly, how stance affects timing and club head direction, and mental concepts to use in creating better timing and coordination. I think I learned more about these mechanics as variables than I had learned in 24 years of playing the game (and taking more than a few lessons). There is also a lot of good material in here about how to practice, and the value of watching videos of your swing. Most importantly, the book reinforced what I am doing right and made me sensitive to what I need to work on.

By the way, breaking 80 requires being as good a putter and short game player as you possibly can be. For those subjects, you need Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible and Dave Pelz's Putting Bible (you can read my reviews of each on Amazon.com). Those will get you under 80 faster than this book will . . . because there are so many more short game shots for average golfers than full swing shots.

The main weakness of the book is that Mr. Leadbetter does like to provide lots of detail. Usually, this is helpful. Sometimes, his material for average golfers is a little confusing to me. You may understand it just fine, but I cannot accurately anticipate your reaction.

After you finish reading this wonderful book, I urge you to select one aspect of your full swing where you could benefit from a change. Then use the ideas and methods here to start to make that change. After you are successful, pick a second area and continue the process. Now you have the makings of a true Ben Hogan approach, because that's exactly what he did.

Hit 'em straight and long!