The SECRET to Ben Hogan’s “laying off the club”
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at
9:48 pm
Tom Bertrand, one of the leading authorities on Ben Hogan’s fundamentals and principles, gives insight into the actions and reactions of ‘laying the golf club off’ properly.
Tagged with: club • Hogan's • laying • Secret
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its funny, this video helped my driving and iron shots so much, but now I cant get a feel for my 3 hybrid!
I’ve tried the Hogan swing before as described in Fundamentals but never knew about this move so I was constantly hitting it right. Now that I’ve seen this, I’m thinking about giving it another try but I was wondering… I know Hogan did this to cure a hook, so does this swing generally have a fade ball flight or is it just much harder to hook it? In short, can you still hit a draw?
touche!!
this is good stuff! thanks for sharing.
Hogan cupped his wrist to delay his hands in the hitting area from firing too quick. If you do not need that delay you do not have to cup on the backswing.
It’s with relaxed wrists and letting the weight of the club during transition, that helps feel the release better.
great explanation Tom, how do I release this cup better??? Is it a pushing of the right elbow toward the ball at the top of the swing??
I read your book about a year ago and liked it a lot. I’ve read most of the books on Hogan and thought yours was good.
This is a good video. I read your book about Hogan’s swing about year ago and liked it a lot. It was one of the better Hogan books that I have read. Do you think I could have the same results in downward swing plane if I keep my left wrist level throughout the back swing, instead of cupping the wrist and flattening it out at the top? I think I tend to over cup my left wrist and have been trying to keep it a little flatter lately.
interesting video. unfortunately it is too cold to try this theory on the turf but it will occupy my mind during this winter for sure.
Hogan did delay his layoff longer than most people can because of the strength in his hands and wrists. The average golfer should lay off sooner. If you understand the connection between the arms and the hands in relation to the back, it’s impossible for the club to be almost parallel to the ground. Breaking the plane would be going over the top, not under and if you do not know who John Schlee was then you do not need be posting here.
On every other slo mo ben hogan video i see on the site there is no lay off at the start of the down swing, it happens at the bottom of the swing. If you read five lessons you know hogan was a huge proponent of plane. If you lay off the club as suggested here, the club would be almost parallel to the ground and would break any plane that has been achieved. I don’t know who this John guy was that hogan explained this action to but i don’t see this move in any hogan swings.
this is great stuff
Your videos are awesome This one and the backswing Plane should be considered the best golf videos ever. I applied the turning the wrists in the bacswing plane video to the waggle and it has transformed my swing . Thankyou very much! Your great!
Great video,
I never could understand why I always had the face open, now I know why.
Bravo good job
Stuat
That is an incredible observation about something we see happening and don’t know why it is happening.Great explanation,thx for posting.
Michel
Hi Tom, thanks for posting this. I am curious, should one bow the left wrist at address with the club face slightly open to facilitate a fade? Doesn’t the bowing of the left wrist through impact tend to cause the club face to hood thus resulting in a draw or a hook? Thanks….
I can understand why people like clips like this…but want to point out that this was a technique that worked for Hogan but for most club guys looking to improve it would be too physically demanding. Honestly if you want to swing the club like this then get down to yoga for 6 months. If you don’t have the time for that then spend a lot of time working on your address position….way way more time than you think.
Thanks for your reply. So glad to hear that he transferred weight. Would be hard to imagine how without weight transfer he could have achieved an estimated clubhead speed of 130 mph.
Yes he did transfer his weight but not it was a little different. He liked to call it a dynamic weight shift to the inside of his right foot and not a static weight shift where the weight is on the right foot.
Im a huge Ben Hogan fan and use some of his principles in teaching. I agree that this move is not good for every one, especially Sergio Garcia, mainly because he takes the club on an almost out to in path going back and then drops it behind him too much therefore relying heavily on his hips squaring of the face at impact. You seem to know a lot about Ben Hogan, one thing that bothers me is some people say he was stack and tilt. I disagree. Did he transfer weight or not in his swing?
this is the crown jewel of hogans secret
I have been working on getting my hands in the correct position this year, and my fairwaywoods are ridiculous. My Irons are the usual off an on again. I was working on a different way of doing this concept.
After watching this, I just went to the range and thought of getting my right elbow in front of my right hip by flattening my left wrist early. It was fantastic. I was smashing the ball. compressing the living hell out of it. I can’t think “uncupping at the top”. Too much! But…..
I think this is great insight mainly because it effectively cuts-off the over-the-top / casting move that causes pulls / slices and general power losses. It prevents the right side from overpowering the left side in the downswing. Great stuff !!!
Hogan even said back in the 50’s that this move wasn’t for everybody. I like to think people will see this move and realize you can do different movements with your hands, some good and some bad. Tiger’s is good and yes he doesn’t need the extra leverage this move gives you.