There is no one out there, no matter what they tell you, who swings like Ben Hogan.

There is an entire cottage industry built around “swing like Ben Hogan,” and every one of the claims is either an outright fraud or a complete misunderstanding of how the man swung.

Here are the multiple things that people either leave out or get wrong in their Hoganology:

1 – The Classic Golf Swing Pivot

For the first part, and you are all tired of reading it here, but I have to include it so let’s get it over with – Ben Hogan swung with a pivot that was a Classic Golf Swing pivot, with free hip turn and a lifting leading heel.

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No one out there purporting to swing like Hogan, in my research, has ever had that in their swing explanations or instructions, from Jim McLean and onward, and that’s the first strike.

2 – The Hogan Ball Position

Strike 2 – I have yet to see one person telling people how to swing like Ben Hogan explain and demonstrate the Hogan Ball Position.

Ben Hogan had the ball in the exact same place, from wedge to driver, with regards to his left or leading foot.

What he would do was, he would step into the stance first with the left foot to place the ball on the same line with that foot, whatever the club, and then then he would complete the foot stance by placing his right or trailing foot in the various positions that the particular club he was swinging dictated.

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Tell me, from Tiger Woods to Jim McLean to any other person trying to explain it or swing as Ben Hogan did, whom you have ever observed having a setup like the one above?

Everyone you see follows the standard method of ball position as demonstrated by Jack Nicklaus:

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I don’t see anyone setting up with the ball off the leading heel for every club, rather they move the ball progressively back from the leading foot the shorter the club gets, correct?

3 – Hogan Only Used His “Wedge Swing” With His Wedge

I can tell you why everyone who tries to swing like Hogan sets up left-biased and reverse-pivots to swing – it’s because they’re trying to copy his wedge swing, but with every club!

Hogan had an open stance with his wedge, you’ll see by his ball position chart, and he was able to “swing left” because, now this is really wild – because he was already set up to swing left with his feet!

Today’s imitators, even Tiger Woods, set up with a square stance to the target line and  then try to swing left, which is just not going to work – Tiger struck the ball brilliantly but he destroyed his body swinging in a way the body isn’t built to swing.

Hogan also may have looked as though he were swinging Stack & Tilt-style, but only with his shorter clubs.  The longer the club, the wider his stance got and the more to the right his head moved.  He did NOT set up to the ball and swing his driver or longer clubs like with his wedges and short irons:

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Today’s imitators can’t do this because they are breaking Hogan’s first principle from above – the Classic swing with the lifting heel – without the lifting heel, you are straining the lower back, Tiger Woods-style, so they have evolved to setting up left-biased with every club and swinging that way:

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Hogan, because he had his ball and foot setup the way no one else swings, could then make a pivot with shorter clubs with a move that looked like it was a left-biased swing model, but it was only because his feet were closer together and he was opened left that he looked as though his wasn’t leaving his left side.

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AND he let his hips turn and his leading heel come up, which meant the weight was transferring to his right side, but if you don’t lift the leading heel, you can’t do that the way he did.

Everything stays on the left side, and then you’re Squatting & Dumping or Turning & Swiping:

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4 – The Hogan Foot Release

There are a few swingers on Tour who release the trailing foot through the impact to finish phase – Scottie Scheffler does, but he doesn’t swing anything like Hogan, and I remember that Greg Norman had a slide release, but he wasn’t swinging like Hogan either, nor trying to.

How many people explaining or swinging Hogan include that trailing foot release (besides me, I never shut up about it) when they do it?

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They’re releasing a foot, that’s for sure – it just happens to be the wrong one, the leading foot:

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… and there is nothing Hogan in this move whatsoever.  He would have vomited, watching this rubbish and having it attributed to him.

If Hogan’s stance width meant that he couldn’t get onto his left foot, nice and balanced, on the finish, he would simply release the trailing foot, because that’s what you do when you throw, walk or run.

Could be a big slide as with the driver, or a slight release and toe drag as below with a shorter club:

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… but he always got onto his left foot and released the right or trailing one.  That’s Kinesiology 101 with a swinging or throwing motion, folks.

Summary

So there are at least four things Hogan did with his swing that I don’t see people doing when they are trying to explain or swing as Ben Hogan did, and you can’t leave out even one of these if you’re going to try to swing the way he did.

Leave all of them out, and you have no business even saying the name “Ben Hogan” when talking about the golf swing.

The only thing of Hogan’s I’ve ever taken was his pivot action – it’s way too hard to try to swing like he did, in fact it took him 16 years from the time he turned pro until he mastered it and began to win Tour events.

It’s far easier to take his perfect pivot action and put it into a setup like Jack Nicklaus’ setup:

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… then you get something like this:

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The sliding foot release isn’t Hogan’s, because that’s a natural way to balance oneself when swinging a club with speed and a stance too wide to keep both feet in place.

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I was performing the Short-Stop slide before I ever saw a golfer I was studying perform the same move.  So, it belongs to no one.

His pivot, I stole, and gleefully, because it’s exquisite.

But I don’t try to swing like him, and I never will.

I therefore won’t be making a foot of myself telling people Hogan did something:

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… when he absolutely didn’t.

I can explain his swing however, and will do so gladly.

And that’s about all!