"ALL THAT IS REALLY REQUIRED TO PLAY GOOD GOLF IS TO EXECUTE PROPERLY A RELATIVELY SMALL NUMBER OF TRUE FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS."

Supination

(An editorial observation)

This may the most overlooked, yet absolute crucial Hogan fundamental. I honestly believe if there is a secret, this is it!

If Hogan spent 20 minutes a day tracing the clubhead arc as Lawrence Robinson reported in Golf Digest. We can be sure he was paying particular attention to the position of the clubhead in relationship to the arc of the swing, and in turn examining the position of his hands and arms in relationship to the clubhead. In order for the clubhead to move properly into the ball, Hogan stated that the left wrist bone, must be leading the hands. This he called supination.

"AT IMPACT THE BACK OF THE LEFT HAND FACES TOWARD YOUR TARGET. THE WRIST BONE IS DEFINITELY RAISED. IT POINTS TO THE TARGET AND, AT THE MOMENT THE BALL IS CONTACTED, IT IS OUT IN FRONT, NEARER TO THE TARGET THAN ANY PART OF THE HAND."

"Every good golfer has his left wrist in this supinating position at impact. Every poor golfer does the exact reverse."

But how do you get into this position? When does it happen in the swing? If you look at Hogan's position at the top of his swing (home page), his left wrist is actually slightly cupped or in a pronating position (opposite of supination). I've found the answer to this question in the detailed illustrations by Anthony Raveilli, in Hogans book.

Here you see Hogan coming down to waist high from the top and his left wrist is still in a pronated (cupped) position. But coming into impact in the next frame, he turns his left wrist down into a supinating position to strike the ball. I believe that this is really where the magic happens. It moves the clubhead into an angle that strikes the ball squarely and allows the hands and arms to create maximum power at that crucial time of impact.

School yourself in this move and be amazed!

One other consideration in Hogan's book about the hands that should be mentioned is that you hit with both hands. Neither the right or left hand is dominate in the full swing.

"HIT THE BALL AS HARD AS YOU CAN WITH BOTH HANDS."

"YOU MUST HIT AS HARD WITH THE LEFT AS WITH THE RIGHT."

"It is a heavy ball, heavy in the way a small-sized medicine ball would be. It takes muscle to throw it hard. Straight ahead of the player, maybe four or five yards ahead down his line of flight, stands a fairly large target. As he shifts his weight from his right foot to his left to get all his power into his throw, the player flings the ball at the target just as hard as he can, whipping the ball with both arms and both hands, since he can throw it harder and more accurately that way. (The forcefulness of this effort carries the player all the way around to his follow-through.)"

Now go play better golf!

Please buy the book and read it The content that is presented on this page is only a very small part of Hogans Swing Fundamentals and is displayed only in an effort to promote the Hogan method.

Back