Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf

I’m brand new to playing golf, and was unsure where to start learning. I’m a self teacher, so my search always starts with a book. Did I just ver find one?! This is THE tome of golf wisdom. Ben Hogan is renowned as one of the greatest golfers of all time, and when he originally wrote these 5 essays in 1957, he turned the world into potential golfers. This book won’t teach you everything about golf, but everything about playing golf starts with the lessons contained. From the forward by fellow legend Lee Trevino, to the original artwork detailing each point, and the second half of the book with articles and interviews detailing Ben’s life and legacy, this is the first book every new golfer should read. I’m 1/4 through, and I’ve already found a few flaws in what I would have been practicing. While I’m sure it can’t replace lessons with a real teacher, if you’re like me and can easily apply what you read, this book will get your game off the ground.

I liked the way the lessons were laid out. I see flaws that I have developed. I feel so much more confident now. But you need to practice it consistently. If you're new to golf highly recommend it great foundations. If you have been playing for some time, I still recommend to read it. To see if it would show something maybe going on with your game.

I’m a relatively new golfer, but my husband is a fantastic golfer who has played his entire life. I decided to read this book after hearing it referenced on several golf podcasts referring to former pros who learned to play the game by adopting the advice of this book. It has stood the test of time! My husband was skeptical, especially since chapter one suggested he move from his interlocking grip to an overlap grip. He tried it and couldn’t believe the results in how he hit the ball. We are still working our way through it because you don’t want to move to fast when changing everything, we work one chapter at a time and give it time to feel natural before moving to the next! Would definitely recommend this to any golfer. If nothing else it’s interesting as he explains the why behind the movements.

This book is all any starting novice golfer will need for proper instructions on full swing. For short game, I will recommend Getting Up And Down by Tom Watson. I found numerous videos for tips in Youtube largely useless or misleading especially for the novice. To learn powerful and repeatable full swing, this book is best because it explains all the steps from the grip to downswing as one coherent system that is what Mr. Hogan refers to as chain actions. Having said that, this book elicits some questions, as well. For example, though Mr. Hogan devoted Chapter 2 to stance and posture, unexplicably he does not talk about how to address the ball in detail. In two other equally great books, Getting Up And Down by Tom Watson and Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus, the authors emphasize address should reflect so called hitting geometry in which the hands are ahead of the ball location. The reader of this book can only guess what Mr. Hogan's thought might be on proper address from one of the illustrations in the book, where remarkably to me at least, the club is held almost perfectlly vertical (pg. 24)! I can confirm the same vertical address in numerous videos of him. Another example is the position of the grip at the top of backswing that he aptly refers to as the crossroad. He emphasizes in this book the left arm and grip should stay in the backswing plane which is a plane extending through the shoulders and the ball at address. This is a point I found very useful and follow. However, it is widely known that, as a player, his grip at the crossroad was far below this plane (shown in iconic Aug. 8, 1955 Life Magazine cover) and, as a matter of fact, one of the flattest of all PGA pros according to Jack Nicklaus. I wonder therefore whether his emphasis on supination (counter-clockwise rotation of the hands/wrists in the hitting area) is a way to compensate for his low top position. The starting golfers however should not mind this discrepancy. Instead they should focus on his teaching in the book to stay on the backswing plane and that will work nicely. All in all, I have no doubt this is the first book any starting golfers should read and refer to whenever questions arise as they practice full swing. They will benefit immeasurably.i P.S. Since I wrote my review two years ago, I have gained an additional insight on supination. I was baffled by the fact that some golfers did not underscore its impotance as much as Hogan did in this book and this is why. His grip, the famous Hogan grip, is essentially a fade grip and without conscious turn and control of his left hand, the face of the club will open at impact. If it is done properly however it will become a power source as the speed of the club head will increase by this turning. When it is combined with the right hand release, the result? Long and deadly straight ball to the target with slight fade at the end (Hogan's power fade) even for amateur golfers.

Ben Hogan was (arguably) the greatest ball striker of his era. He also had a very high IQ. Some say he was a genius. He invented the modern golf swing that we still see on tour today. This book is a must read for anyone looking to learn the basic fundamentals of the modern golf swing. I would give this book 5 stars if the illustrations were better or photos were used instead. My hardback copy looks like it is printed on recycled paper in a poor printer. A reissue is long overdue for such a valuable piece of instruction.

good read

A classic. Painstakingly takes you through the essentials of hitting a golf ball. Starts with the grip and proceeds to the set up, backswing, and forward swing. Good diagrams. Has helped my game.

I won't go into a summary of the 5 Lessons because, well, it hardly needs one. What I will say is that the notion that the average golfer would suffer by paying attention to what Mr. Hogan describes in this masterpiece is utterly ridiculous. The facts are the following: - This man's swing was/is envied by legions of golfers, prob for all time. - Everything he says about the swing, is not only true - it's the holy grail to great striking - This is not a complete picture of Ben Hogan's swing, it's a breakdown of how to implement/apply the fundamentals, not his exact swing. There are variations that come along with each fundamental - they are tweaks that work only in conjunction with other modifications - such is the golf swing; Mr Hogan took most of those to his grave, at least the explanations, that is. There are clues to *what* (not necessarily how) he did in the golf swing, they are out there - everywhere... - Claims that Ben Hogan had more physical ability than most people and that being the reason for his swing being nearly flawless are preposterous. He was an athletic man, but he was *just* a man, after all. No, what Hogan had was not physical, it was mental strength, heart, dedication, and most importantly, motivation - something Ben Hogan had droves of (if that's not a secret I don't know what is). - Anyone can develop a swing based on these fundamentals. Key word, CAN - not will*. Just like ANYONE can become a rocket scientist given the right motivation/circumstance/effort etc, the same holds true for any version of the golf swing, including variations of these techniques, and believe it or not - Ben Hogan's own variation(s). Also, theories about body types limiting these fundamentals are nonsensical, and over-stated. - An open club face, with the RIGHT path - will always produce a reliable shot, it's call a fade. You can even hit a hook with an open club face, given the correct alterations in the setup/path. The idea that this will just make you slice more is just silly, it's the chicken or the egg - if you're already a slicer, you likely swing out to in, which means you are destined to hit slices for life anyway - and a hook, much less a draw - is something you will never experience. Don't believe me? close the clubface and swing away, if you're a slicer, it'll still be a slice. Some argue that it is better to learn how to hook a ball first, and then adjust your grip - but in my mind (and more importantly Hogan's) - if you learn how to hit from the inside correctly, the difference between a weak grip and a strong one is obviously a fade and a draw. Well, a power fade is far more consistent than a draw and if you manage to do what Hogan did, which was hit a push fade - the loss of distance is negligible. After all, this is what Hogan battled for his whole career, a repeating fade that didn't lose distance as compared to a draw; he accomplished this. - The biggest thing to draw/learn from this book has nothing to do with "the secret" - at least not how people have historically described outside of this book (aka weak grip, cupped wrist). The real secret is to take everything Hogan says in his book as bible and follow it until you figure out what he's saying about swing path, ball positions, grip* etc. That's why they are called the 5 fundamentals...Hogan never said follow this book and have HIS swing - the amount of dedication required to develop a swing like Hogan's is something only experience will reveal. - Forget all this stuff about this book being too advanced for the avg golfer - this is the best Golf book of all time, and if you think there is a single Pro out there that hasn't figured out the majority of what Hogan is saying here, you're fooling yourself. Denying that fact is to deny yourself the chance of discovering your golf swing - you have zero chance, if you never try at all. Gotta be in it to win it. Happy Golfing!

THE one and only Golf instruction book which every golfer should read and digest. Magnificent drawings of position required for grip, muscles of body used etc. Don’t bother with any other book, written by probably the worlds best golfer, then and even today. Hogan was an incredible man.

Purchased this for my Husband as he was wanting it for tips in his golfing. He has ready it top to bottom and front to back over and over again. He is happy with this book

５０年前以上に父親が海外転勤時に買ったこの本がもうボロボロになってしまって補充の為に買いました。昔も今も共通のする部分があるのがすごいですね。ゴルフがうまくなりたい人だけではなく、歴史書としても一度読んでみても面白いかと思います。和訳も出てます。おすすめです！

This Five Lessons give a clear understanding of the fundamentals of the golf stroke. I am playing regular during 20 years And each year I have a few lessons to get my faults which appear during the season corrected Never have I got such a clear explanation of these fundamentals

De formation ingénieur, j'ai besoin de comprendre pour faire. Dans ce livre, M. Ben HOGAN nous livre le résultat d'années d'expérimentation pour aider le golfeur à construire un swing qui peut être reproduit encore et encore. En lisant, ça parait simple mais il faut s'entrainer encore et encore pour éliminer les vieilles habitudes et bien intégrer les conseils de ce livre. Les nouvelles technologies nous aident, à travers des vidéos au ralenti 120 ips, à appliquer ses conseils. Il reste ensuite à maîtriser ses pensées pour pouvoir exploiter pleinement ce swing et le livre de Bob Rotella, Golf is not a game of perfect est un bon complément pour travailler le mental,