hogans five lessons

hi all
i am thinking of buying ben hogans five lessons book but have been told that his book is more primarily suited to single figure handicap players.
as a mid-high handicapper would this book be too advanced for me?

there's nothing in the book that you cant find here or on the web for free. the thing is that you have to put it to use on the course, try going out a talking you way thru a round not taking any risk laying up to your favorite yardages aiming for center of greens, try to stay clear of any hazards even if you think you can get by them, you'll see its all in the mind and making right choices. save the money work on the swing and go out and take some playing lessons.

I have read Five Lessons. But what really helped me the most were lessons. You can read all sorts of stuff on the golf swing.

But think about it. If you are slicing. There are several things that
could cause this. Doesn't it make sense that the quickest way to solve
any problems would be for a professional to watch you and tell you exactly what you are doing wrong and how to fix it.

Doug

I would say buy it.
when you go to take lessons the FIRST thing they will do is change your set up. so if you buy his book and set up like he does then you wont have to pay a lot of money to keep going over set up issues. Hogan was the greatest ball striker of all time, why not learn from the best?

Borrow it from the library. It's an old book so you'll be able to find it there for sure. See if you like it THEN buy it. There are much better books though. "Tour Tempo" comes to mind. Or even a subscription to Golf or Golf Digest.

yeah, why would someone want to learn from the best of all time when you can learn from someone who has no clue what a swing that good feels like
I have never heard of tour tempo being reffered to as the golfing bible, have you?

I bought it and I don't regret it. One better, though, is Jim Mcleans Ben Hogan: The Golf Swing: Improve Your Game" (DVD). If you download music you may find that dvd on the same p2p server.

Mcleans dvd goes through Hogan's principles, drills, swing, etc point by point, it was exceptionally well done.

James

The book is well worth a read.

It must be remembered though that Hogan's technique as described in the Modern Fundamentals was to stop him from hooking the ball. As McClean says on his DVD, it is the grip Hogan describes in his first book "Power Golf" that most golfers should work to rather than the one in "Modern Fundamentals"

So are you saying avoid the instruction on grip but the rest is valid?

I keep going back to it, reading the chapter on the grip (as I keep screwing mine up).

I think that is what McClean was recommending. Also McClean had a different view on Hogan's pane of glass swing plane and came up with the "McClean Power Cone"

The book is very good overall and well worth the read.

You can pick up a cheap paperback copy on Amazon. I got mine for about a £5, so can't complain.

They have just re released the book in shops in Hardback, presumably to tie in with its 50th birthday in 2007.

What I found was, that the 5 Hogan lessons represent a pretty unique angle of perspective into golf.

Hogan tries hard to make things simple, comparing to "natural" motor skills rather than to very technical issues.

It might not be full of brilliant drills or tips that will cut 5-10 shots off your game, but - in my opinion - it creates a "frame of mind" that I found easier to work with than a lot of technical stuff.

SO even if you perhaps should not use Hogan's grip, you can still benefit greatly from understanding the elements of the grip based on the explanations Hogan use.

__________________
//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

I suggest you buy Hogan's 5 Lessons and David Ledbetters "The Fundamentals of Hogan" for a better explanation if you need it.

There's really only 2 people to take instruction from by book IMO, Hogan and Pelz.

thanks for the feedback guys
i got the book and after reading 1st chapter on grip i spotted a slight flaw in my own grip.
to cut a short story even shorter my grip now feels more solid my accuracy has improved and so has the distance.
if i get nothing else from the book im better off for having it already

Hogan knew more about the movements of the human body than possibly any golfer/golf instructor ever. McClein, Ledbetter, could not swing a club anywhere near hogan. Unless you follow his book word for word in regards to grip set up, ball position, takeaway, etc... you cannot say, with a true understanding, on whether or not his method works. They want to say things like "Hogan guarded against a snap hook and that is why de did it this way" and use that as rationalization on why they do not like certain aspects of his swing. Well news flash, what player in history, besides moe norman, did not guard against either a snap hook or a block? If hogan was alive today to discuss his book with these so called greats, he would eat there lunch. Hogan dug it out of the dirt. Hogan was not tiger in the fact that he always had a great swing. Hogan had to find his and when he did he found the best. There is so much knowledge in that book. I have read it numerous times and always find more that i think to myself "I did not know that was in here" Hogan understands the human body, understands the golf swing, and understands how they relate. That is why he got to a point where his swing was just maintance, and not fixing.