Ben Hogan
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Ben Hogan on the cover of the DVD Ben Hogan: The Golf Swing (2003). In the lower left picture he is holding the Claret Jug. |
William Benjamin Hogan (
August 13,
1912 –
July 25,
1997) was a professional
golf player, who, with two others of the greatest golfers of all time,
Sam Snead and
Byron Nelson, were all born within 6 months of each other in 1912.
Born in
Stephenville, Texas, he began
caddying at the age of eleven and started as a professional golfer in
1931. Hogan was, by most accounts, the greatest golfer of his time, and still stands as one of the greatest of all time. He is arguably the greatest ball-striker ever to play the game; even today, when a player is making great contact with the ball, the phrase "hitting it like Hogan" will be evoked.
"The Hawk" possessed fierce determination and an iron will, which, when combined with his unquestionable golf skills, often intimidated opponents into submission. Also known as "The Wee Ice Mon" for his steely demeanor, Hogan rarely spoke while in competition, and few opponents could avoid wilting under Hogan's icy glare. Hogan's watershed
1953 season, in which he won five of the six tournaments he entered and the first three
Major Championships of the year (a feat known as the "Hogan
Slam", still stands as perhaps the greatest single season in the history of professional golf. Hogan was unable to enter — and possibly win — the 1953
PGA Championship (to complete the
Grand Slam) because its play (July 1-7) overlapped the play of the British Open at Carnoustie (July 6-10), which he won. His nine career professional Major Championships tie him (with
Gary Player) for fourth all-time, trailing only
Jack Nicklaus (18),
Walter Hagen and
Tiger Woods (11 apiece).
Although slight of build at only 5'7" and 140 pounds (64 kg), which earned him the nickname "
Bantam", which he thoroughly disliked, he was very long off the tee, and even competed in long drive contests early in his career. Between the years of
1938 through
1959, Hogan won 63 professional golf tournaments despite his career being interrupted in its prime by
World War II and a near-fatal car accident. Hogan and his wife, Valerie, ran head-on into a bus on a fog-shrouded highway east of
Van Horn, Texas in
1949.
Hogan was known to practice more than any other golfer of his contemporaries. He thought that an individual's golf swing was "in the dirt" and all one needed to do was dig it out by hitting enough golf balls. While afflicted with hooking the golf ball early in his career, he developed a "secret" which made his swing nearly automatic. His "secret" was once revealed in a
1955 Life magazine article, but many believed he did not reveal all that he knew.
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Ben Hogan's enduring influence on golf instruction is illustated by the title of this book, The Fundamentals of Hogan (2000) by the leading contemporary golf instructor David Leadbetter. |
Hogan believed that a solid, repeatable golf swing involved only a few essential elements, which, when performed correctly and in sequence, were the essence of the swing. His book
Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf is perhaps the most widely-read golf tutorial ever written, and the principles therein are often parroted by modern "swing gurus." The "Five Lessons," written after his prime, demonstrated his clear command and knowledge of the mechanics of the golf swing.
Ben Hogan's Modern Fundamentals: The Five Lessons of Golf was initially released as a five part series beginning in the March 1957 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, and was printed in book form later in that same year. It is currently in its 64th printing, and is widely reported to be the best selling golf book ever published. Even today it continues to maintain a place at or near the top of the Amazon.com golf book sales rankings. The book was co-authored by Herbert Warren Wind, and illustrated by artist Anthony Ravielli.
In
1948 alone, Ben Hogan won 10 tournaments, including the
U.S. Open at
Riviera Country Club, a course that was called "Hogan's Alley" because of his success there. Tragically, the following winter, a head-on collision with a bus nearly killed him. With a double-fracture of the
pelvis, a fractured
collar bone, a left
ankle fracture, a chipped
rib, and near-fatal
blood clots, he would suffer lifelong circulation problems and other physical limitations. His doctors said he might never walk again, let alone play golf competitively.
Prior to the 1949 accident, Hogan never truly captured the hearts of his galleries, despite being the dominant golfer of his time. Perhaps this was due to his cold and aloof on-course persona. But when Ben Hogan shocked and amazed the golf world by returning to tournament golf only 11 months after his accident, and, amazingly, took second place in the
1950 Los Angeles Open after a playoff loss to
Sam Snead, he was cheered on by ecstatic fans. "His legs simply were not strong enough to carry his heart any longer," famed
sportswriter Grantland Rice said of Hogan's near-miss. However, he proved to his critics (and to himself, especially) that he could still win by completing his famous comeback five months later, defeating
Lloyd Mangrum and
George Fazio in an 18-hole playoff at
Merion Golf Club to win his second U.S. Open Championship. Hogan went on to achieve what is perhaps the greatest sporting accomplishment in history, limping to 12 more
PGA Tour wins (including 6
Majors) before retiring. 1951 saw the release of a biopic starring
Glenn Ford as Hogan, called
Follow the Sun: The Ben Hogan Story. [
1] He even received a
ticker-tape parade in
New York City upon his return from winning the
1953 British Open Championship, the only time he played the event.
In
1953, Hogan won the
Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year in the United States.
Ben Hogan later went on to found a golf club manufacturing company (now owned by the Callaway Golf Company), and his clubs, or at least ones that carry his name, are still played today. Unlike the great players of the 1960's and 1970's, Ben Hogan never competed on the
senior golf tour, as that circuit did not exist until he was in his late sixties.
He was inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. In 1976, Ben Hogan was voted the
Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the
United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He died in
Fort Worth, Texas.
*1938 (1) Hershey Four-Ball (with
Vic Ghezzi)
*1940 (4)
North and South Open,
Greater Greensboro Open, Asheville Land of the Sky Open, Goodall Palm Beach Round Robin
*1941 (5) Asheville Open, Chicago Open, Hershey Open, Miami Biltmore International Four-Ball (with
Gene Sarazen), Inverness Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret)
*1942 (6)
Los Angeles Open, San Francisco Open,
North and South Open, Asheville Land of the Sky Open, Hale America Open, Rochester Open
*1945 (5) Nashville Invitational, Portland Open Invitational, Richmond Invitational, Montgomery Invitational, Orlando Open
*1946 (13)
Phoenix Open,
San Antonio Texas Open, St. Petersburg Open,
Colonial National Invitation,
Western Open, Winnipeg Open, Golden State Open,
Dallas Invitational,
North and South Open, Goodall Round Robin,
PGA Championship, Miami International Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret), Inverness Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret)
*1947 (7)
Los Angeles Open,
Phoenix Open,
Colonial National Invitation, Chicago Victory Open, World Championship of Golf, Miami International Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret), Inverness Round Robin Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret)
*1948 (10)
Los Angeles Open,
PGA Championship,
U.S. Open, Inverness Round Robin Four-Ball (with
Jimmy Demaret), Motor City Open, Reading Open,
Western Open, Denver Open, Reno Open, Glendale Open
*1949 (2)
Bing Crosby Pro-Am, Long Beach Open
*1950 (1)
U.S. Open*1951 (3)
The Masters,
U.S. Open, World Championship of Golf
*1952 (1)
Colonial National Invitation*1953 (5)
The Masters, Pan American Open,
Colonial National Invitation,
U.S. Open,
The Open Championship (designated as a PGA Tour win in 2002)
*1959 (1)
Colonial National InvitationMajor championships are shown in
bold.
| Tournament | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | - | The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T25 | 9|- | U.S. Open | CUT | DNP | CUT | DNP | CUT | T62|- | The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP|- | PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T9|}| Tournament | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | - | The Masters | T10 | DNP | 2 | NT | NT | NT | 2 | T4 | T6 | DNP|- | U.S. Open | T5 | T3 | NT | NT | NT | NT | T4 | T6 | 1 | DNP|- | The Open Championship | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP|- | PGA Championship | T5 | T5 | T5 | NT | DNP | DNP | 1 | T33 | 1 | DNP|}| Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | - | The Masters | T4 | 1 | T7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | T8 | CUT | T14 | T30|- | U.S. Open | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | T6 | 2 | T2 | DNP | T10 | T8|- | The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | 1 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP|- | PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP|}| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | - | The Masters | T6 | T32 | 38 | DNP | T9 | T21 | T13 | T10|- | U.S. Open | T9 | T14 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | 12 | T34|- | The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP|- | PGA Championship | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | T9 | T15 | DNP | DNP|}
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10*Ben Hogan never had a competitive hole in one. Sharon Ray, his longtime secretary, claims Hogan never made one in leisure play, either. Author Jim Dodson [2] says that Hogan stopped aiming at the cup because in the early days, pins were made of hickory so when Hogan hit the flagstick, the ball would bounce off the green.
*At age 9, Hogan's father Chester committed suicide. By some accounts Chester committed suicide in front of him, which some (including Hogan biographer James Dodson) have cited as the cause of his introverted personality in later years. [3]
*Though many accounts hold that Hogan was born left-handed, he wrote right-handed, and specifically denied this story in a 1987 interview: "No, that's one of those things that's always been written, but it's an absolute myth."*Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
*List of golfers with most major title wins*Ben Hogan Photos By A Ravielli Taken For The 5 Lessons of Golf
*Ben Hogan at Golf Stars Online Directory of relevant online Hogan resources
*Ben Hogan on About.com Profile, stats and quotes
*Ben Hogan Profile at Golf Legends
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