Hogan's follow-through and Mickey Wright

[golferdude54]

Hogan said Mickey Wright's swing was the best he ever saw, so did Byron Nelson in his autobiography. So what did Mickey do in her swing that Hogan also did? Well, in their follow-through they both didn't let the club rehinge as fast as everyone else. What I mean is, you hear "width" in golf swing instruction as it pertains to the backswing but it's not really taught after impact. 

 

They had a "wide" follow-through, they push the clubhead out as far away from their chest as possible when their right arm is parallel to the ground after impact whereas 99.9% of golfers would already be rehinging at this point. Is there a way to capture this feeling after impact that they did? Absolutely!

 

So when your back arm is parallel to the ground after impact, there's a spot below your top hand thumb and it should be contact the bottom side of your back forearm, and your sense of touch will still be sensitive enough that you can feel the contact at a fast speed. Now, this also makes your bottom hand cross over your top but that is 100% supposed to happen, Hogan did it and Wright did it, it's impossible to never release. It gets the club on-plane and the clubhead as far away from your chest as possible and bonus, it levels out your shoulders to your spine as opposed to the steep-shouldered "hanging onto the forward shaft lean" release. 

 

I've looked everywhere online for this, and I've never read about this skin contact feeling between the bottom side of the back forearm and the area below the top hand thumb, so I just wanted to put it out there. You do lose contact between the point when the back arm is parallel to ground after impact and the end of your follow-through but if you get them to touch after impact, you've gotten closer to the same release as Ben and Mickey's.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by golferdude54

[Ifelloffladder]

Wish I could get a picture of what you mean "top hand thumb" touching the "bottom side of your back forearm." So as a right hand golfer are you referring the back arm as your right arm?

[golferdude54]

15 hours ago, Ifelloffladder said:

Wish I could get a picture of what you mean "top hand thumb" touching the "bottom side of your back forearm." So as a right hand golfer are you referring the back arm as your right arm?

 

Here is Hogan in 1953 (his best year) hitting between a 3/4 and full PW, this should dispel any myths that Hogan kept his left hand higher than his right ala Trevino, his right hand is clearly crossed over his left, on a finesse shot to boot. The bottom edge of his right forearm is either contacting or very close to contacting the skin area below his left thumb, hopefully this image makes my description easier to see.

Edited November 12, 2022 by golferdude54

[Ifelloffladder]

I get what you are saying. Is he is flipper or holder? This training exercise of his should clearly show what his arms are doing on the release and follow through.

 

[golferdude54]

No one "holds" in the follow-through, and what Hogan is doing on the Ed Sullivan show is a drill used mainly for keeping the arms in front of the body, and it's not a full speed swing whatsoever. Here is Lee Trevino hitting a driver in the 1971 US Open in route to winning that and also the Open Championship while having the lowest scoring average on tour that season.

 

Even he turned the right hand over the left, it is humanly impossible to do the opposite especially with a driver and if you actually do it, you end up hitting it over 50 yards shorter than you would on a proper release. There's a reason Hogan advocated supinating after impact in his 5 Lessons book, though not to the extent that he explains. Why anyone thought of actually doing the opposite and keeping the left hand above the right as long as possible after impact is beyond me.

[Ifelloffladder]

There is a hold on the release not their follow through. Actually that is his full swing and shows just how his arms are fin his release and follow through. Now as for the left arm being higher I think Moe Norman comes to mind.

 

And getting back to your point about the follow through with extended arms to create a "wide" swing prior to hinging, that is only allowed when the club is in front of your body hence the video I provided to clearly show why Hogan has a "wide" follow through. If golfers try to copy this movement they are going to whip the club out farther going off their plane artificially and will develop a habit at whipping at the ball in order to create that "wide" follow through.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Ifelloffladder

[golferdude54]

Explain why Hogan completely rolls over in his drill in this pic. And also explain Moe's position hitting a driver in full-speed in 1987 when he was still relatively young and had speed in this pic. The release just after impact doesn't matter because it already happened, the more important aspects are making sure your shoulders level out and that the club rises onto a higher plane compared to impact and have a balanced finish. You try to hold on as long as possible trying to keep the left hand above right and going "low and left" and your back will blow out completely.

[Ifelloffladder]

Well, it's just his way of dealing with the speed he generates going through impact in order to stay on HIS plane as much as possible also to compensate as the body rotates into his finish.

[golferdude54]

Want to bring up another similarity between Mickey Wright and who Hogan respected enough as a ball-striker to test his clubs, Lee Trevino.

 

It’s their left foot from start of the downswing into the finish. They literally never swivel after planting it down in transition.
 

Mickey’s left foot was more stable than Trevino’s, and I can see why Hogan considered her to have the best swing ever.
 

But Trevino’s left foot was more stable than Hogan who would swivel juuust a little bit with the driver but not nearly as much as say, Nicklaus.