Dr. Rotella & Ben Hogan on the Swing
Day 4 reading "Mr. Hogan, the Man I Knew" by Kris Tschetter
Hogan and “shadow swinging.”
Let’s go back to that afternoon when Kris introduced Dr. Bob Rotella to Ben Hogan.
Doc was curious about Hogan’s obsession with swing mechanics. So he was surprised when Hogan said it was never about mechanics. It was always about feel.
In the early days of his career, when Hogan was developing his swing, a lot of his practice involved “shadow swinging.”
Doc asked, “Shadow swinging? What do you mean?”
Hogan explained that no one had personal video cameras in those days. If you wanted to see your swing, you had to look in a mirror, which was hard because you had to keep looking up.
Or you found a place where the shadows were cast just right and watched your shadow. That was one of Hogan’s favorite ways to practice. You can’t get too technical with a shadow.
Practicing in the moonlight.
Then he told Doc an interesting story.
Just as Hogan’s career was taking off, America entered World War II. Hogan served two years in the Army Air Corps.
He said, “I got up every morning before revelry and used the moonlight to see my shadow. I’d swing a couple hundred times, watching and feeling my swing. Most of my practice during that time was through feeling my swing in the dark.”
We all think of Hogan as a player so devoted to mechanics that he practiced until his hands bled. Have you ever thought of Hogan practicing in the moonlight without a ball, just watching his shadow—not trying to perfect his swing, but trying to feel it?
“I described what I felt.”
Doc thought about that. And he thought about Hogan’s book.
Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons is one of the bestselling golf books of all time. But wasn’t that book all about mechanics?
Hogan disagreed.
He said, “In my book, I described what I felt. That’s all I could do. I didn’t know if anybody else would be doing what I was doing when they tried to imitate what I was feeling. But that’s all I had to offer. And I did as good a job as I could to describe that feeling.”
Hogan wasn’t downplaying mechanics. He loved to work on those details. He loved the physics of the golf swing.
But he was chasing that shadow, that feeling—which he confirmed to Doc by summing up his game in just four words: “I play by feel.”
Helen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen. They must be felt.”
Today’s lesson flips a myth on its head. But how do we let go of our mechanical obsession? Doc offers a suggestion. “The practice swing,” he says, “can be the backdoor through which thoughts about mechanics invade your routine.”
So after you decide on the shot you want to hit, use your practice swings to feel the swing you want to make. Forget about the position at the top or the angel at impact. Feel your swing. Feel the rhythm. By simply reframing the purpose of your practice swings, you’ll not only protect yourself from mechanical distractions, but you’ll develop the trust you need to play by feel, just like Hogan.
That’s all for now. Until next time, keep imagining what’s possible.