Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

I think before we can answer this we need to consider what constitutes "The best swing ever". Does it mean the best looking swing? The best ball striking swing? The longest hitting swing? The swing with the best tempo? The swing that compresses the ball best. The most on plane swing? Or all of these, or what?

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

If your talking about the best looking swing then I'd definately say yes. I have read his "Five Lessons" book and I'd have to say the guy came across as a proper gent as well, what a legend

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

hi
if the best swing is the guy that wins most the you have to say Jack Nicklaus although he his swing elbow.
with hogan you have to remember he had two swings one before the accident and one after and both were pretty good swings.
Garry Player has been swing the same since the later 50s and he still swings the same today and he must be the player that has been swing in the same way longest and still shooting under his age on a regular basis. I think he is 74 now and he shot a round of 69 a few weeks ago.
Hogan did have a nice smooth swing and it looked the same if hitting a wedge to hitting a driver.
i don't think you can say he was the best but he was one of the best.
cheers
bill

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Look no further than the man in my avatar!

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Thanks all for replying, i understand that there is alot that goes into a swing and it was a bit of a general question. I was thinking along the lines of you could have one swing who's would it be. For me it would have to hogan. Also in regaurds to the amount he won and this is no disrespect to Jack because he is a true master of this beautiful game, i belive that had it not been for his militiary service and his accident, which was the reason his putting stroke left him due to his left eye being damaged in the accident. which in turn is the reason he didin't have that killer game when he didn't it down the stretch, he would of won alot more than 10 majors he ended with. this proved by his last real showing in the 1960 national open at cherry hills in which by his 12th hole on his final round he had hit an incredibal 30 greens in regulation not bad for a 48 year old. Feel free to disagree or agree...

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

hi
i think you have a different kind of player back then when you had Sneed and Hogan. the golf was there life and they did not make great money like the player do now for just turning up.
i think Trevino was another like Hogan had to fight back after he was hit by lightning twice and had his spine welded and pinned and had to fight to get back to play at top level.
you have players like Gary Player having to get in the top 3 just to have money so he could eat that week. traveling and sleeping in his car for weeks at an end so he could same money to send back to his wife.
so different to now a days when M Wie get $12m just to sign for Nike.

all through history you have had wonderful players, Jones the that would not go pro, Baird and Park from the early opens back in Scotland that changed golf and changed the courses we played and they gave America golf and designed some wonderful courses in the States.
Hogan changed golf and how people played it with his wonderful book. he was years ahead of all other books of the time and still a good read today and a great first book for someone new to the game.
its hard to think of a better golfer based on swing or on ball control.
Lee Trevino and Moe Norman are up there as the best strikers of a ball along with Ben Hogan.
course management has to be Jack Nicklaus, most athletic has to be Tiger. most travailed has to be Garry Player.
in Europe Bernard Langer has to be up there as he was the first player from Germany where they had no pro golfer and that seemed to start golf in Europe. the French and the Swedes as well as Seve and the new Spanish golfer that came after him. all of them started golf where there was no real pro golf and Bernard and Seve became great champions.
cheers
bill

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Lots of points well answered, that is what i was looking i was looking for thanks. Do you think that if Nelson had carried on playing rather than calling it quits early on he would have out shone Hogan because he seemed always to have one over Hogan. Also another point if you moved the likes of Hogan, Nelson, Snead, Demaret...etc, to today with modern equipment and as quite rightly mentioned pampered lifestyles. Do you think that Tiger as great as he is would have the domination he has now?

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

hi
i think the big difference between say Tiger and Hogan is the amount of time that Tiger spends in the gym and just how fit he is and also his diet and what he eats makes a difference and he had so many staff looking after needs. back in Hogan's time you eat what was put in front of you and were greatfull and you also spent as much time traveling as you did playing as most of the players back in Hogans time spent Monday/Tuesday traveling to the next tournament.
most player back then had the same golf clubs for years not like Tiger changing his wedges every couple of months.

i remember Ray Floyd was got into to play a young guy (Lee Trevino) for a money game and the Trevino was sitting on the steps when Floyd arrived and he tossed him the keys and told Trevino to get his clubs and bags out the car. when Floyd got to the first tee there was about 20 members were there betting on the game and Trevino turned up carrying his own bag and Floyd thought he was a boot boy and a caddy.
Trevino beat him and most of the members won money from Floyd and the guys that came with him. back then most players toured clubs and bet on beating the best the club had to offer and often gave them a few shots start.
Ray Floyd was said to have won twice as much betting as he ever won playing on tour.
there was many games that Hogan played like this too and his club members would add to the betting pot.
Hogan was a player that was obsess in getting his swing better and was never happy with his swing all his life. his putting was a problem that cost him a lot of matches as he got older.
cheers
bill

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

I guess taking it all into consideration I have to go with Bobby Jones.

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

hi
i think if Hogan played today he would be in the top 50 but if you put the top 50 player from today back in Hogans time with there equipment i think a lot of top pros would struggle against the likes of Hogan and Sneed.
i think it would be the same if you had Jack, lee Tom Watson, Gary Player etc playing on todays tour i think most would be up there in the top 10 or close to it but take the top 10 players of today and have them play back in the 70s than i think the likes of jack and lee and tom would still be winning more then our present day top 10 players.
i think the game has changed so much with player so much fitter and work out in the gym. also as you say the equipment has changed so much.
cheers
bill

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Ben Hogan was undoubtedly the best at being Ben Hogan.

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Hogans swing was the epitomy of what a golf swing should be.
the answer to the question, in my mind, yes his swing was the best.

Re: Ben Hogan, simple question is he the best?

Hi,

I think he was one of the best for his time. I think there is alot of learning to be had today from his attitude and swing mechanics.
In my opinion Roger Bannister the first man to run the fastest mile was a great athlete in his time. However althletes today look totally different physically.
It is virtually impossible to compare past /present golfers, things move on with regards to both training/technology.
In my opinion the best guy of all time has to be Woods, there is no comparison. There is no other golfer who has ever picked up a club who has trained and practiced as hard as the great man. He his physically and mentally ahead of his peers. His swing/attitude/ ability to sink putts and nail pins when under pressure and not forgetting his sucesses to date show that he is the greatest.
This is only my opinion guys, but we are looking at the greatest golfer of all time.I just hope the injury does not end his career.

Best wishes Bogeygolfer.