Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf Paperback – September 20, 1985

I keep buying this booklet... I have purchased it three times, as it gets disappearing from my home. I guess my friends visiting my home have gotten it, after I showed it to them. This is book is classic. It helps a new golfer even more. Grips, posture, foot positions, swings, and others are all covered intuitively. The only problem is that I cannot copy what is written in the book!

I won't go into a summary of the 5 Lessons because, well, it hardly needs one. What I will say is that the notion that the average golfer would suffer by paying attention to what Mr. Hogan describes in this masterpiece is utterly ridiculous. The facts are the following:- This man's swing was/is envied by legions of golfers, prob for all time.- Everything he says about the swing, is not only true - it's the holy grail to great striking- This is not a complete picture of Ben Hogan's swing, it's a breakdown of how to implement/apply the fundamentals, not his exact swing. There are variations that come along with each fundamental - they are tweaks that work only in conjunction with other modifications - such is the golf swing; Mr Hogan took most of those to his grave, at least the explanations, that is. There are clues to *what* (not necessarily how) he did in the golf swing, they are out there - everywhere...- Claims that Ben Hogan had more physical ability than most people and that being the reason for his swing being nearly flawless are preposterous. He was an athletic man, but he was *just* a man, after all. No, what Hogan had was not physical, it was mental strength, heart, dedication, and most importantly, motivation - something Ben Hogan had droves of (if that's not a secret I don't know what is).- Anyone can develop a swing based on these fundamentals. Key word, CAN - not will*. Just like ANYONE can become a rocket scientist given the right motivation/circumstance/effort etc, the same holds true for any version of the golf swing, including variations of these techniques, and believe it or not - Ben Hogan's own variation(s). Also, theories about body types limiting these fundamentals are nonsensical, and over-stated.- An open club face, with the RIGHT path - will always produce a reliable shot, it's call a fade. You can even hit a hook with an open club face, given the correct alterations in the setup/path. The idea that this will just make you slice more is just silly, it's the chicken or the egg - if you're already a slicer, you likely swing out to in, which means you are destined to hit slices for life anyway - and a hook, much less a draw - is something you will never experience. Don't believe me? close the clubface and swing away, if you're a slicer, it'll still be a slice. Some argue that it is better to learn how to hook a ball first, and then adjust your grip - but in my mind (and more importantly Hogan's) - if you learn how to hit from the inside correctly, the difference between a weak grip and a strong one is obviously a fade and a draw.Well, a power fade is far more consistent than a draw and if you manage to do what Hogan did, which was hit a push fade - the loss of distance is negligible. After all, this is what Hogan battled for his whole career, a repeating fade that didn't lose distance as compared to a draw; he accomplished this.- The biggest thing to draw/learn from this book has nothing to do with "the secret" - at least not how people have historically described outside of this book (aka weak grip, cupped wrist). The real secret is to take everything Hogan says in his book as bible and follow it until you figure out what he's saying about swing path, ball positions, grip* etc. That's why they are called the 5 fundamentals...Hogan never said follow this book and have HIS swing - the amount of dedication required to develop a swing like Hogan's is something only experience will reveal.- Forget all this stuff about this book being too advanced for the avg golfer - this is the best Golf book of all time, and if you think there is a single Pro out there that hasn't figured out the majority of what Hogan is saying here, you're fooling yourself. Denying that fact is to deny yourself the chance of discovering your golf swing - you have zero chance, if you never try at all. Gotta be in it to win it.Happy Golfing!

Good book.

Although now written before most of today's golfers were even born, this is an excellent reference guide, well illustrated, on how to build a solid golf swing. Every serious golfer should read it.

I owned this book several years ago and sold it; it was too tedious for a beginner/novice. Now at least 10 years later, I have been taking lessons and looking at videos from several teachers (PurePoint, Consistant Golf, PerfomMax, Shawn Clement, etc.) who all seem to follow him very closely. The grip remains good even today. Posture is classic. The fundamentals of the backswing are ever so slightly different from modern teaching. The hip movements in the backswing have to be practiced as he advocates -- slightly sliding to the back then leading with them on the downswing. The downswing is closer to what the current long drive hitters advocate -- starting with the hips before the backswing is completed. If you can follow his instructions in conjunction with modern teaching, you can have a solid, repeating swing. His clear descriptions of how to hold your arms and place your elbows and keep them close have helped me begin to rid my slice. Some teachers will argue that some of his techniques are not the best, like lifting your left heel (righthanders) on the backswing which might produce different results as one can't control how much it lifts in quarter of inches.Reading the book is not easy, although the drawings help, as it is written in a run-on almost rambling manner laced with lengthy paragraphs in all capital letters. This is the reason I give the book a "4." One has to extract the instruction. Fortunately, it is a short book with basically one chapter for each lesson. He suggests practicing each lesson before moving on. I recommend this as it easier to read one lesson at a time. Rereading is not a bad idea either. One of the more confusing elements is his description of the swing place as a pane of glass with a hole in the center for your head. It is not an easy idea to comprehend. I have had instructors refer to this as if the plane were parallel to the ground as in a baseball swing!A pure beginner should start somewhere else and the come back to this to cleanup and strengthen. Any one who wants to read this book should google for "Hogan's swing" for a great many examples of just how he did it as well as a number of videos of instructors trying to find his "secret!"Overall, not a bad role model for any one.

The best instruction from the best ball striker in history. Every golfer should have it in the library

I used it for just some basic fundamentals for my wife and kids. Ben Hogan had a unique set up and swing for himself so don't think you will be able to recreate it. Enjoyed the read and passed it on to our boys.