Joe Wilkins, Copyright (c) 2014

When I dropped baseball and took up golf at the age of sixteen, it was with mixed feelings. I was a very good baseball player, and I really wanted to play both sports in high school, but that was not possible because high school participation in both these sports was in the springtime. As I plunged into golf with my high school buddy, it was not long before I was hooked–and golf was the winner! Also, at this time I had to change high schools due to unfortunate family circumstances, and the new high school’s baseball team was set, while the golf team was begging for players. It was an easy choice. The year was 1953.

Having an analytical type mind, I proceeded to learn as much about the game as possible. So I purchased Ben Hogan’s instruction book, Power Golf. Having been told by other golfers that I had a very good natural swing–getting into the 80’s within a few months–I became determined to improve and shoot in the 70’s. Hogan’s book promised that was possible if I would just follow his techniques. Well, it didn’t happen–in high school, at least.

After high school I joined the US Air Force for four years, playing no golf whatsoever from the age of eighteen until age twenty-six. By then my interest was rekindled and I took up the game with renewed vigor. I was quickly shooting in the eighties again, with an occasional foray into the high seventies, but consistently good scores were elusive. Sadly, I soon realized that absence had not made my golf swing better. In high school I had a long, flexible swing that produced considerable distance, with balls that started straight, but faded or sliced to the right. Draw shots were non-existent. This pattern of golf shots remained the same.

So I re-studied Hogan’s Power Golf  book, as well as his more recent Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. However, despite extensive study, lessons, and practice, my game remained much the same. I did get my handicap down to four at one time, but becoming a par golfer eluded me, primarily because of those left-to-right ball flights, often into adjoining fairways. And this problem persists in my game today.

Even though advancing age is now limiting my game even further, I still desire to get better. This has recently prompted me to rethink my relationship with the golf swing as advocated by Hogan, and I think this will be of interest to those golfers who are analysts of the game.

My recent thoughts focus on the left wrist during the swing. Hogan, Bobby Jones, and countless others have advocated a “cupped” left wrist when the club is held in the address position, with the clubhead being square to the target line. This is almost universal positioning when viewing photos, TV images, and live-action pros at address. However, not much is said about this, so we must presume that it is as standard and correct as standing on two feet while getting ready to hit a ball. Further, they state that to get an idea of what the position of the hands should be at the top of the backswing, simply break the wrists straight up from the address position, then move the hands to the top of the backswing. When this is done the golfer will notice that there will be varying degrees of cup in the left wrist at the top. If the amount of cup at the top is the same as was at address, then the clubface will still be square to the plane of the swing and the direction line. And if the other parts of the swing are correct for the individual golfer, then straight shots should be the result.

But Hogan was plagued with an occasional duck hook that was  “the terror of the field mice,” as he described in an article in Life magazine in June, 1955, as he relented and told his “secret” to the world. This secret entailed taking his normal address position, fanning the club open at the beginning of the backswing, and cupping his left wrist slightly at the top. From this position he could go into his downswing and hit as hard as he wished and he would get a higher flight with a slight fade–with no loss of distance!

When looking at the drawings of Hogan in the address positions in his two books it is clear that he addressed the ball with a cupped left wrist, with the clubhead being square to the line of flight. Now, if he had maintained that degree of cup throughout his swing, the geometry of his efforts should have produced relatively straight shots, with hooks being quite rare. However, in his early days he did not maintain that cup; in fact when one views photos of him at the top, we see that his left wrist is flat, meaning that the clubface is now closed relative to its position at address. Not wonder he was always fighting a hook. Even after he made his “secret” changes we will note that his backswing plane was flat, with a relatively flat left wrist at the top. It is my belief that it was the rolling or pronating of the hands at takeaway, considerably opening the clubface, being the primary reason he was able to eliminate the hook.

Now what does all this mean to you and me? I contend that the cupped wrist at address is natural and more free from tension than other positions, and would benefit most golfers. Since most golfers are always fighting a slice, maintaining the cupped wrist throughout the swing and letting centrifugal force release the clubhead at impact, maintaining its relative squareness to the line of flight, will serve most golfers the best. I have tried removing the cup during my backswing by flattening my left wrist at the top, but this produces increased tension in my hands and arms, resulting in Army golf shots that go left-right, left-right! I am now trying to go back to my natural cupping, with increased relaxation in my entire upper body, with “spaghetti” arms and hands. I will try to incorporate this increased relaxation into a longer, looser swing, which will allow centrifugal force to exert its natural action. In effect, I am going back to the natural swing of my youth, correcting the major deficiency of that swing by staying as relaxed as possible in my hands and arms as the clubhead goes through impact.

In closing, all dedicated golfers know how difficult and mysterious this game can be. The combinations of things we can try to get better approaches infinity, so we will not live long enough to try them all. It took Ben Hogan almost twenty years to figure out what was best for his game, so I doubt if many of us will do any better.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend at Mystery Valley Golf Club in Georgia. His name was Red Dobbins, one of the best amateur golfers anywhere. During a period when I was going through all sorts of swing experiments and changes, and being very frustrated because they were not helping me, I asked Red if he ever experimented with his swing. He said, “Joe, if I couldn’t experiment and try things to get better, I’d give up the game!” I said to myself if it was good enough for Red it was good enough for me. I’ll keep on trying. Don’t you quit either!  Fore!