Here’s a true story.
It involves one of my very favourite golfers who ever graced this planet.
Ben Hogan.
Now for those of you not familiar with Ben Hogan, he was the Tiger Woods of his day, only he hit the ball super straight, hardly ever missing a fairway and remained happily married to one woman for his whole life.
Ben’s life story is quite a read, if you not familiar, worth having a google.
Back before a U.S. Open in the 1950’s Ben was on the range on one of the practice days, drilling ball after ball. He was renowned for his work ethic and the amount of balls he hit in practice. In fact stories of Hogan’s work ethic and practice are the stuff of golfing legend.
As he was midway through his practice session, Max Faulkner a British pro stopped by and watched Hogan hit some balls for 10 minutes or so.
Hogan just ignored him and carried on hitting.
Faulkner watched as Hogan ripped long iron after long iron into the pale blue sky, watching it climb to the top of its flight and then gently fall to the right, landing one bounce into his caddies practice bag.
Back in the day, old school pros used to hit practice shots and have their caddies stand in the middle of the range and field the balls, the practice was called shagging balls. Go figure.
After a while Faulkner could contain himself no more;
“You know Ben, I could help you fix that fade”. Now bearing in mind Hogan was already a major champion and multiple tour winner, so he knew one end of a club from another.
Hogan stops what he’s doing, turns round to Faulkner and fixes him with a stare and then says “ You don’t see the caddie moving do you Max?”. Hogan then continues to hit balls without saying another word to Faulkner and completely ignoring him.
And there’s a lesson in this for all regular and weekend players.
Whilst the world may be obsessed with hitting the ball longer, hitting the ball right to left or in fact hitting it dead straight, you have to find what works for you and stick with it.
It’s like your finger print, it’s always going to be there and you’re never going to get rid of it, so might as well embrace it.
Back in the day every pro wanted to draw the ball, they were obsessed with it. Hogan worked out that a fade was much more reliable in competition and far easier to control. He couldn’t care less if he was the only one fading the ball. Quite often he was the one picking up the winners cheque.
Now moving onto other business.
If you’re a weekend player looking to take a few stroked off the scorecard or even drop that handicap or index, then my free e-book “9 Ways to Lower Your Handicap & Shoot Your Best Round Ever” will be just the ticket.
Bob James PGA