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Summary: The Best Little Golf Swing Book Ever
Review: It beats reading all the advice in golf magazines. After the first few sets of golf lessons both group and private, I read it and re-read it and incorporated each of the things he talks about starting from reworking my grip to the follow through, and it works. My swing is repeatable and consistent.
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Summary: Got this for my husband
Review: I ordered this book for my husband who is into playing golf, making golf clubs, watching golf, and talking golf. He belongs to The Greek Army Golf Club and this book was recommended by another member. My husband absolutely loves this book and claims that there is none better. Am I ever happy that I made him so happy with this simple purchase!
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Summary: Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals of Golf
Review: If you're going to play golf, you need this book. On first read it appears relatively simple. 10 years later I wished I had memorized it. There are GREAT truths in even some of the smallest details of this book. You CAN'T go wrong buying it. Enjoy.
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Summary: If You're Going To Do It Anyway, This Is The Book To Use
Review: If you're going to insist upon squandering your precious time on Earth (not to mention money and health) playing as worthless, useless and pointless a game as golf, then this is definitely the book to buy for solid instruction from the master. While following Hogan's guide to the rudiments and advanced techniques of the game, do take care not to develop the destructive gambling, smoking and misanthropic attributes that manifest themselves in the overwhelming majority of golfers. While Hogan's mechanics are subject to debate (such as keeping your right foot perpendicular to the line of flight in specific instances), his fundamentals will enable you to gain more control over the ball... even though you're otherwise occupied with an activity that stands unchallenged as the greatest waste of life in the universe. Keep your head still, your left arm straight, grip firmly with the last three fingers of your left hand (for right-handed players), and always follow through.
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Summary: Not for beginners
Review: "Five Lessons" is one the classic books that every golfer should own if for no other reason than the excellent illustrations. There's a wealth of information here. That being said, I don't think it's a good book for beginner golfers. The problems is that there is so much detail on the second-by-second mechanics that it could (and does) very easily lead into paralysis by analysis. For the beginner golfer a much better book would be something like "Swing the Clubhead" by Ernest Jones (if you can find it) and any book by Harvey Penick (just to appreciate the joy of golf if for no other reason.) Learn the fundamentals of the full swinging action and then get Hogan's book to fine-tune your swing.
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Summary: The only golf instruction book you'll ever need.
Review: This was the first golf instruction book that I ever purchased. Due to the book arising from the five lessons published in a magazine, the format is unlike anything before or since. Each lesson leaves you in no doubt as to what to practice and how. If you diligently apply yourself to each lesson, and only then move on to the next, you will have a set of solid building blocks, which will stand you in good stead as you progress through your golfing life. The illustrations are rightfully lauded as the best, and most instructive of all time. Listening to the most meticulous of all golfers, 'in his own idiom' brings a flavour of the man. This, his second book, tells you all you need to know to be able to develop a sound swing. You will read and re-read this book many times over the years. It's been said that Hogan wasn't generous in sharing his knowledge. An economy of words was always his style. That's why when he spoke, people listened. Read this book. Go out and practice what's in it, and Hogan will continue talking to you.
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Summary: Simply the Best.
Review: When I took up the game about ten years back, a co-worker (and single-digit handicapper) told me "Get Hogan's Five Fundamentals. It will tell you all you'll ever need to know about striking a golf ball." As time passed and my game improved, those words rung truer with each passing season. I've spent hundreds of dollars on other books but I keep coming back to this little treasure. My paperback copy is literally starting to fall apart from multiple re-readings. The first time I read through the book, the only things I took from it were how to properly grip the club and that awesome image of the pane of glass defining the swing plane (accurate or not...). The later chapters just went over my head at the time. As I worked on my game however a funny thing happened. One by one I would make "breakthroughs" only to find them staring back at me from the pages of Hogan's book. The comment about this book being laden with hidden gems is right on the money. It seems like every time I read it, I pick up another subtle insight.I've heard the criticism that if this was such a great book, you wouldn't have to read it ten times to get the meaning. Perhaps there's a kernel of truth in this, but I think the nature of the golf swing makes describing it a monumental challenge indeed. Like most pursuits of substance though, diligent effort will eventually be rewarded. Talking with accomplished golfers, I'm simply amazed at the number of different benefits people have derived from this book. For me, the best single piece of advice was to start a practice journal. Over several years this allowed me to boil a million different ideas about putting down into my own very personal set of putting fundamentals. This ridiculously simple set of rules has stood the test of time, serving me well for a number of years now. I've since tried to bring the same methodical approach the other areas of my game. So my advice is get your hands on a copy of this book and be ready to invest yourself in it. Give it some time to work and check back periodically. Soon you'll be hitting those "shots with real character" Mr. Hogan and Mr. Wind speak so eloquently of.
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Summary: The most important part of a program of golf instruction:
Review: Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: I was a new golfer when I bought Ben Hogan's Five Lessons, as well as other instructional materials, including David Leadbetter's great "Computer Coach" CD. I took golf lessons right away, getting video-tapes of my swing, and so on. I read Ben Hogan's book repeatedly. I was so serious about it that I transcribed large parts of the text to disk as an exercise. The combined result of these efforts is that after a few years I have acquired a golf swing that looks and works as it should. Not only can I perform the swing, I understand it and can explain it. Ben Hogan's book played the most important role in the process. I highly recommend the book, to study it with perseverence, to take professional lessons, and to analyze the swings of the pro's using other sources, also.
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Summary: This is a cornerstone book on the golf swing
Review: If you have a serious desire to understand the golf swing, buy this book. Nick Price is said to carry this book with him wherever he goes. Price has become one of the greatest ball strikers of our time by studying and emulating Hogan. Some reviewers question its value for the average golfer, however. I'd put it another way. This book requires diligent attention to its exacting detail. Though clearly written and superbly illustrated (from actual photographs of Hogan), many people nevertheless fail to actually do what Hogan says to do. The great golf instructor Jim Hardy has commented, "Every word in Hogan's Five Lessons is meaningful. You must pay attention to everything he says!" If you can find your way toward replicating Hogan's instructions, you will have an excellent grip, an excellent set up, and a powerful, repeating golf swing.
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Summary: The Most Misunderstood Book In The World
Review: All golfers should buy this book, but few if any should follow its advice. Let me explain. This book is the golf-instructional bible, on which all modern-day teaching is based. Nevertheless, the modern golf instructors (Leadbetter, Harmon, etc.), all agree that much of the advice in Hogan's book would be disasterous if followed by the average golfer. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why even though millions have read this book, the same millions continue to hit week slices and shanks, and otherwise continue to find golf a maddening game, with no answers in sight. Hogan's technique was based on solving problems that the average golfer does not have. For instance, Hogan sought in vein to figure out how to hit the ball more from left to right - the average golfer needs to figure out how to do just the opposite. Further, Hogan had inate physical skills that the rest of us don't have. If you try to copy his technique, you are destined for a lifetime of frustration. My advice is this. Buy this book. Read it once through. Then buy David Leadbetter's book called "The Fundamentals of Hogan," and read it once through. You will then understand the origin of modern golf teaching, and see how it has evolved over the past fifty years. If you have any doubts, buy Tiger Woods' book called "How I Play Golf" and you will see that even Tiger agrees that Hogan's advice simply does not work for the average golfer. To be sure that there is no confusion, let me be clear - do not follow the advice in Hogan's book. It was right for him, but wrong for you.
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