Ben Hogan - The Greatest Golfer of His Time

Ben Hogan was the youngest of three kids. He was born August 13, 1912 and died July 25, 1997. At a young age, he learned the value of hard work. He married Valerie in 1935. She supported him throughout his career.

1953 was the best year of Hogan's career. He won five of his six tournaments along with the first three major championships of the year. That became known as the "Hogan Slam".

Ben Hogan thought he developed a secret swing. He came up with this because of his major injuries from when his wife and himself were in a head on collision. He also kept hooking the ball. He then had to learn how to move his body so he could continue his love of golf. He came up with the idea of moving his hands around the grip. This prevented him from hooking the ball to either side of the field. Although this helped his hook, he realized that it hurt his distance. Ben did some research as to how the older generation of golfers positioned their hands and grips of the clubs. He then came up with an idea about rotating his fingers and wrists to make one grip weaker than the other. When he tried this new grip, his ball went higher, straighter and farther down the fairway. Ben Hogan is known for his secret, but also as the first to get a "Hogan Slam".

During his career, he won 64 PGA Tournaments, 2 Masters (1953 & 1951), 4 US Opens (1948, 1950, 1951, & 1943), 1 British Open (1953), and 2 PGA Championships (1946 & 1948).