Friday, October 31, 2008

Ted Williams - The Ben Hogan of Baseball

"I just shook a hand that felt like five bands of steel" (Ted Williams upon meeting Ben Hogan in 1951)
If Williams said that I can't imagine how strong Hogans hands must have been. It is interesting to me that both Williams and Hogan the best hitter in baseball and the best ballstriker in golf exercised their hands in the same manner by incessantly squeezing balls and that they both used the same basic stance. Back foot square forward foot flared. In Follow The Sun the first thing Hogan works on after the accident is hand strength, basically because it was the only thing he could work on while in bed recovering from the rest of his injuries, but nonetheless he did it. Ken Venturi described Hogan as a "hands and hips player" and I think that in many ways that is accurate. Who would question Venturi? When you watch Williams you are also watching a hands and hips guy. A lot to be learned about swinging just about anything from watching Williams here and a lot to learn about golf too if you pay attention. Enjoy

1 comment:

The Artful Golfer said...

I picked up the game nearly 4 years ago at 46 years old, after playing roller hockey for about 10 years. My golf swing evolved from my hockey swing. Here's a sample slapshot to compare with the golf swing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js6_WAS-Ay4