The Late Great Jimmy Bruen

Here's a picture of the great Henry Cotton showing the equally great Jimmy Bruen his idea of proper left hand action through the ball. "Who's Jimmy Bruen?" you may ask.

Jimmy Bruen may be the most naturally gifted golfer to ever come out of Ireland.

Before Trevino, and Couples and Jim Furyk the granddaddy of all loops belonged to Jimmy Bruen. The "Bruen Loop". A plus 1 handicap by age 15, at 16 Jimmy Bruen won the 1936 British Boys Championship with one of the most unique and powerful actions in the history of golf.

To get an idea of how unique and how extreme the Bruen Loop was check this position at the top. Taken from a great article about the Bruen Loop from TeeTime Ireland ( http://www.teetimeireland.com/teetimeireland/history.php?historyid=502 )

Jimmy Bruen Played on numerous Walker Cup teams and his mere presence on the 1938 team is said to have simultaineously inspired the GB&I boys and shook the Yanks up sufficiently to deliver a win for the UK team which would be the last until 1971.

Bruen was the last amateur to lead qualifying in the British Open and also won the 1946 British Amateur after a 5 year hiatus caused by WWII. It is almost certain that Bruen's trophy cabinet would have been crammed to overflowing were it not for the war.

In 1946 Bruen injured his left wrist lifting a heavy garden tile making necessary numerous surgeries on the damaged limb. He was never really the same and that is a shame.

Cotton is said to have worked with Bruen to develope a more conventional swing path and stated that Bruen was eqally impressive with a conventional swing path, but that the Bruen Loop delivered a power that even Cotton was hard pressed to explain. To quote the British I'm "gobsmacked" also.

Below is a beautiful and moving video of Jimmy Bruen. Behold The Bruen Loop!!

Wild Bill Mehlhorn

Wild Bill Mehlhorn was born Decmber 2, 1898 and played the tour in its’ early days. He won 20 times between 19 23 and 1930 including a 5 victory campaign in 1926 and a 6 win season in 1928. Wild Bill never won a major although he came in the top ten in 14 of them. A remarkable career for someone known as one of the worst putters in the history of championship golf.

Stories of Mehlhorn having 10 feet coming back from a 4 footer abound, but tee to green by all accounts he hit it like a god.
Of Mehlhorn Ben Hogan simply said "The best I ever saw from tee to green was Bill Mehlhorn", and from Tommy Armour we get "From that tee to the green he was perfection!"

Among the many people that Ben Hogan took instruction from most people are not aware of the fact that Mehlhorn was one of the few fellas that Old Henny Bogan would regularly call. He'd call Wild Bill just to shoot the guff. Sam Byrd incidentally was another and guess what? Byrd took lessons from Mehlhorn.

In point of fact, Mehlhorn refused to ever charge a pro for a lesson, Byrd among them, but the story goes that a short time after every lesson an envelope stuffed with cash would somehow find its way to Wild Bills doorstep. I guess you could say that the name Sam Byrd was short for integrity.

Mehlhorns thoughts on golf were about the natural movements of the human body and likening the actions in golf to actions employed by all in their daily lives. Under pressure, Wild Bill felt that the most natural of actions would hold up best. Like Vardon and Cotton and Jones, Mehlhorn also believed that the thumbs and forefingers were the critical digits of the hands for feel and precision and I will be talking more about that soon

There is precious little video of Wild Bill, but here is a link to one: http://www.efootage.com/stock-footage/54850/19301930sthirties30s30golfgolfergolfers

I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Shave who is carrying on the Mehlhorn torch at the PGA Show a few months back and we had a most informative discussion. Thanks for the chat Bobby. You can find Bobby at: http://www.golfwithmehlhorn.com/

You can also find info about Wild Bill at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mehlhorn

The picture above is from Al Barkow’s great book The History of The PGA Tour.

Bill Mehlhorn died April 5, 1989. Although a pioneer on the PGA Tour and also a 20 time winner on Tour he is at present not in the World Golf Hall of Fame. One major would have probably done it for him.

So, a tip of the hat to you Wild Bill. If Hogan and Armour said you were the best ever tee to green then who are we to doubt it?

Back To The Blog

Well.....after taking some time away from the blog to release Secret In The Dirt I am ready to get back at it.

Thanks to everyone who has picked up the book and to all those who have stopped in to check out the new forum at http://www.secretinthedirt.com/ .

In the upcoming days and weeks I will be talking more about Moe and Ben, but I am also going to be dropping more nuggets about the likes of Henry Cotton, Harry Vardon, James Braid, Ernest Jones, Percy Boomer, Long Jim Barnes, James Braid, and "the best tee to green" Ben Hogan ever saw, Wild Bill Mehlhorn.

So hang on folks because 2009 is going to be a fun ride. We just might learn a thing or two from those old codgers.

To start us off hear is a fantastic video of the great Henry Cotton. Bowden and Aultman called him "The Supreme Hands Player." When you get a look at this little video posted by brokgolfer at YouTube you will see Henry Cotton a hair past his prime no doubt but still in truly amazing form. As mentioned in this video Cotton was to British golf what Ben Hogan was to American. Oh and that is Sir Henry Cotton at the top of this post.

To see what we've been up to at Secret in the Dirt, check out the links below:

• Sevam1 Blog (new)
• Steve Elkington Profile
• Sevam1 Profile

The Secret In The Dirt e-book is Finally Finished -

Well the first incarnation of my book is done. We are going to have some fun marketing it in a bunch of quirky ways. You all know how bloody serious I am about everything.

It is called The Secret In The Dirt - The Search For The Move. I guess I fooled everyone who thought it would be called PreTorque Golf.

In a day or two I will be putting up a Website at http://www.secretinthedirt.com/ It isn't ready yet, but like everything I do it will just start out small with some fun stuff to look at and read, a chance to sign up and receive a newsletter that I will be starting soon.

You will also be able to buy the book there.

In the mean time you can get it here. It is 20 bucks. I wrote it to tie together the Youtube videos and condense the general ideas I put forward at the Golfwrx.com forum. The Last Chapter about The Hogan Secret I think will be an eye opener for the Hogan junkies out there. You also need the latest version of Acrobat reader because we actually found a way to stream video straight into the book. Very cool but you need the latest version of Reader. It's free here

http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/

Anyway. Thanks in advance to everyone who buys the book. I will be expanding and improving it as we go along also. Since it is digital if you buy it you will be entitled to download each new incarnation of The Secret In The Dirt as it expands at no additional cost.

You can buy The Secret In The Dirt for 20 bucks through PayPal by clicking here:

The download is through e-junkie.com just like the Threadnotes was dones. I think that you will be pleased with what I have put together.

If you have high speed the download only takes about 10 seconds. I configured it to download very quick. There's nothing like instant gratification is there?

For those out there with their own websites very soon I will also be creating an affiliate program so that you can promote The Secret In The Dirt from your own site and earn a commission.

Thanks to all,
Sevam1

How Moe's Grip Works

Weather is aweful so we are inside. I've been filming some snippits for the e-book. Some people have been asking about the mechanics of Moe's grip and how it works. So here you go. With Moe everything works through the left thumb. Right palm powers through the left thumb while the right middle two fingers are pulling back on the shaft. The blade stays square while the hands fight one another. Enjoy.

Peter Thomson - Simply, One of The Greatest Ever

“A Light Tender Sensitive Touch Is Worth a Ton Of Brawn.”

These are the words of Peter Thomson, one of my favourite golfers of all time and in my opinion one of the most under appreciated. By now you must be all getting the sense of a theme. ;)

Does that impact picture look any good?

Here are some more nuggets from Mr. Thomson.

“Anyone who can walk can play golf. It is a walking game. To be a good golfer you must be a good walker; you must condition your legs.”

And

“Think simply about your swing and you will have a simple, uncomplicated swing. Think simply of drawing the club back, gathering your power and then hitting the ball precisely forward towards your target.”

It is the swing born of these thoughts that won 5, THAT”S RIGHT 5 British Opens!

In The Open Championship from 1951 –1971 Thomson finished outside the top ten only three times and came second 4 times including a 2nd place finish to none other than Ben Hogan at Carnoustie in 1953.

Thomson came either 1st or 2nd in every Britsh Open held between 1952 and 1958. In fact if it were not Bobby Locke and Ben Hogan, Thomson would have won 7 British Opens in succession.

It goes without saying then that Thomson could play.

Peter Thomson played a limited number of sorties in America during his prime, but as a Senior he popped over for a full go at it in 1985. He won 9 US Senior Tour events that year. Ho Humm. 9

Yes Peter Thomson could play.

The clip below is brief, but great. Hit replay a few times.



The picture above and the quotes came from Dick Aultman and Ken Bowden’s great book The Masters Of Golf – Learning From Their Methods. It is currently available at very low prices new and used through Amazon.com. I’ve put a link below.

For info on Peter Thomson. Check out Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thomson_(Australian_golfer)

and The World Golf Hall of Fame: http://www.wgv.com/hof/member.php?member=1113

Goofin' on Ben and Moe and Lee

I was at the lake today talking about where the weight is at various points in the swing.

Here's a link to the Youtube video http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=nH0XBJutrcU

and below is some goofin' around making swings like a few of my favorite golfers Hogan and Moe and Trevino. It was freezing and I just wanted to make the best of it and have some fun.