Eddie, I just got a print from the '58 Masters that has Hogan with his putter and the putter has what looks like electrical tape across the crown of the putter with a strip going straight back from the center, very similiar to the modern day T-Line putter. He did love to tinker with his equipment. Keep the stories coming, I love em!
Todd
I know its been more than a year since the last post on this thread, but I'mnew and this is a neat topic, so here's a story to get us started:
Way back in 1968, I was a young cub in the service taking lessons from MelvinHemphill, a diminutive lefthander near retirement who had been the HeadProfessional at Forest Lakes CC in Columbia, S.C., almost his entire career.Melvin was respected as one of the best teachers in the state and in the game.I might add that he was also one of the most gracious -- he never charged me adime; he asked only that I "pay the ball boy" at the end of eachlesson.
Anyway, one of his more illustrious students -- and there were many -- wasGardner Dickinson, who had been stationed at Ft. Jackson during his militaryservice, and who had already made numerous visits to The Mountaintop to communewith Mr. Hogan. One day, when we were talking about the takeaway -- Melvin wasemphasing the Shoulder Turn-- I asked, "What did Hogan take it awaywith?"
"Well, Gardner says Hogan told him to 'take it away with your rightthumb.'"
"But, Mr. Hemphill, that's not your shoulders!"
"Just take it away with your shoulders, son, and you'll feel it in yourright thumb."
Think about it: Isn't feeling the Lag Pressure in the right thumb duringthe Start-Up and Backstroke the polar opposite of feeling Lag Pressure inthe Right Forefinger in the Start-Down and Downstroke? In fact, I recountedthat story to Homer and asked if there was such a thing as a reverse LagPressure Point." His answer?
"Of course!"
"Then why didn't you put it in the book?"
"I suppose I could have, but I really didn't think about it. Mainlybecause you can take it back any way you want to -- even act like 'circusclown' during the backswing -- I was only concerned with the Downstrokeapplication."
In the next edition of the book, however, he did add (to 6-C-1) the line"both ways (opposite pressures 6-B-1-D)." And I knew that I hadcontributed.
Anyway, fast forward 35 years and you have a student who knows that a ShoulderTurn Takeaway is fine as long as the Right Forearm and #3 Pressure Point tracethe Plane Line. As a result, his takeaway no longer moves too deeply to theinside.
Nevertheless, Mr. Hemphill's voice rings through the decades, "Take itaway with your shoulders, son. And feel it in your right thumb."
Hybrid Mode
