29 Oct There’s no better striker than Hogan

Ben Hogan is widely acknowledged to have been one of the finest ball strikers that ever played the game. Hogan’s ball striking has also been described as being of near miraculous calibre by other very knowledgeable observers such as Jack Nicklaus, who only saw him play some years after his prime.

Nicklaus once responded to the question “Is Tiger Woods the best ball striker you have ever seen?” with “No, no — Ben Hogan, easily”. All of us are trying to really “own” our swings — in other words — to have total control and therefore the ball’s flight but since our game began, only a handful could actually claim to have had this divine gift.

The Wee Ice Man rarely spoke during competition, and there are numerous anecdotes about Hogan’s sparse but pithy remarks. Nick Faldo was another who didn’t like to talk too much, and this was often misconstrued by lesser players as arrogance. Later in his career when he was questioned on his demeanour when playing he said that he could only play that way.

Out of Bounds: “Golf is a science, the study of a lifetime, in which you may exhaust yourself but never your subject. It is a contest calling for courage, skill, strategy and a revealer of character.”