Page 11 - Ben Hogan's Letter Lessons Ver 2

The Man Behind The Letter

Now let’s peer into the type of Man Mr. Hogan was. A common saying about
Mr. Hogan was “those steel-gray eyes of his," a friend would say. "He looks at
you like a landlord asking for next month's rent."

Mr. Hogan was a fierce competitor because he knew what the word hustle
meant. Young kids today when they hear the word hustle, they believe it is
about drug dealing. No, Ben got up and hustled every morning and kicked

himself in the butt to create the wonderful golf swing that we enjoy today.

From a 1990 Los Angeles Times article titled Ben Hogan: the Man, the Myth
and the New Tour Jim Murray writes:

"Ben Hogan had so much more to overcome than most in his quest for golfing
perfection; the early suicide of his father must have left a profound mark on a
young boy, an unsuitably small frame for golf, near poverty for too many

years to remember, a temperament completely unable to interact with the
fawning galleries - lest it interfere with the shot at hand."

He continues: ,"(Hogan was no Trevino or Palmer in this regard) the head-on
collision with a Greyhound bus and subsequent appalling injuries,
embarrassing putting yips and a confounding hook that would rear its ugly
head at crucial times in tournaments. For years he felt plagued by the hook
and eventual disgust augmented the now famous change to the fade that

made him in his best years - virtually invincible!"