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 enlarge | Authors: Tom Bertrand, Printer Bowler
Brand: Booklegger
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.98
You Save: $10.97 (48%)
New (38) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $11.40
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 32067
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 171
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 6.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0471998311
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3523
EAN: 9780471998310
ASIN: 0471998311
Publication Date: September 29, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Customer Reviews:
Another way to understand Hogan October 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bertrand and Bowler's book about the "secret" of Hogan's swing presents Ben Hogan as inscrutable, an enigma wrapped inside a riddle. The book is very well-written and Bowler is acknowledged as one of the best writers on golf. However, it suggests that Hogan can only be understood through the tragic figure of John Schlee, who, ostensibly, was the trusted inheritor of Hogan's "secret."
Unintentionally, the reader becomes much more interested in Schlee's personality and the burden associated with carrying Hogan's secret that one becomes less interested in actually learning the secret. When the secret is finally divulged - a greater concentration on the left elbow during the downswing - one can't help feeling that this information will barely help the average golfer.
All in all, a very readable book. It will add to the current debate about who will have greater influence on young golfers -- Nicklaus or Hogan?
 Puts it all together. June 11, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a new golfer I've been reading books and magazine articles trying to get the aspects of a good swing into my head - this book puts it all together. The end of the book simplfies all of the elemements into a clear and concise summary and gives a plan for practicing those elements, which is exactly what I needed. Besides all of that, this book was a really fun read.
Finally the Truth about Ben Hogan March 9, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book about the legacy of Ben Hogan's legendary work and discoveries that revolutionized the game of golf. Like the ancient oral traditions of many cultures, the transmittal of wisdom from person to person, master to student, has been the most certain way to insure that real knowledge survives and continues on from one generation to the next.
Here the authors have written a fascinating chronicle of Hogan, the master, passing on his hard-earned wisdom to John Schlee, the student, over a period of five years during the late 60s and early 70s. Schlee, a Tour player whose ailing back forced him to retire in 1978, later founded the Maximum Golf School and became well known for teaching Hogan's swing secrets to students from around the country. In 1985 Schlee met Tom Bertrand, an eager young player searching for the real thing, who became his student and later partner. Tom's focus was to learn, teach and record in detail the wealth of knowledge that Schlee had received from Hogan, much of which came after the 1957 publication of Hogan's "Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf." Hogan never stopped working, experimenting, and discovering more about his life-long obsession, the game of golf. And Schlee was the beneficiary of almost two decades of new revelations unearthed by the master and unrecorded until now.
This book is as close as John Schlee may ever get to having his own biography. While the authors highlight Schlee's career (winner of the PGA's first Q-School in 1965, second to Johnny Miller in the 1963 U.S. Open at Oakmont, one of Hogan's less-than-a-handful of long-term students, developer of the long putter and clubhead adjustable weighting systems, pioneer of lightweight milled putter heads, and more), their primary purpose was to gather up the sum and essence of Hogan's wisdom and offer it to all of us. This they have done with clarity and simplicity so that any golfer can understand and use these teachings to refine his/ her game. For this purpose, Hogan's relationship with Schlee is important for what it yielded in practical golf wisdom, and the authors have covered that aspect quite thoroughly.
This book is very well written in a simple yet eloquent style that makes you feel like you're part of a conversation with the authors. They look you straight in the eye and just share their story, like one golfer to the other. What Hogan gave to Schlee, and Schlee gave to Tom Bertrand, the authors now give to us as fellow seekers in our endless pursuit of golfing excellence. There's a lot of magic and light bulbs going off in this book, and I won't spoil it for you. Check it out yourself and be ready for some pleasant surprises and new understandings about the game we all love.
 A great disappointment March 5, 2007
16 out of 26 found this review helpful
I must disagree with the people who have given this book five stars. Like many of them, I believe Ben Hogan was - and is - the greatest technician the game has ever seen. This book is, however, a disappointment.
The book can be broadly divided into two sections. The first is an account of John Schlee's Maximum Golf school. It covers Tom Bertrand's work with Schlee, Schlee's relationship with Hogan, and his use of Hogan's techniques in his teaching. The second section is a breakdown of Hogan's swing fundamentals, including points that he hit upon AFTER publishing his 'Five Lessons' book.
The first section of this book provided an opportunity for an in-depth look at John Schlee and Hogan. It can hardly be coincidence that Hogan, a very singular character, chose Schlee - an equally singular character - as one of the few to whom he confided the secrets of his life's work. A thorough examination of these two men, their characters, and the parallels between them, would have been fascinating. It may also have shed some light on the nature of the relationship between golf and character. (I can't think of another sport with such potential appeal to character traits like obsession, perfectionism, even masochism.) While this is, at the end of the day, an instruction book, I would have loved to have seen the authors try to shed some light on Hogan & Schlee's characters through their golf - their approach to the game, their methods, techniques, goals and systems. It would have greatly enriched the book. It could have even added some depth of understanding of the techniques themselves. Perhaps most importantly, such an attempt may have given dignity to, and acknowledged the memory of, John Schlee. He deserved a better hand than Life dealt him in his last years. This book does not do him justice.
The instructional section of the book is at best, adequate. Much is made by the authors of their "tracking Hogan's secret" chronologically - which is nothing more or less than a quick run through Hogan's writing and interviews as to what he revealed and when. This section is not illuminating for anyone with even a passing knowledge of Hogan. Lastly, the detail of the swing moves and fundamentals themselves are set out briefly, with photos as visual aids. While adequate, they lack the flavour, clarity and depth that Hogan, Herbert Warren Wind and (illustrator) Anthony Ravelli employed with such skill and care in Hogan's 'Five Lessons.'
In short, this book strikes me as a magazine article that has been padded out with the intention of cashing in on Hogan's mystique and the obsessive need that golfers have to tinker with their swings. It serves as a pedestrian, adequate piece of instruction, but it's a missed opportunity. It is poorly written and it lacks ambition. It could have, and should have, been so very much more.
The Secret of Hogan's Swing January 12, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
A beautifully written book. Clear and concise. Golfers cannot afford to miss this book.
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