What Are Ben Hogan's 5 Fundamentals of Golf?

Ben Hogan believed any average golfer could build a consistent, repeatable swing and break 80 if they were willing to learn and practice a few core principles. These principles, known as his Five Fundamentals, aren't secrets but a straightforward blueprint for a powerful golf swing. This guide breaks down each of Hogan's fundamentals into simple, actionable steps to help you build a swing you can finally trust.

Fundamental #1: The Grip

Hogan called the grip the "engine" of the golf swing, and for a good reason. It’s your only connection to the club, and how you hold it dictates clubface control from start to finish. A poor grip forces you to make constant compensations throughout the swing, a recipe for inconsistency. Getting it right provides a massive head start.

How to Build a Hogan-Approved Grip

We’re aiming for what’s called a “neutral” grip. This position allows your hands and arms to work naturally without fighting to square the clubface at impact.

1. Start with the Clubface: Before you even put your hands on the club, make sure the clubface is perfectly square to your target. Lay it flat on the ground behind the ball, ensuring the bottom groove (the leading edge) is perpendicular to your target line.
2. Place Your Left Hand (for righties): Approach the club from the side. You want to feel like a "weak" handshake, with your palm slightly facing inwards. Place the grip diagonally across the fingers of your left hand, running from the base of your pinky to the middle joint of your index finger. Close your hand over the top.
   • Checkpoint #1: Looking down, you should be able to see the first two knuckles of your left hand. If you see more, your grip is too "strong." If you see less than two, it's too "weak."
   • Checkpoint #2: The "V" formed between your left thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder.
   • Add Your Right Hand: Bring your right hand to the club so the palm faces the target. The lifeline of your right palm should fit snugly over your left thumb. The hold should again be primarily in the fingers, not deep in the palm. Once the fingers are secure, wrap the rest of your hand around.
     • Checkpoint #3: The "V" formed by your right thumb and index finger should be parallel to the left-hand "V" and also point towards your right shoulder. Both hands should feel like a single, cohesive unit.
   • Connect Your Hands: Hogan preferred the overlapping grip, where the pinky of the right hand rests in the space between the index and middle finger of the left hand. However, the interlocking grip (where the pinky and index finger link) or a simple ten-finger (baseball) grip are also perfectly fine. Choose what feels most secure and comfortable for you. The goal is unified control.

This will feel strange at first. Hogan himself said a correct grip "feels ridiculously weak to the uninitiated." Trust the process. Regular practice, even just holding a club while watching TV, will help this new position feel a lot more natural.

Fundamental #2: Stance and Posture

If the grip is the engine, the stance and posture are the chassis. A sloppy setup puts you off-balance and out of position before the swing even starts. Hogan advocated for an athletic, balanced setup that prepares the body for a powerful rotation.

Finding an Athletic and Balanced Setup

Your goal is to look like an athlete ready to make a dynamic move. Think of a shortstop waiting for a ground ball or a basketball player defending the perimeter.

• Bend from the Hips: The most common amateur mistake is bending with your back or just squatting. Instead, stand straight and then push your hips and bottom straight back, as if you were trying to touch a wall behind you. This will cause your upper body to naturally tilt forward.
• Maintain a Straight Spine: As you tilt from your hips, keep your spine relatively straight, not curved or hunched over. Your chest should feel like it’s "over" the ball.
• Let Your Arms Hang: From this tilted position, simply let your arms hang down naturally from your shoulders. Where they hang is where your hands should be. This will prevent you from reaching for the ball or having your hands jammed too close to your body.
• Flex Your Knees: Add a slight flex to your knees. This isn't a deep squat, it's just enough to engage your leg muscles and unlock your hips. It should feel springy and athletic. You should feel your weight balanced over the balls of your feet.
• Stance Width and Ball Position: With a mid-iron (like a 7-iron), your feet should be about shoulder-width apart. The ball should be positioned about two inches forward of the center of your stance. For shorter irons, the stance gets slightly narrower and the ball moves closer to the center. For longer clubs and woods, your stance widens, and the ball position moves progressively closer to your lead heel.

Your setup should feel stable and tension-free. You are building a solid foundation that will allow you to rotate powerfully around your spine without losing your balance.

Fundamental #3: The Backswing (The First Part of the Swing)

Hogan broke the swing into दो parts. The first part, the backswing, is purely about coiling up power. It’s loading the spring. The common fault is to lift the club with the arms and hands. Hogan taught that the backswing is driven by the rotation of the body.

How to Coil, Not Lift

The goal is a one-piece takeaway that keeps the club, arms, and body connected as they turn away from the ball.

1. One-Piece Takeaway: To begin the backswing, feel as though your hands, arms, shoulders, and hips all start turning away from the ball together. Imagine they form a triangle that moves as a single unit for the first few feet. There should be no independent hand or wrist action here.
2. Body Rotation is Key: As the club moves back, the primary engine is the turn of your torso. Your left shoulder should turn under your chin as your upper body coils against the resistance of your stabilizing lower body. It's a rotation, not a sway. You should feel your weight shifting to the inside of your right foot, but your right knee should maintain its flex.
3. The Role of the Arms: The arms are connectors. They don't generate the power, they simply go along for the ride as your body rotates. As your torso turns, your arms will naturally lift the club upward and around your body.
4. The Top of the Swing: You've reached the top of your backswing when your shoulder turn is complete. Your back should be facing the target. At this point, the club should be roughly parallel to the ground and pointing at the target line. You are now fully coiled and ready to transition.

A great drill is to place the club across your shoulders and practice turning back until your left shoulder is over where the ball would be. This helps you feel the proper upper-body coil without obsessing over what your arms are doing.

Fundamental #4: The Downswing (The Second Part of the Swing)

This is where everything comes together. Hogan's "secret" wasn't mystical, it was a powerful, repeatable sequence of movements. The second part of the swing - the downswing - is not initiated by the hands or arms trying to hit the ball. It’s an unwinding that starts from the ground up.

Unleashing Power From the Ground Up

The body must lead the way, pulling the arms and club through the hitting area with incredible speed.

1. The First Move is the Hips: Before anything else happens with your upper body, the downswing begins with a lateral shift and rotation of your hips toward the target. It's a subtle but powerful move. Feel your left hip start turning left. This is the move that drops the club "into the slot," putting it on the perfect path down to the ball.
2. The Unwinding Sequence: Once the hips have started the unwinding process, the rest of the body follows in a chain reaction. The torso unwinds, then the shoulders, and finally the arms and hands. The hands should feel passive, almost like they are being pulled by the rotation of your body.
3. Impact and Extension: Because your body is leading, your hands will naturally be ahead of the clubhead at impact. This delofts the club slightly and creates that compressed, 'pure' feeling. After impact, continue rotating! Keep turning your body through the shot as your arms extend out towards the target.
4. Solid Contact: This correct sequence ensures you strike the ball first, then the ground. The divot should happen after the ball, proving you’ve compressed it properly. Amateurs who swing with their arms first often hit the ground behind the ball (fat shots) or catch it on the upswing (thin shots).

Thinking about pulling a rope is a great mental image. If you start pulling with your hands, you don't generate much force. But if you plant your feet, turn your hips and body first, you can pull with incredible strength. The golf swing is the same.

Fundamental #5: The Seamless Swing (Rhythm & Flow)

While Hogan detailed the swing in four parts, the fifth fundamental isn't a new mechanical position but the seamless blending of all four into one fluid motion. It’s about rhythm and timing. The separate pieces - grip, stance, backswing, and downswing - must transition smoothly from one into the next to create a powerful, consistent swing, not a herky-jerky series of moves.

The transition from the backswing's coiling to the downswing's unwinding is the most important element here. There should be no pause or violent start at the top. As the club is still finishing its journey back, the lower body should already be starting its journey forward. This effortless flow of energy from one part to the next is what distinguishes a beginner’s disjointed swing from an expert’s graceful motion. Practicing your full swing at 50% speed can help immensely in smoothing out the transitions and feeling the proper sequence, allowing your grip, stance, and motions to finally work together as one.

Final Thoughts

Ben Hogan’s Five Fundamentals provide a timeless roadmap to owning your golf swing. By focusing sequentially on your grip, stance, backswing, and downswing, you can build a reliable motion from the ground up that holds up under pressure. It's not about being perfect, but about understanding the principles that create consistency.

Knowing these fundamentals is one thing, but applying them on the course is another challenge. It's tough to self-diagnose your swing in the middle of a round. This is where modern tools can bridge the gap. With an app like Caddie AI, you can get instant, expert-level feedback. If you're struggling with a specific concept from Hogan - say, moving your weight to the left to start the downswing - just ask the app to explain it in different terms or give you a drill. If a weird lie throws you for a loop and you're not sure how to adjust your stance, snap a quick photo and get an immediate recommendation, helping you translate Hogan's principles into real-time, on-course decisions.