Now there have been all kinds of "secret moves" that have been introduced to gullible golfers down through the years and it is still going on. Get on your computer and Google "golf swing secrets" and see what you come up with. It may astound you...and confuse you. Hey, maybe all of them work...but you can't do all of them. So let me share with you two things that you ought to try and accomplish during a golf swing to make it come out all right...let me call them principles.

Principle #1. PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THE GRIP SO THAT WHEN YOUR ARMS HANG NATURALLY THE CLUBFACE IS SQUARE. You see, Hogan also said, "Good golf starts with a good grip." It is the primary controller of clubface position at impact. Getting it right will help you to be able to return the back of your left hand toward the target which squares the face. (Have your pro check to see that it is correct for you and then stick with it.) Principle #2. To get your swing on plane and reduce the chances of an early release, LET YOUR RIGHT ELBOW DROP TO YOUR RIGHT HIP AS YOUR TRUNK ROTATES AND YOUR WEIGHT SHIFTS FORWARD. This will allow your clubhead to approach the ball from a shallow and an inside path, that could be called "the power zone."

        You can relieve yourself of having to think of too many swing thoughts by building some of the feels you are trying to create into your pre-shot routine. Check your grip every time before making your swing...every time. Also you may do this drill and DO IT A LOT. Stick a tee in the grip end of your club and practice the beginning of your downswing (the weight shift and drop of the right elbow toward your hip) while watching to see if the tee is pointing at the ball so as to be "on plane." You want to feel the move so you won't have to think about the move. Focusing on just two things may not make you a Hogan, but it will clear your mind of too many details.

By Dr. Gary Wiren, PhD, garywiren.com
Sr. Director of Instruction for all Trump Golf Properties
& Chairman of Golf Around the World

        The first golf professional to write a book of instruction, entitled The Game of Golf , was "Young" Willie Park. Being called "Young" was to distinguish him from his father who won the very first British Open Championship in 1860 and three times thereafter. Appropriately he was known as "Old" Willie Park. The son may have been as talented, possibly even more so, winning The Open twice before becoming a golf course architect, teacher, club maker, and author. He was once asked by a frustrated attorney who had taken several lessons, "My God man, how many things must I learn to play this game?" Park, who had also studied medicine at Edinburgh University and knew his anatomy replied, "As nearly as I can figure, one-thousand-one-hundred and thirty-two.
        His comment and assessment was undoubtedly facetious. But doesn't it feel sometimes, when you are struggling with your game, that maybe Park wasn't so far off in his estimate?
        On several occasions I have told an audience full of golf professionals that the late/great Ben Hogan made this comment. "I never became a really good player until I focused on just two things." Then I ask the knowledgeable audience if they know what those two things were. There is never a response. My next comment is, "Well, I don't know either; that was Ben Hogan's secret." (a few laughs) But in continuing I explain that there is a lesson in the story. Hogan didn't have a thousand plus things to think about, because he knew that you can't be thinking of a bunch of details while making a golf swing. I don't believe that Hogan ever revealed his "secret." Even though in 1955 he was paid $25,000 by LIFE MAGAZINE to do so. What Hogan told the readers in the August 8th issue was the following. He adjusted his left-hand grip to encourage a more open face. This was because he fought a vicious hook for a long time earlier in his career. (Hardly a problem with which the high handicap slicing golfer has trouble.) The second thing was in his backswing he took the club straighter back than before which encouraged his left wrist to stay slightly cupped, again helping to keep the face more open and eliminate the hook. Hogan did caution the average golfer who may already have a slice, to not copy these moves as it would make his slice even worse.
        Note that of the two things Hogan focused on, one was pre-swing (the grip) and the other was in-swing (the takeaway). So in fact there was only one thing that he thought about during the swing, and that is all any player should attempt to handle. If you are trying to think of more mechanics than that, you are going to find it difficult to produce an unrestricted free-flowing motion.