From The Lurker:
The word on Ben Hogan's length was always unique to me. The people who knew him and played with him said he was pretty long in comparison to most of his fellow competitors but only if he wanted to be which apparently was not very often.
My father who was a good national amateur and a really dedicated student of the game and the swing played quite a lot of golf with Hogan, and most always at Seminole. Most of the time when they played they were playing to practice. Dad also played 2-3 times a week with Tommy Armour at the old Delray Beach GC. He knew most all those guys and although it did not occur to me back then, I guess one of the reasons he knew so many of them was he was in the business--he was the southern tier (Florida and south Georgia) rep for Spalding. Another of his responsibilities was to take care of all the LPGA players who played Spalding, and a lot of them were taught by Armour.
Those guys talked about the dynamics of the swing all the time and what it could produce in shot making and strategic golf. Some of them were what I would call the old fashioned "shot makers" and Hogan was certainly one of the best that way, probably THE best. Back then Hogan was considered to be the ultimate in strategic shot making course management. According to my father a lot of guys kidded Hogan (not to his face but behind his back) that most of his drives were what they called "dinks" or "shrimps"----a little controlled fade that wasn't long at all; actually I guess that standard tee shot of his was remarkably short for a player of his caliber. My father said he (my father) could hit the ball seven different ways on call. Curiously since I used to shag for him when I was a kid I only saw six of them----low straight, high straight, low fade, high fade, low draw, high draw. Being on the receiving end of his practice sessions it was remarkable to me how he could do that with practically every club. Watching the ball come out curving one way or the other high and low seemed remarkable. According to Dad Hogan did the same kind of thing in his practice sessions.
Hogan had a natural draw or hook in the beginning of his career and he worked long and hard to perfect his standard shot----a noticeable fade. I always heard he did that because he thought it was a shot that was so much more controllable than the others. But according to my father he had all the shot types and shapes on call. To get distance off the tee particularly, he drew it, low or high depending on strategic architecture factors and conditions.
When I started playing a lot in my early 30s and Dad was teaching me strategic golf and shot making, he said Hogan was the model in another way----eg don't ever try to compete with anyone you were playing with by trying to hit it as far as they were or to try to do something they were doing. Hogan was the ideal that way----he just played in his own little bubble seemingly oblivious to the shots other people he was playing with were using.
How long was Hogan or how long could he be in real yardage distance if he wanted to be? You got me, I only know they all said he could be as long as most anyone if he wanted to be. How did he do it? I think it came from what they call "delayed lag." You could see it in his back swing and particularly his down swing where it looked like the shaft came close to hitting his right shoulder when his hands were more than halfway down on his down swing. The club looked like it was coming towards impact in a noticeable whipping action. This was in stark contrast to another guy later on I would call, Hoganesque in his course management strategies----eg Nick Faldo. I played with him once at Merion East, and I was pretty surprised how big he was. But I was really surprised he didn't hit it longer than he looked like he could. He even said he was not long compared to many of his fellow tour competitors. It was very wet that day and we played from the new tips. Since it was so wet I could calculate his tee shot distance very accurately----it was right around 260 and he did that like a robot. If he wanted a little extra he would hit a highish draw which got him about 5 to 10 yards more in carry distance.
The guy who was ultra long back then (much longer than the rest) was a great big guy who sure looked the part of an ultra long driver----George Bayer. I did see him play at Piping Rock and he seemed freaky long, maybe even by today's standards. He could get it out there around 300+. I remember him on the 18th at Piping Rock. Back then I never saw anyone hit that green in two but Bayer did it with ease.
Hogan had what I would call a very unique torso that was quite noticeable even if one did not know he was Ben Hogan. I saw that first hand. My father and I were about the only ones left at Seminole one evening and I went out of the locker room ahead of him. This man walked by me going the other way. I said hello and he said hello right back very politely. I really did notice what a unique torso he had; he was on the shortish side but it seemed like his lower torso was much shorter and way more powerful than a man with his upper torso should have.
When we got in the car my father said: "That man you just walked by was Ben Hogan,." and with that it became something I will never forget because I didn't even recognize him.