Ben Hogan Interview 1983...

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Apropos of this week's PGA Tour event at Colonial CC where Hogan won 5 times:


Hogan was known for his secretive nature, but he gave one of the most revealing interviews of his life for the telecast of the 1983 tournament at Colonial. The sit-down with Ken Venturi came 30 years after Hogan became the first man to win three majors in a single season.
The conversation provided unforgettable insight into Hogan’s legendary career. It has been cited in multiple books on the 64-time PGA TOUR winner, including "Hogan"by Curt Sampson and "American Triumvirate," James Dodson’s book about Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead.
https://www.pgatour.com/long-form/2018/05/22/ben-hogan-legacy-colonial-country-club.html

[Kevin_Reilly]

Ben Hogan would not like the fact that you left out the last letter of the link!


https://www.pgatour.com/long-form/2018/05/22/ben-hogan-legacy-colonial-country-club.html

[BHoover]

I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I saw this story from Ken Venturi posted again recently. I assume it’s meant to be funny, but Hogan comes across as a jerk in my opinion. Was he really this miserable?


__KEN VENTURI, ON TAKING GARY MCCORD
TO MEET BEN HOGAN__ May 1994
I always go over to see Ben at Shady Oaks when we do Colonial. A few years ago, Frank Chirkinian [CBS producer] said, "Maybe we'll join you. I'll bring Gary over, too."
Frank introduced Gary to Ben, and they sat down with us. Ben never rushes anything. Ben takes his time.So after a while, Hogan looked across at Gary and said, "What did you say your name was?" Gary said, "My name is Gary McCord."
A few minutes later, Hogan asked him, "What do you do?"
"I work for CBS, and I'm a pro, and I'm on the tour."
"Good."
A couple of minutes more go by, and Hogan says, "How long have you been on tour?"
And Gary says, "I've been on tour 16 years."
Hogan's next question was, "What have you won?"
Gary says, "I haven't won anything."
"Umph. Sixteen years, haven't won anything."
Went back talking to Frank and me, and then out of a clear-blue sky Ben stops, turns and looks straight at McCord and says, "What the hell are you doing on tour?"
McCord says, "I don't know."
McCord never said another word. When Gary and Frank left, I stayed with Ben a little bit just to talk. About five minutes went by, and he turned to me again and said, "What the hell was his name?"

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Blunt, not miserable. 


There are hundreds of Hogan anecdotes out there. The McCord story is only one them.  My favorite one these days is the over complimentary fellow competitor who kept on saying " Good shot" to Hogan. Finally, he countered by saying to him,  " I'll tell you when I hit a good shot." 

[JESII]

Let’s keep in mind that McCord was apparently one of the key figures driving the Top 125 Exempt program on Tour, so not really a high achiever...I’m sure he was happy to have his lunch paid for.

[mike_beene]

Obviously Hogan had an edge and drive and people from his area of Ft. Worth and Shady describe some compulsive traits, but he also evidently quietly helped a lot of people.

[Jeff Schley]

Let’s keep in mind that McCord was apparently one of the key figures driving the Top 125 Exempt program on Tour, so not really a high achiever...I’m sure he was happy to have his lunch paid for.

Exactly he claims to have been the instigator for making it happen in the 80's.  I feel the list should stop at 75 or at most 100.

[Eric LeFante]

My dad's favorite Hogan story:


Johnny Miller, 19 years old at the 1966 US Open at Olympic. Johnny idolized Hogan, saw him having lunch and walked right up to him and stuck out his hand and said something like, "Hi Mr. Hogan, I'm John Miller, I'm playing in my first US Open and I'm a big admirer of yours." And Hogan didn't even look up at him and said, "Can't you see I'm trying to eat my soup kid?"

[Garland Bayley]

Ben Hogan would not like the fact that you left out the last letter of the link!


https://www.pgatour.com/long-form/2018/05/22/ben-hogan-legacy-colonial-country-club.html

Perhaps. But, Henny Bogan would have had a chuckle about it.
 

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I saw this story from Ken Venturi posted again recently. I assume it’s meant to be funny, but Hogan comes across as a jerk in my opinion. Was he really this miserable?


__KEN VENTURI, ON TAKING GARY MCCORD
TO MEET BEN HOGAN__ May 1994
I always go over to see Ben at Shady Oaks when we do Colonial. A few years ago, Frank Chirkinian [CBS producer] said, "Maybe we'll join you. I'll bring Gary over, too."
Frank introduced Gary to Ben, and they sat down with us. Ben never rushes anything. Ben takes his time.So after a while, Hogan looked across at Gary and said, "What did you say your name was?" Gary said, "My name is Gary McCord."
A few minutes later, Hogan asked him, "What do you do?"
"I work for CBS, and I'm a pro, and I'm on the tour."
"Good."
A couple of minutes more go by, and Hogan says, "How long have you been on tour?"
And Gary says, "I've been on tour 16 years."
Hogan's next question was, "What have you won?"
Gary says, "I haven't won anything."
"Umph. Sixteen years, haven't won anything."
Went back talking to Frank and me, and then out of a clear-blue sky Ben stops, turns and looks straight at McCord and says, "What the hell are you doing on tour?"
McCord says, "I don't know."
McCord never said another word. When Gary and Frank left, I stayed with Ben a little bit just to talk. About five minutes went by, and he turned to me again and said, "What the hell was his name?"

I've never heard Arnold Palmer say anything bad about anyone, nor heard anything but praise for Arnie. But when he said Hogan was not a nice man that knocked my opinion of Hogan down some.

[BHoover]

My dad's favorite Hogan story:


Johnny Miller, 19 years old at the 1966 US Open at Olympic. Johnny idolized Hogan, saw him having lunch and walked right up to him and stuck out his hand and said something like, "Hi Mr. Hogan, I'm John Miller, I'm playing in my first US Open and I'm a big admirer of yours." And Hogan didn't even look up at him and said, "Can't you see I'm trying to eat my soup kid?"

Like I said, Hogan comes across as a miserable SOB. Great golfer but a jerk.

[Ted Sturges]

Mr. Hogan is my all-time favorite golfer. 


Other PGA tour pros told him he wouldn't be considered great unless he won the British Open.  So...he entered it once (had to go through local qualifying to get in the field)...and won.  His British Open record is one entry = one victory.


In 292 career PGA tour event starts, Mr. Hogan placed in the Top three 139 times!!!  That is finishing in the top three 47% of the every time you tee it up.  I know the fields were not as deep as they are today...but that is ridiculous!


He finished in the top ten 241 of those 292 PGA tour starts (82% of the time)!


In 1949 he endured a terrible car crash.  16 months after the crash, he won the 1950 US Open at Merion.  He played with severe leg pain in that Open victory, and had to walk 36 holes on the event's last day as was the custom back then.


From 1950 on, due to the injuries he suffered in the car crash, Mr. Hogan never played more than 7 PGA tour events in a year.  Yet he won 13 more times, including becoming the first man to win 3 majors in a year in 1953 (Masters, US Open and British Open).  He didn't play in the PGA Championship that year because it conflicted with his only entry in the British Open.


Mr. Hogan's record is so impressive when you consider all of the facts.  Mr. Hogan became one of, if not the greatest, ball-striker of all-time. 


I consider him the greatest golfer of all-time.


TS

[Ted Sturges]

My favorite quote about Ben Hogan...




From Jimmy Demaret:


Mr. Demaret, when asked about Ben Hogan not being very talkative on the golf course replied, "When I play with him, he talks to me on every green...He turns to me and says, 'You're away'. "




TS

[SL_Solow]

Read Kris Tschetter's book.  An interesting and different perspective.

[Jason Thurman]

Reading the content linked in the original post, it's not hard to imagine that Hogan would have difficulty wrapping his head around someone like McCord playing on Tour for 16 years and never winning anything. Gary McCord was fortunate to come along at a time that afforded middling pros to collect enough paychecks to build a career in golf. Had he played in Hogan's era, he'd have had to find another job.


Johnny Miller comes across as a pretty tough hang on TV, and I hate guys trying to shake my hand when I'm mid-meal too. I'm sure we've all told a slobber-mouthed teenager or two to get lost. But I've never had the instinctive selflessness to throw myself across my wife to try to protect her as our car careened into a catastrophic crash. I suspect Hogan was complicated and a product of the challenges he endured, like a lot of people are.

[Kalen Braley]

Don't know if its gone out of style, but theses guys were usually just called "old school"


My dad was a tough and angry buzzard growing up too, so I get it.


P.S.  I don't understand the backlash about not winning.  The vast vast majority of athletes in every other sport don't win a championship year in and year out either....should they pick another sport too?

[JESII]

There’s a story of one of the 36 hole US Open Saturday’s that has Hogan says to his caddy upon replacing a divot...”be careful with that, we’re coming back this way this afternoon”.


When Snead heard the line from a journalist, he barked...”if he’s that goddamned good, why doesn’t he just miss the divot?”


Not sure if it’s OT or not but I love it...

[Jonathan Mallard]

Not going to search for the link... but...


Nick Faldo went to see him during one of the tournaments. Hogan was aware of who he was, and they spoke for a while about the game, etc. Hogan declined to watch him hit balls.


Faldo: "So, what's the secret to winning the US Open?"


Hogan: "Shoot a lower score than everyone else."


More talk, then later...


Faldo: "No, really, what's the secret to winning the US Open?"


Hogan: "Shoot a lower score than everyone else."


Hogan then excused himself.

[Jon Wiggett]

I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I saw this story from Ken Venturi posted again recently. I assume it’s meant to be funny, but Hogan comes across as a jerk in my opinion. Was he really this miserable?


__KEN VENTURI, ON TAKING GARY MCCORD
TO MEET BEN HOGAN__ May 1994
I always go over to see Ben at Shady Oaks when we do Colonial. A few years ago, Frank Chirkinian [CBS producer] said, "Maybe we'll join you. I'll bring Gary over, too."
Frank introduced Gary to Ben, and they sat down with us. Ben never rushes anything. Ben takes his time.So after a while, Hogan looked across at Gary and said, "What did you say your name was?" Gary said, "My name is Gary McCord."
A few minutes later, Hogan asked him, "What do you do?"
"I work for CBS, and I'm a pro, and I'm on the tour."
"Good."
A couple of minutes more go by, and Hogan says, "How long have you been on tour?"
And Gary says, "I've been on tour 16 years."
Hogan's next question was, "What have you won?"
Gary says, "I haven't won anything."
"Umph. Sixteen years, haven't won anything."
Went back talking to Frank and me, and then out of a clear-blue sky Ben stops, turns and looks straight at McCord and says, "What the hell are you doing on tour?"
McCord says, "I don't know."
McCord never said another word. When Gary and Frank left, I stayed with Ben a little bit just to talk. About five minutes went by, and he turned to me again and said, "What the hell was his name?"

But you could look at the other side of the coin and note a guy has been doing something for 16 years that will have been dictating his life day in day out yet when asked why he did it he didn't know. Hogan's main reason for playing golf was to win so you might think of cutting him a little slack when it comes to him not understanding why you would play all that time and not win. Besides, what gives you the right to judge him? Maybe he just didn't like many people but then so what!

[Kalen Braley]

My therapist told me people who feel the need to humiliate others and make them feel little is the same reason why some men feel the need to drive over-sized trucks....

[Cliff Hamm]

My Hogan  story:


In 1967 I caddied at Baltusrol.  This was before pros could bring their own caddies.  On the Sunday before the Open I caddied in the morning.  I then went out to watch the pros practice.


Came across Hogan playing with Doug Sanders on the 8th hole.  Didn't really know much about him, and this proved to be his last Open.


Mr. Hogan's caddy, whom I knew, asked me to get Hogan a soda from the half way house.  Ran over, got the soda and handed it to Mr Hogan.  Not only did he not offer to pay me for it, he did not even have the courtesy to say thank you.


Then I knew more than I wanted about Ben Hogan.

[Jeff Schley]

In today’s day and age where everything gets reported via social media with video or photos or sound bytes...... it is exposing people’s personalities under the weight of being in a fishbowl.  While I don’t claim to be perfect the more we know about those celebrities the more we realize they are flawed in their personalities and choices like anyone else.


I respect Hogan for his talent, but he isn’t the type of man I would aspire to be.

[Garland Bayley]

I would aspire to be a man like Ben Hogan. I think that to judge a man on the trivia being reported here is not a characteristic I would aspire to have.

[Jeff Schley]

I would aspire to be a man like Ben Hogan. I think that to judge a man on the trivia being reported here is not a characteristic I would aspire to have.

Garland..... I agree anyone who would simply form an opinion based solely off of a post on an anyonymous Internet forum is ignorant.  Thankfully, GCA isn’t the only source of information in this world.


I, like others, have read and listened to enough stories to arrive at my opinion.


Golf ability yes definitely. But not treating others, more so strangers with respect which is regardless of religion/faith not keeping with the golden rule.  Doesn’t mean he is a terrible person, we are all fallible, but those characteristics aren’t what I aspire to imitate.   

[Garland Bayley]

A brash 19 year old kid interrupting someone much his senior at dinner, and receivi a mild rebuff.

Who's the violater of the golden rule?

I know where I stand on that issue. Where do you?