Ben Hogan Insider: A Table Full of Jewelry

The Dansome · October 27, 2014

From the Ben Hogan Insider

A Table Full of Jewelry

We see them every day, so it would be easy to forget the awe we felt when we first saw that table full of practically every club-head Mr. Hogan ever built. I say it would be easy, but each time a new visitor comes to our office and sees them there lined up, I feel those goosebumps all over again.

As you probably know, Mr. Hogan believed a great golf club should be so striking and so magnificent that he referred to them as â€œfine jewelry.â€ When you see them there together, as if in a showcase at Tiffany's, you can see why.

These club-heads are on loan from Mr. Ronnie McGraw's personal collection. Ronnie is one of the handful of people alive who can tell you with certainty, â€œWell, Mr. Hogan thought this,â€ or â€œMr. Hogan felt this.â€

What that table gives us is a look at Mr. Hogan from 1953 to 1992 â€“ which is when Mr. Hogan influenced the last Ben Hogan Iron.

Mr. Hogan's Portfolio.

Steve Jobs famously said â€œdesign is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.â€ While Mr. Hogan may not have agreed with Steve Jobs on everything, I'm sure he would have agreed with that quote.

Every iron design on that table went through â€œThe Hogan Process.â€ At some point, each of these clubs went out to the range in Mr. Hogan's bag, and he hit them again and again to see how they performed. That was his ultimate test.

He was without peer in quality control â€“ the ultimate tester of the golf club â€“ because he was, for all intents and purposes, a professor of how the golf ball performed.

While other touring pros were focused on golf course architecture, Mr. Hogan was really the only one who gave all his attention to golf club architecture.

Mr. Hogan could tell the team how a club responded to low grass, high cut, soft turf, hard pan. He could tell the R&D department how to make a club that would respond to everything he wanted it to do.

Everything You'll Want A Club To Do

In 2015, we're taking this meticulous drive for perfection and Mr. Hogan's reverence for a well-made golf club, and we're leveraging modern technology to produce a truly beautiful club for golfers who appreciate fine things.

We suspect you will be one of them. If you're serious about the game of golf, sooner or later you're going to play these clubs, and you're going to show them to your friends the same way a bride-to-be shows off her engagement ring.

Expect a similar reaction.

To be among the first to take delivery of the new Ben Hogan irons when they debut in 2015, please visit benhogangolf.com/reservemyhogans

http://benhogangolf.com/insider/a-table-full-of-jewelry/

markb · October 27, 2014

I've been giving a lot of thought to what kind of new Hogans I want to see. There are so many classic designs that collectors still love. The 73 Apex, the 88, and the 99 is thought by many to be the best of them all and it was a post Hogan Apex. The 2003 has its fans and even the 2008.

Personally, I am hoping for something like the FTX. See below.

The FTX's from post 2000 don't have as many fans, but they are the most modern in their design with a gradually progressive forged cavity. The short irons will be very easy for Scor players to love and have classic lines. But I'm going to need that forged cavity for the 4, 5 and 6 if I'm to have any hope of hitting these longer clubs. I think many other older duffers in the demographic that is likely to buy new Hogans in the first go-round will be in the same boat.

And I'd like to see them in a satin finish like the Scors, not a HP chrome which is more traditionally Hogan.

Kenny B · October 27, 2014

I like the FTX for the reasons stated above; old duffer. It seems to be more like the SCORs with forgiveness in the design. I wonder how modern in the design they will go, or will they keep the more old school Hogan style. It seems that with the winner in the SCOR design, they would tend to work off that. Agree about satin; no chrome.

GolfSpy Barbajo · October 27, 2014

Gotta say the return of Hogan is almost as exciting as a 1985 Jan Stephenson finally returning my calls! It sure seems like Scor is treating the Hogan brand with the proper respect - hope the clubs meet with the old man's approval!