Was Ben Hogan Wrong About Shot Shaping?

The Sweet Spot - Golf Podcast

Adam Young/Jon Sherman

Golf, Sports

4.8 • 813 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode tackles a classic Ben Hogan quote: “You only hit a straight ball by accident… so you’d better make it go one way or the other.” We break down what that really means, and whether trying to shape every shot is actually helping your game or quietly widening your dispersion. Using real launch monitor data, on-course experience, and some ball-flight physics, we explore why tighter shot patterns matter more than how the ball curves in the air. Thank you to our show sponsors Ultra Pouches and Cash App Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch — delivering instant focus and mental clarity, without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code SWEETSPOT to get 15% off at https://takeultra.com/https://takeultra.com/ • Download Cash App Today ⁠by visiting this link⁠ #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at ⁠https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement⁠. Cash App Green, overdraft coverage, borrow, cash back offers and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit ⁠http://cash.app/legal/podcast⁠ for full disclosures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend.
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0:25.1	Twinings.
0:27.8	Alive in every drop.
0:32.3	Welcome back to another episode of The Sweet Spot.
0:35.1	This is John Sherman from the four foundations of golf.
0:37.1	And as always, I'm joined by. Adamian Golf. So you came
0:40.3	across a Ben Hogan quote recently. Is that right? That kind of moved you a bit or got your
0:45.3	attention that you wanted to talk about today? It was very apt because there were lots of talk,
0:50.0	or there was lots of talk about shaping, lots of debate on it.
0:56.1	It's not even clear what the debate is.
0:57.7	I know we've done a whole episode on it,
1:01.2	but I thought I'd dig deeper into this Hogan quote that I saw.
1:04.3	Because when I posted it and the discussion came out,
1:06.2	all the same arguments came out again.
1:10.1	So obviously it's still not very clear in people's heads what the reality of the situation is.
1:12.7	So I thought I'd go through that quote and say, I basically posted saying, this is what Hogan said.
1:19.9	I disagree with it.
	...

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