The Coleman Video

What follows is the famous Coleman video. This video was taken in 1977 when Hogan was 65 years old. It was filmed in the home of Hogan's friend and Seminole member, George Coleman. Here's what we can gather about Mr. Coleman from his obituary, COLEMAN-George L., 85, of Hobe Sound, Florida, died July 23, 1997. He was engaged in mining and oil businesses and was an avid sportsman, who was a close friend of Ben Hogan and Bing Crosby. Born in Miami, OK. on Jan 1, 1912, Mr. Coleman attended Western Academy in Alton, IL., and attended the Univ of Ok. Mr. Coleman was an executive in a lead and zinc mining company and a truck manufacturing company. Later he was chairman of the board and president of the First National Bank in Miami, OK. Mr. Coleman was a director of Flo-Sun Incorporated and a director of Pennzoil Company and its predecessor companies for 33 years. Former corporate directorships included the Detroit Baseball Company, Chris Craft Industries and the Ben Hogan Company. During World War II, Mr. Coleman served in the Army Air Corp Reserves and U.S. Naval Reserve. As an experienced pilot, he served as director of the Spartan School of Aeronautics at Muskogee, OK. and was responsible for training 450 pilots at a time and maintaining a large fleet of aircraft. Later, he was commissioned a Lt. j.g. in the Navy, assigned to the Naval Air Transport Squadron VR-9 and then to the Bureau of Aeronautics. Mr. Coleman won various outboard motor boat (hydroplane) races and held the first recognized national and international records over 60 and 70 m.p.h. He loved golf and excelled in various amateur tournaments, was Oklahoma State Golf Champion in 1946 and played in the British Amateur, French Amateur and Swiss Amateur. Mr. Coleman was a member of the Board of Governors of Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, FL. since 1958 and served as President from 1981 to 1992 and then became President Emeritus. Mr. Coleman had the longest membership (60 years) in the Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, CA. Other memberships included the Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA, Brook Club, N.Y., N.Y., Castle Pines Golf Club, Castle Rock, CO and Jupiter Island Club, Hobe Sound, FL.

In his playing days Hogan would head to Florida in February and spend 5-6 weeks at Seminole Country Club preparing for the Masters. His good friend Claude Harmon (Butch's Father) was the Head Pro there. Over the years Hogan made many friends at Seminole, it was said that he felt comfortable there because the members were not in awe of him, remember we're talking captains of industry here. Apparently, he'd go to the Coleman residence and he and George would practice hitting balls into the ocean. This tape had lingered around the Golf circles and it became Urban Lore, more legend than realty. Many spoke of it's existence, a few even claimed to have seen it in the early 90's. Anyway I believe this is the most important footage of Hogan ever shot. He is totally at ease and openly discussing and describing his methodology to Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. He describes the pressure points in the hands and proceeds to explain pressure point #3, and how he maintains constant pressure against it. This would indicate a hitting procedure per The Golfing Machine. In other words Hogan claims to be drive loading or pushing the club. Hogan was long considered to be a swinger, by many students of TGM, and if in fact he was a swinger why would he wish he had 3 right hands? Is it possible to be both or get a maximum participation, who knows. We will keep exploring this topic, because it warrants an explanation. For now enjoy the video and watch how Hogan defies "Father Time" and takes you back into a different era.




Hit em Straight