Why one of golf's most consistent ball-strikers trusted this swing feel

Scott Hoch was one of the best ball-strikers throughout the 1980s, and had he not missed a two-foot putt at the 1989 Masters, he would've had a green jacket to show for it.

Hoch got on the PGA Tour in 1980 and quickly established himself as one of the best Greens in Regulation players on tour. His swing was more upright than most: It moved vertically up-and-down, which helped him hit crisp iron shots with a tight fade that became his signature.

But while Hoch's upright swing helped him become an elite iron player, it could also create issues. Mainly, a tendency to get steep—something lots of golfers struggle with.

This happens, in part, when golfers are too active, too early with their upper body. Instead of shifting towards the target early in their downswing, they spin with their upper body. It throws off the order of their golf swing, which sends their arms over the top.

Drive left knee towards target

Hoch, though, learned how to counteract this with a swing thought that he trusted so much that he used it for some 20 years, until he made the Ryder Cup team in 2002.

This thought was simple, as Hoch wrote about in a 1983 issue of Golf Digest (which you can check out in our archive right here):

My first move in the forward swing is to drive my left knee toward the target, keeping it going in that direction as long as I can throughout the shot without losing my balance. This keeps my lower body from spinning out and keeps me from going over the top. If the left side goes left too quickly, the right side has to follow. This move drops my arms onto an inside path and helps me keep my right side under the left through impact. This results in more extension and acceleration, which gives me more distance, not to mention accuracy.

You should do it with every club in the bag—feeling it even more so with the longer clubs, Hoch says. It's the feeling of driving that lead knee towards the target that prevented any spin outs of his upper and lower body and fired the different parts of his golf swing in the right order. Do it right, and it can be a consistency key for years, as Hoch can vouch for: He arrived on tour in 1980, but qualified for the Ryder Cup team more than 20 years later, in 2002.

Once again, you can check out our full Golf Digest Archive right here.