In the first of a regular series Gary Moran reflects on a gem of a golf instruction book by one of the game's legends

"There are no short-cuts in the quest for perfection," was a favourite motto of the late Ben Hogan who also claimed that his greatest accomplishment was being able to make a living playing golf after twice going broke starting out.

Of course he did far more than just make a living. From unpromising beginnings as a professional in 1931, Hogan turned himself into the winner of nine majors between 1946 and 1953 and established his reputation as a peerless ball-striker.

His success was built on the premise that it was "utterly impossible for any golfer to play good golf without a swing that will repeat" and that thought drove him to spend countless hours grooving a swing that would not let him down in championship play.

He was not a man to leave anything to chance, yet luck played a major part in the creation of one of his enduring legacies. Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf started life as an idea for a magazine article and grew into one of the most successful golf instruction books ever.

In 1956, Sports Illustrated writer Herbert Warren Wind and illustrator Anthony Ravielli met Hogan to discuss a proposed article on the basic elements of the correct golf swing, elements which Hogan more than anyone seemed to have understood and successfully employed.

One article turned into five and they were published in the magazine in 1957 and formed the basis of the book which was completed later that year. It has remained in print more or less ever since.

Hogan looked upon the book almost as a gift to the handicap golfer. He had spent 25 years as a professional, testing out varied techniques and theories, abandoning those that didn't stand up under pressure and moulding the best of what remained into the most envied swing of the day.

He truly believed that the average golfer was entirely capable of building a repeating swing and breaking 80. All that was required was the correct execution of a small number of fundamental movements.

On the other hand, it was total anathema to Hogan to watch a golfer "sweating over his shots on the practice tee, throwing away his energy to no constructive purpose, nine times out of 10 doing the same thing wrong that he did years and years back."

So he set out all the key elements of his own method and encouraged the reader to master each one before moving on to the next.

The book has five chapters, one for each lesson beginning with 'The Grip', moving on to 'Stance and Posture , 'The First Part of The Swing' (i.e. backswing), 'The Second Part of The Swing (i.e. downswing) and 'Summary and Review'. Get one fundamental correct and the next follows on easily. Get one wrong and it is doubly difficult to get Hogan's "chain action" of good golf working for you.

The most innovative technical point was Hogan's explanation of 'swing plane' , the angle of inclination of shoulders, arms and club during the backswing and downswing, but the core message, repeatedly delivered, is that you must get the fundamentals right to build a correct, powerful and repeating swing. Do that and you will increase your enjoyment and improve your play.

The thoughts of Hogan and the writing of Warren Wind would have made this a good book on their own. The exceptional drawings of Ravielli are the extra ingredient that make it a treasure. Forty-five years after it was first published, no less an authority than David Leadbetter says that it remains "a focal point of every serious golfer's library." You can decide for yourself by ordering a copy through the major bookshops.

Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf - Ben Hogan with Herbert Warren Wind with drawings by Anthony Ravielli