Tag Archives: ben hogan

Slowing Down Practice

Spoke with a guy a few months ago after watching him practicing Shag.  Now, I don’t pretend to be a terrific Shag dancer, but I like to think that I’m a terrific learner.

I helpfully volunteered my advice, which is a terrible, terrible thing to do.  But I like A, and hoped he could take my advice in the context that I meant it: wanting to see him succeed.

Once we’ve learned basics, it’s easy to get trapped in a place where we want to make those basics extremely dynamic, extremely fast, or extremely stylized.  In my mind, it’s too easy to focus on the end goal (in A’s case, the speed of the music he wanted to dance too) and not enough on a good path to the goal.

I came across a story about how Ben Hogan (widely regarded as having one of the best swings in pro golf, ever), would practice his swing:  slowly.


What will the treatment method be like? First comes the diagnosis which will determine the type of ulcer we viagra pill on line are dealing with. This physical pressure disrupts the nerve’s function causing pain, tingling, buy levitra on line numbness or weakness. Most clinics will keep up you 24 to 72 hours for review and after that exhort you what they think will help uk viagra prices http://davidfraymusic.com/events/theatre-des-champs-elysees-paris/ you ahead of the pack takeoff. But it is generic viagra price true that at the beginning, it is best to consult your doctor before taking goji berries supplements.

I even like the quote in the description of this second clip:
“Fast playing is not based on fast practice. It’s based on flawless execution at slow speed.”  — Daniel Bonade – World class clarinetist


Speed can cover up the technique problems in movement.  Can I perform my movement perfectly at very slow speeds?  Once I’ve corrected gross problems at slow speeds, I move on to performing it at close to normal speeds.  Then a bit faster.  But I try as hard as I can to perfect my movement at each speed level before speeding things up again.