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Ben Hogan playing a bunker shot, sand exploding, a crowd of spectators in period dress watching from behind

The Club · A feature

Hogan at Panmure, 1953

The fortnight

Hogan came to Angus in 1953 as the reigning Masters and US Open champion, for the Open at Carnoustie, which he won, to cap his triple-crown year.

He came early, to practise with the small 1.62-inch British ball, and he practised almost exclusively at Panmure, which was extremely private in those days and afforded him the peace and quiet he required. His only company was his caddie, Cecil Timms.

He thought the sixth a perfect golf hole, and suggested the installation of the pot bunker on the front right of the green. He also cut the green himself, to get his putting speed right for Carnoustie, famously cleaning the mower before returning it to the greens staff.

“There are no shortcuts in the quest for perfection.”

From the framed plaque in the Hogan Lounge.

A framed and signed portrait of Ben Hogan holding the Claret Jug, with a mounted plaque beneath describing his time at Panmure
  • A 1953 Open Championship season admission ticket, No. 1006, charge 25 shillings, valid 6th to 10th July
  • Framed memorabilia: Hogan photographs either side of a Roosevelt nine-nations tournament poster, with a scorecard mounted beneath
  • A brass door plate engraved HOGAN LOUNGE on a dark panelled wall

The sixth

Hogan’s Bunker

Par 4, 414 yards, stroke index 1. The tee shot wants to be left of centre; the approach has to find a well-guarded green. The pot bunker short and right, concealed from the fairway, is the one Hogan asked for, and seventy years on the members still call it by his name.

See the hole
The sixth green at Panmure in evening light, the pot bunker short and right of the putting surface with heather in the foreground

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