Ben Hogan

Hogan's most lasting contribution to the sport of golf may be his 1957 guide Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, which became a handbook for thousands of weekend golfers and aspiring professionals. "Never has there been a golfer who influenced the swing more than Ben Hogan," PGA Tour Hall of Fame inductee Johnny Miller told Jimmy Burch of the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. "I still study his book as if it's true scripture." Other golfers studied not just Hogan's writings, but his actual swing; Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus both changed their golfing styles after watching Hogan, and Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods have both admitted to spending hours studying old films of Hogan's playing. Presumably, knowing this would make Hogan very happy: "Hogan wanted the standards he left for the game to speak more eloquently than his words," Nelson wrote in Sports Illustrated, shortly after Hogan's death.