The Ben Hogan Museum in downtown Dublin through its displays and artifacts presents the story of one of the most remarkable comeback stories, careers and personalities in golf, but the annual dinner and legacy tournament June 5-6 emphasized he was more than a great player.
Hogan was a Dublin native whose winning of golf’s triple-crown in 1953 after recovering from a major vehicle accident became legendary and the basis for a movie starring Glenn Ford. Hogan logged 68 career tournament wins including nine major tournament titles.
“I think that the most important thing about Mr. Hogan was the person that he was,” said event organizer Charlie Finegan during the Thursday, June 5 dinner at The Station in Dublin.
Following a catered meal of Chick-Fil-A wraps, chicken, fruit and salad, Michael Cestone and his twin sons, Mike Jr. and Frank got up to speak about the consistency of Hogan’s game which avid golfers continue to study to this day.
The elder Michael is the owner of Cestone Golf Academy in Florida who first traveled to Dublin to see the Hogan Museum in 2022.
The sons offer lessons on the ‘Hogan Method’ and began by studying Hogan’s “Five Lessons” book and carried on from there, down to getting custom spiked shoes close to what he wore and noting the way he rotates his body in a swing. Michael Jr. and Frank learned of the museum and wanted to see if they could study the grips on Hogan’s own clubs so they loaded up and drove from their home in Florida to Dublin.
This has resulted in a longstanding respect and partnership as the family has offered lessons at several tournaments.
As the family spoke, a wellloved copy of Hogan’s “Five Lessons” was held up showing many marked pages and highlighted passages. Michael Sr. said the book not only gave five lesson but eight fundamentals and the trio went through some of the qualities the legend wrote that go into a good golf swing.
His knowledge and consistency ensured Hogan went 19 seasons without missing the cut.
“I think the most important factthatpeopleunderestimate is his curiosity,” said Michael Jr. “We have the privilege of teaching juniors in Tampa. The ones that progress the fastest are the ones with curiosity.”
Guests in attendance also got to hear more about the character of Ben Hogan from Edward Doug Payne, the author of “Here’s your Martini, Mr. Hogan.”
Payne related the foundation for the book resulted from him going to work at Shady Oaks in 1989 and the conversations he would have with Hogan while working in the men’s grill. Payne called Hogan a man of habit as said he came to the course 7 days a week.
He was privy to observations from Hogan about his career, the talent pool in golf at the time, his philosophy of the game and even personalized tips for the aspiring golfer.
Following his presentation, Payne autographed copies of the book.
The next day, golfer met at PAR Country Club for the annual tournament in two modes of play: a scramble and a best ball competition. All the entrance fees as well as the auction of some high quality donations and a raffle to play at Starr Hollow went into the museum.
Earning first place in both the scramble and best ball competition were the Mary Hardin Baylor team of Kevin Brown, Mitch Mann, Aaron Rodeffer and Justin Schultz.
Second place in the scramble went to the First National Bank of Dublin team of Joey Hardin, Andrew Kinser, Gary Satterwhite and Blake Reeder. Third place went to the Cestone team with Michael Sr., Michael Jr. and Frank, along with Roger Murney.
Second place in the best ball competition went to the team of Christo Garcia, James Grasso, Ralph Mosqueda and Robert Singletary while third place went to the team of Art Darwin, Brandon McDonald, Gary Satterwhite and Jack Whiteside The Bruner team of Bruner team of Pete Branch, Stan Edgar, Doug Keith and Donnie Whitman won the auto dealer challenge for second year in a row over Triple Crown and Bayer Motors.
Mark Barron earned the longest drive on hole 4.
Golfers also had a chance for a platter of chicken nuggets if they hit the Chick-Fil-A cow on Hole 11.
Finegan said there are hopes to expand the museum further to share even more of Hogan’s story and character.
“We have people still teaching the ‘Hogan method,” Finegan said. “Books are still being sold.”
“He’s a good role model for kids of today,” he said. “He had an amazing work ethic.”
The Ben Hogan Museum is located at 121 E. Blackjack. For more information, visit benhoganmuseum.org.