By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent

If practice makes perfect, then Ben Hogan knew exactly what he was doing at the Masters 50 years ago.

It set him up for a season which until Tiger Woods came along was the greatest ever seen in golf.

Having won the title for the first time in 1951 - at his 10th attempt - Hogan shared the lead with Sam Snead a year later, but then three-putted five times in a closing 79.

It was his worst-ever round in the event and one which left him aching to take his revenge.

So for the 1953 tournament he arrived at Augusta two weeks before the start and played no fewer than 11 practice rounds. It led to a performance which he hailed himself as the best of his career.

Runner-up Ed "Porky" Oliver tied the previous Masters record score with his nine under par 279 - and lost by five shots. Only Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd and Woods (twice) have beaten Hogan's aggregate since.

Two months later the 40-year-old Texan won a record-equalling fourth US Open crown by six shots from Snead and then, on what was to be his one and only trip to the Open, he triumphed at Carnoustie by four. It made him only the second man - after Gene Sarazen - to win all four of golf's majors.

Three in one season had never been done before and that remained the case until Woods won the US Open, Open and US PGA three years ago.

Hogan was denied the chance of a unique Grand Slam only by a clash of dates between the Open and US PGA, though he might not have entered the PGA in any case because its match play format required more than one round a day and he still had not fully recovered from the 1949 car crash which nearly took his life.

Hogan won three majors before the accident and another six after it. Because of his health he played just four events in 1951, three in 1952, eight in 1953 and four in each of the following two seasons.

Nobody will ever know what he might have achieved had the crash not happened, but the story was such a remarkable one that Hollywood turned it into the film "Follow The Sun" starring Glenn Ford as Hogan.

A sequel could have been done. In 1967, when he was 54, Hogan played his final Masters and in the third round came home in 30 for a round of 66 that matched his lowest-ever and was the best of the week. He finished 10th.

He was the person who suggested the idea of a Champions Dinner each year and in 1958 the bridge leading to the 12th green was dedicated to him.

The inscription reads that Ben Hogan's Bridge commemorates his record score in 1953. "This score will always stand as one of the very finest accomplishments in competitive golf and may even stand for all-time as the record for the Masters Tournament."

Nicklaus proved that to be inaccurate, but Nicklaus has also acknowledged Hogan's place in history.

The book "Ben Hogan, The Man Behind The Mystique" begins with this tribute from Nicklaus.

"So many things about Hogan were special. He was the greatest shot-maker I ever saw. He was more determined and could totally out-focus anyone else in his time of playing. No-one seemed to know him very well, which made him that much more feared as a competitor.

"He probably worked harder than anybody to reach the top and it took him a long time. then, when he got there, his body was all but destroyed by the car accident. all he did was start all over again at nearly 40 and got even better. Nobody was like Hogan."

In one of his US Opens Hogan was paired with a club professional, who over the first few holes felt almost duty bound to say "great shot" time and time again.

"A drive in the fairway is not a great shot," Hogan said eventually. "I'll tell you when I hit a great golf shot."

Late in the round he hit a three-iron four feet from a flag tucked behind a deep bunker. "Now that's a great shot," he said with a grin.

Then there was the time he was playing with Arnold Palmer. On the first hole Hogan made a solid par three, while Palmer's tee shot finished in a tree stump, the second made the fringe and he sank a 40-foot putt for par.

At the second Hogan split the fairway, found the heart of the green and two-putted for par again. Palmer drove into three inches of water, blasted it out back onto the fairway, hit his third over the green and chipped in for par.

The next, for Hogan, was a repeat of the second. Palmer drove in the rough, went from there into a bunker and holed for birdie.

Hogan turned to Palmer and said: "Look, dammit, we're here to play golf. Stop fooling around."