AmandaJR
Money List Winner
Ok. So something like the Gary Player walk thru drill? Or just try to feel weight moves onto back foot then back to the front foot?!
Hooking...badly!
- Thread starter AmandaJR
- Start date
bobmac
Major Champion
You may be swaying a little onto your back foot on the backswing.
Stay centred on the backswing then make sure you drive down and through impact.
AmandaJR
Money List Winner
Ok. Swaying does give me all manner of issues and I know if I really focus on seeing the ball throughout (so my view of it remains unchanged) I tend to strike it much better. Range and practice round tomorrow so hopefully sort it.
bobmac
Major Champion
Ok, have fun
the_coach
Journeyman Pro
Unfortunately there are lots of ways you could be hooking the ball. So just assuming as you've indicated the starting direction of the ball is always a good ways right of the ball target/line then the flight is a real curve that moves back towards target but then carries on to finish a good ways left.
You have to be swinging a good ways from the inside then out to the right across the ball/target line with the face closing down, the face closing quickly is what oft times then presents the toe end of the face to the ball, toe strikes through the gear effect add to the right to left flight some.
Double check your right hand hasn't got a good ways 'under' the handle so a ways over strong, double check you not aimed shut so feet & shoulders aimed a good ways right of target. Often a natural instinct to hooking the ball (but the wrong one) is to creep your aim further right as you want the ball to go right not left, but this makes it go just a ways further right. Hard to make yourself do it but if this was part of it you'd need to bring your feet & body alignments towards the direction you don't want the ball to end up, so aimed more to the left to bring you back to be aimed parallel left of the ball/target line.
Double check your ball position hasn't got a ways too far back in the stance as this will have the tendency to make you aim everything a ways more to the right of target.
If all those 'statics' grip, ball position, body alignment & aim to target all in good shape. Then as 'bobmac' rightly points out make sure you are turning in the back swing, & not both swaying to the right away from target & dragging the club back a good ways on the inside. So everything (upper body, head, arms & club) is a ways both too far to the right & behind you on the right side.
Although you need to start the downswing from the ground up, so weight left in lower body first so your can clear, you also have to guard against the opposite. If you do exaggerate the lateral lower body move left that too can leave the upper body, so head, arms & club a good ways behind you so if gets stuck which can cause an excessive in to out swing path into the ball & as you feel stuck the hands turn over some too & close the face down.
[video=youtube_share;xdKRi8Q4DWE]http://youtu.be/xdKRi8Q4DWE[/video]
You have to be swinging a good ways from the inside then out to the right across the ball/target line with the face closing down, the face closing quickly is what oft times then presents the toe end of the face to the ball, toe strikes through the gear effect add to the right to left flight some.
Double check your right hand hasn't got a good ways 'under' the handle so a ways over strong, double check you not aimed shut so feet & shoulders aimed a good ways right of target. Often a natural instinct to hooking the ball (but the wrong one) is to creep your aim further right as you want the ball to go right not left, but this makes it go just a ways further right. Hard to make yourself do it but if this was part of it you'd need to bring your feet & body alignments towards the direction you don't want the ball to end up, so aimed more to the left to bring you back to be aimed parallel left of the ball/target line.
Double check your ball position hasn't got a ways too far back in the stance as this will have the tendency to make you aim everything a ways more to the right of target.
If all those 'statics' grip, ball position, body alignment & aim to target all in good shape. Then as 'bobmac' rightly points out make sure you are turning in the back swing, & not both swaying to the right away from target & dragging the club back a good ways on the inside. So everything (upper body, head, arms & club) is a ways both too far to the right & behind you on the right side.
Although you need to start the downswing from the ground up, so weight left in lower body first so your can clear, you also have to guard against the opposite. If you do exaggerate the lateral lower body move left that too can leave the upper body, so head, arms & club a good ways behind you so if gets stuck which can cause an excessive in to out swing path into the ball & as you feel stuck the hands turn over some too & close the face down.
[video=youtube_share;xdKRi8Q4DWE]http://youtu.be/xdKRi8Q4DWE[/video]
the_coach
Journeyman Pro
Couple of other things you can try out on the range, after you checked all the alignments & grip, ball position etc.
Also after you've checked you're not swaying laterally right in the takeaway, good thing to feel to help stop this is to feel the weight moving into the inside of the right foot & staying there to the top while maintaining some flex still in the right knee & feel the right shoulder 'turn' behind your neck not right shoulder move away from target to the right.
From a correct address set-up, you would need to try some rehearsal swings when you feel the direction of the shaft & clubhead is swinging a little ways left through impact direction wise, so the clubhead direction is towards the area you don't want the ball to fly to! Intersperse the rehearsal swings with some 50% shots feeling swinging left through the ball.
if you think if may be because you're not clearing the hip left correctly.
Then make sure you set up with all alignments parallel left of the ball/target line, correct ball position.
Now first off just pre-set that left hip cleared some, hands slightly ahead of the ball so forward leaning shaft, but head behind ball, so imitating your 'ideal' impact position.
Just hold & feel that position for a count of 5, then just gently ease back to your address position, slight pause & start the swing with the aim to get back to that pre-set impact position again through impact while keeping the body turning through & feeling the club swing back inside to the left after impact then up to balanced finish. When you do this just swing at 50% so it gives you time to 'feel' & return through that pre-set & held impact position.
If you feel that as well as swinging a ways too far from the inside to out you're also allowing your right forearm to climb completely over the left forearm through impact.
Then from a good address position just make a few rehearsal swings when you 'feel' (feel to real drill) that just through impact your right palm is looking up towards the sky.
'Feel to real' because although you should 'feel' in these rehearsal swings your right palm looks to the sky just post impact, it won't actually be doing that but it will help to stop any heavily over-rotating right over left forearm through impact.
Once you've had a few rehearsals swing at 50% with a ball feeling the same thing. Reason i say 50% when you're actually hitting balls in drills is it's really pretty impossible trying to make or feel changes to a swing motion when you're swinging at whatever your normal swing speed is, you won't ever really be able to feel or put those changes in, at normal swing speed you're just going to repeat back to your default swing.
Also after you've checked you're not swaying laterally right in the takeaway, good thing to feel to help stop this is to feel the weight moving into the inside of the right foot & staying there to the top while maintaining some flex still in the right knee & feel the right shoulder 'turn' behind your neck not right shoulder move away from target to the right.
From a correct address set-up, you would need to try some rehearsal swings when you feel the direction of the shaft & clubhead is swinging a little ways left through impact direction wise, so the clubhead direction is towards the area you don't want the ball to fly to! Intersperse the rehearsal swings with some 50% shots feeling swinging left through the ball.
if you think if may be because you're not clearing the hip left correctly.
Then make sure you set up with all alignments parallel left of the ball/target line, correct ball position.
Now first off just pre-set that left hip cleared some, hands slightly ahead of the ball so forward leaning shaft, but head behind ball, so imitating your 'ideal' impact position.
Just hold & feel that position for a count of 5, then just gently ease back to your address position, slight pause & start the swing with the aim to get back to that pre-set impact position again through impact while keeping the body turning through & feeling the club swing back inside to the left after impact then up to balanced finish. When you do this just swing at 50% so it gives you time to 'feel' & return through that pre-set & held impact position.
If you feel that as well as swinging a ways too far from the inside to out you're also allowing your right forearm to climb completely over the left forearm through impact.
Then from a good address position just make a few rehearsal swings when you 'feel' (feel to real drill) that just through impact your right palm is looking up towards the sky.
'Feel to real' because although you should 'feel' in these rehearsal swings your right palm looks to the sky just post impact, it won't actually be doing that but it will help to stop any heavily over-rotating right over left forearm through impact.
Once you've had a few rehearsals swing at 50% with a ball feeling the same thing. Reason i say 50% when you're actually hitting balls in drills is it's really pretty impossible trying to make or feel changes to a swing motion when you're swinging at whatever your normal swing speed is, you won't ever really be able to feel or put those changes in, at normal swing speed you're just going to repeat back to your default swing.
AmandaJR
Money List Winner
Thanks the_coach some interesting and useful information. I think my grip and ball position are ok as checked them during the hooky round but wil have another check today. I definitely started to aim more and more right without appreciating that would do the opposite of what I wanted! Even on dog left right to left holes I daren't do anything else so that would have had an impact.
Hip clearing - I think you've hit the nail on the head as I have a tendancy to be too aggressive with my lower body and spin my hips out too fast/soon. Thinking back to when I stood open on the last shot it did feel like that enabled me to turn (not sway) over my right side rather than at the time thinking it was allowing my left hip to clear.
Grip, stance, ball position and alignment then work on the correct turn not sway is the order of priority today!
Thanks again.
Hip clearing - I think you've hit the nail on the head as I have a tendancy to be too aggressive with my lower body and spin my hips out too fast/soon. Thinking back to when I stood open on the last shot it did feel like that enabled me to turn (not sway) over my right side rather than at the time thinking it was allowing my left hip to clear.
Grip, stance, ball position and alignment then work on the correct turn not sway is the order of priority today!
Thanks again.
JCW
Journeyman Pro
I get it sometimes , my shape is a very soft draw , a few things to look out for , a flat swing due to standing a bit to far from the ball and swinging flat around your body , same again and swinging faster then normal , if your hands turn over as well then it will be even worse , closed stance even more then usual and ball to far up in stance can have this affect and lastly check your grip has not got stronger ................all the best ...............EYG
London mike 61
Challenge Tour Pro
My worst shot is a hook so I know how you feel when it happens, one drill that I have found that helps me is having a head cover under my left armpit and trying to keep it there as long as possible in the swing.
It helps to stop my swing getting too flat and gives me better co-ordination between arms and lower body , it helps timing as well.
Not sure if that will help Amanda but whatever you try , good luck in eliminating the hook after all the work you have put In to your game it would be a shame to suffer in your long game.
EYG
It helps to stop my swing getting too flat and gives me better co-ordination between arms and lower body , it helps timing as well.
Not sure if that will help Amanda but whatever you try , good luck in eliminating the hook after all the work you have put In to your game it would be a shame to suffer in your long game.
EYG
AmandaJR
Money List Winner
Thanks for all the replies. Not one of the blighters today - phew! I can't say totally what worked BUT ball position had crept back to my surprise when I checked with alignment stick on the range beforehand. Note to self to be disciplined to check this more often...
Coach/Bob - why does ball back cause the hook? Makes me sway back to get behind it??
Also felt weight on inside right foot on the way back and stayed more centred over the ball. It dawned on me that when I was struggling with some strikes low off the face and/or heely a few weeks back I worked on feeling I kept more behind the ball at address and impact (driver mainly). Without realising I may well have started to over exaggerate that.
So overall I didn't change much in the way of swing path/thoughts rather than ball, stance and weight transfer. Irons were still a bit off and toe side of middle but improving. On the course my drives were a delight and back to a nice soft draw or straight and off the middle of the face :clap:
Men v Ladies match tomorrow so looking forward to playing off the whites!
Coach/Bob - why does ball back cause the hook? Makes me sway back to get behind it??
Also felt weight on inside right foot on the way back and stayed more centred over the ball. It dawned on me that when I was struggling with some strikes low off the face and/or heely a few weeks back I worked on feeling I kept more behind the ball at address and impact (driver mainly). Without realising I may well have started to over exaggerate that.
So overall I didn't change much in the way of swing path/thoughts rather than ball, stance and weight transfer. Irons were still a bit off and toe side of middle but improving. On the course my drives were a delight and back to a nice soft draw or straight and off the middle of the face :clap:
Men v Ladies match tomorrow so looking forward to playing off the whites!
the_coach
Journeyman Pro
Good job done then, with no hooks in the round!
If the ball creeps back a ways in the stance, it could make you more liable to both sway & turn the upper body right as you go back.
But say with the ball a little further ways back, even if you make a good on-plane takeaway/backswing & turn to the top, & then start down from the ground up first as you should, so you're swinging back from even inside to square to inside, the ball further back will mean the clubface meets in sooner in the swing arc, {think of the swing arc as an inclined circle (big hoop), the more to the right the ball position is, the sooner the club meets it on that inclined circle so clubface swinging to the right, the further left the ball position is on the inclined circle, the later the clubface meets the ball, so clubface swing to the left} so slightly more from the inside, if then the face meets impact whilst gently closing down you'll get a little more movement right to left in flight so instead of a nice soft draw you can get a ways more of an overdraw. Do the same with a faster closing down of the face & you'll get a bigger overdraw come hook.
It's to do with the difference between the swing path in degrees (to the 0º of the ball target line) & the face angle direction in degrees, the bigger this swing path, to face angle direction is in degrees through impact the more curvature in either left to right, or right to left ball flight.
Good thing as a norm, to feel that weight during the turn back is onto the length of the inside right foot it will slightly favor the inside of the right heel at the top, combine that with a still slightly flexed right knee & you won't sway right any.
As a general thing, most players having reached a fairly good consistent swing motion will experience problems that oft times stem from set-up, just taking things a little for granted so slight variations creep in, only takes a very slight half a ball change forwards or back some for shot errors to materialize.
That's why you always see elite golfers Pro's or Ams paying particular attention to all the address alignments (with the sticks often at start of a practice session to check it all out a ways before putting them back in the bag so as not to become to reliant on set-up aids)
Oft times during comps (Pro-Ams etc) I've played with mid & high handicap players who've made a fairly decent pass through the ball but it's gone nowhere near where they expected it to, so they spend the majority of the round worrying about the swing motion. But really it was down to a miss-aim line to stat with &/or miss set-up body alignments.
So it's quite often not the swing, when you're out there get those 3 aim points from behind the ball & set up parallel left, then if you don't put you're 'best' swing on it, it will still be going somewheres in the area you want it to go.
Things to check first if you're going through a bad patch, grip, aim, ball position, alignment & posture. Things to check second, make sure you're completing the shoulder turn along with tempo, rhythm & balance. Only then, after all that do you look to swing motion technique & sequencing.
Oft times it's as simple as something out at address, if you don't check all this first, you start to instinctively to make swing motion moves or aim direction changes to compensate a ways but this just compounds the issue some.
If the ball creeps back a ways in the stance, it could make you more liable to both sway & turn the upper body right as you go back.
But say with the ball a little further ways back, even if you make a good on-plane takeaway/backswing & turn to the top, & then start down from the ground up first as you should, so you're swinging back from even inside to square to inside, the ball further back will mean the clubface meets in sooner in the swing arc, {think of the swing arc as an inclined circle (big hoop), the more to the right the ball position is, the sooner the club meets it on that inclined circle so clubface swinging to the right, the further left the ball position is on the inclined circle, the later the clubface meets the ball, so clubface swing to the left} so slightly more from the inside, if then the face meets impact whilst gently closing down you'll get a little more movement right to left in flight so instead of a nice soft draw you can get a ways more of an overdraw. Do the same with a faster closing down of the face & you'll get a bigger overdraw come hook.
It's to do with the difference between the swing path in degrees (to the 0º of the ball target line) & the face angle direction in degrees, the bigger this swing path, to face angle direction is in degrees through impact the more curvature in either left to right, or right to left ball flight.
Good thing as a norm, to feel that weight during the turn back is onto the length of the inside right foot it will slightly favor the inside of the right heel at the top, combine that with a still slightly flexed right knee & you won't sway right any.
As a general thing, most players having reached a fairly good consistent swing motion will experience problems that oft times stem from set-up, just taking things a little for granted so slight variations creep in, only takes a very slight half a ball change forwards or back some for shot errors to materialize.
That's why you always see elite golfers Pro's or Ams paying particular attention to all the address alignments (with the sticks often at start of a practice session to check it all out a ways before putting them back in the bag so as not to become to reliant on set-up aids)
Oft times during comps (Pro-Ams etc) I've played with mid & high handicap players who've made a fairly decent pass through the ball but it's gone nowhere near where they expected it to, so they spend the majority of the round worrying about the swing motion. But really it was down to a miss-aim line to stat with &/or miss set-up body alignments.
So it's quite often not the swing, when you're out there get those 3 aim points from behind the ball & set up parallel left, then if you don't put you're 'best' swing on it, it will still be going somewheres in the area you want it to go.
Things to check first if you're going through a bad patch, grip, aim, ball position, alignment & posture. Things to check second, make sure you're completing the shoulder turn along with tempo, rhythm & balance. Only then, after all that do you look to swing motion technique & sequencing.
Oft times it's as simple as something out at address, if you don't check all this first, you start to instinctively to make swing motion moves or aim direction changes to compensate a ways but this just compounds the issue some.
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AmandaJR
Money List Winner
Thanks Coach - that all makes perfect sense and now I understand the impact of the ball being too far back. It probably was just a ball width back or so but once I put the alignment stick down and used that it felt much further forward than I'd become accustomed to. I did only use it for half a dozen drives and then put it away for the last few so I could sense what was correct on the course. Something to put into my practice routine to stop things slipping off and becoming a problem for me.
Your detailed advice is very much appreciated and suits my learning style - I love to learn the technicalities of the golf swing and the impact of this or that on ball flight - knowledge is power and all that :thup:
Your detailed advice is very much appreciated and suits my learning style - I love to learn the technicalities of the golf swing and the impact of this or that on ball flight - knowledge is power and all that :thup:
