My golfing journey - I need some advice

[Canary_Yellow]

I play off 21, and I'm really battling to get better. It's a tough old game! I had a short game lesson on saturday and I now feel that I have a consistent pitching / chipping technique that I can practice and will serve me well. I'm getting better off the tee (have been really battling the duck hook over the last year, but have made a lot of progress), and I've bought a putting mat to try and improve my consistency of putt to nail those 3 - 5 footers!

Anyway, that's enough about that. In trying to beat my propensity to hit duck hooks, I've been working on keeping my arms and shoulders on a good plane - I had been letting my hands get behind me turning around too much and then getting my hands stuck behind me on the downswing (make sense?) causing the hook. In fixing this I've been swinging my arms more and maybe not turning my shoulders and body enough, which leads me to my question....

I have quite a stiff back which limits my shoulder turn absent a turn of the hips (my X factor, I think it's called), in the past I think I've compensated for this by swinging my arms more to still have a full length looking backswing. I think this is incorrect - I think I should turn my shoulders as much as possible, not worry too much about X factor so turn my hips as much as I need to for a full shoulder turn, and not compensate with my arms. So, if I can't turn 90 degrees with my shoulders, then so be it.

I'm not a particularly short hitter, it is consistency of strike that is killing me - especially with my irons (anything longer than a 8 iron), so I'm more than willing to have a shorter backswing (same amount of body and shoulder turn, less arm) and potentially sacrifice a bit of distance to get a better quality connection.

Does this make any sense? Or is it just the raving of a desperate man - the answer may of course be that it is both....

 

[bobmac]

Impossible to be sure without seeing your swing but I think you may be worrying about the wrong end of the swing.
The duck hook normally happens when the body stops turning just before impact and the club flips passed you.
If you focus on turning your body hard through the shot, the club-head will never over-take your hands and never duck hook.
Of course, this may not be your problem but that is what normally causes the duck hook.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Impossible to be sure without seeing your swing but I think you may be worrying about the wrong end of the swing.
The duck hook normally happens when the body stops turning just before impact and the club flips passed you.
If you focus on turning your body hard through the shot, the club-head will never over-take your hands and never duck hook.
Of course, this may not be your problem but that is what normally causes the duck hook.

Hi Bob, thanks.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense, I've been working very hard on that and I'm making a lot of progress on the duck hook. I was early extending, which seems to be consistent with what you're saying.

However, in doing so, I seem to now be hitting fades / slices which is what lead me to my question on the body turn etc.

I think I just worry too much about things...