How do you get rid of a Duck hook

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

A duck hook ...

You're coming into impact from the outside (therefore, it starts left) and then closing the face to put hook spin on it (going further left). To so to top the 'duck' part you need to straighten the swing path and the 'hook' part, square the face up.

Work on two things:
1. Swinging on the inside approaching impact. A good drill it to tee the ball up and put another tee a foot in front of the ball but outside the circumference of the ball. When you execute the down swing, hit the ball and then the tee beyond the ball.

2. You need to 'quieten down' the pronation of the hands and forearms in the release. The release is actually two moments executed as 1 movement. The wrists unhinge allowing the club to catch up with the hands and arms AND the hands and forearms turn over to square the club face up. By putting hook spin on the ball you 'over do' that pronantion, closing the club face. A bit (no more than 2 degrees) of closed club face is good for a draw ... so make sure you square the face at impact and then pronate after impact when the club reaches hip height on the follow through.

I like teaching 'feeling' a movement, so I suggest the following. Address the ball without a golf club. Put your hands together with you fingers pointing to the ball. Now swing back with the hands only and down but on the way down imagine you were swiping the ball away with the back of your left hand or the logo on your glove ... that is the correct amount of pronantion for a square club face. Now do it again closing your hands a little.

I like this as a pre-shot routine for anybody who hasa problem with squaring the club face. It gets the 'feeling' in the movement to execute in the golf swing.

Ok?


Any problems, post again or send an e-mail.

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

By asking that I take it you're a golfer not a practicer!

On the golf course, geez ... there are no 'drills' but there a few 'quick tricks' I teach students if they get on the course and all hell breaks loose.

To make sure you start the golf ball right of target, align to the target but pick an object a foot in front of the ball, slightly to the right of the target line. Keep looking at the ball but try to hit the ball over that object followed by the club. It's going to take some geting used to but once you get the feeling of an inside-outside swing path, it will become easier to deal with.

You can also try this:
When you reach the top of your backswing, to stop you 'casting' the club at the top (an early release) or allowing your shoulders to spin, keep your shoulders to the target while you move the rest as normal. When you hands reach just above hip height, onlu then let your shoulders turn left. By which time the club is inside, your arms are slightly inside and your shoulders have no way of spinning and pulling the club from the outside.

You can also try this:
When you swing back, imagine that target line drawn on the ground and focus on making sure the clubhead doesn't cross that line. Keep everything inside that line ... you can (provided you do not hit it) use a towel or wood head cover you happen to leave just outside that line and just within your eye sight as a visual guide. (you didn't hear it from me and I certainly didn't hear it from a PGA tour pro who used it for 2 rounds this year while he was struggling with a snap hook).

'Quick fixes' take much longer to memorise, okay, so don't expect to see consistent results until you've played 3 or 4 rounds if you don't practice.
Hope this helps ... for a 'quick fix'. For a 'permanent fix' you need to practice correcting swing path.

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

when you said to tee a ball up 1 foot in front of the main ball did you mean the club side of the ball or the fairway side of the ball if you get what i mean and should my takeaway also be inside or shall i try to swing a little steeper because i do tend to swing alot around my body on my backswing.

Let me explain again:

Tee the ball up. Then put a tee in the ground about a foot in front of the ball (fairway side of the ball you're going to hit) but just outside the circumference of the ball. Okay?

Your problem could be swing too flat, but if you keep your shoulders back until a little later you can get away with it. A flat swing does sometimes result in an out-to-in swing path ... but not always.

Don't focus on too many things at once ... think swing path for now. Once you've got that, think club face at impact then we'll work on swing plane (flat or upright) but for swing plane I need to see you swing. When we get there, you can send me a video or post it on GTO and I will pick it up from there.

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

Good for you ... I know what you're going through. I started playing when I was 13. I used to get up early, practice from like sunrise to just before school. I'd go to school, run the 5 miles home, grab the clubs and go to the course.

I didn't have money to pay green fees so I practiced until the pro went home and then I'd go play the 'back holes' and practice until it was so dark I couldn't see a thing. I didn't allow myself to go home until it was either dark or I had hit 100 perfect shots. I once birdied 11 holes in a row and then I allowed myself to go home a bit early.

The next day I would do the same thing ... it was cool. I did that no matter what the weather was.

One Christmas, I was about 16 or 17 and I knew Father Christmas wasn't bringing me a set of golf clubs, so I skipped Christmas with the family and played 72 holes instead. That is what life is about - golf! Bugger Christmas!!!

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

Swing back normally, but on the way down swing from the inside purposefully sending the ball to the right of target.

Get that part corrected first.

Then do the 'hand drill' to get the feeling of squaring the hands up at impact. Then in executing a swing try to keep the hands square at impact by rolling them less than you are now.

Then put the two together and you should be hitting straight or maybe a bit of a draw.

You can either e-mail it to me at graham@kelrosagolf.com or post it on the photo gallery here, let me know it's there and I can download it.

Cool?

[TeachingPro]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

There is nothing quite like a drive straight down the middle!!! It's those shots that bring you back the next time.

Of course you can use me, that is why I am here.

We'll get you down the middle soon enough. If you used to be a good driver of the ball until recently, something has fallen out of place somewhere.

Try the drills until I get to see you swing in a day or two and we'll work on it together, no problem a all. Just do me 1 favour tough, take a driver swing from the side (so I can see you face-on) and then a driver swing so I can see you from the side, towards the target. I need to see both angles.

I will put your videos into 2 sets of software, V1 and CSwing. Once I'm done there I can see what is wrong and I will tell you from there how we going to get you down the middle every time.

[GregJWillis]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

Do mean that you have your left palm over the end of the butt of the grip?!?

[Ian Hancock]

Re: How do you get rid of a Duck hook

My regular playing partner suffers with this type of problem he plays off 4 and he has a good swing but he duck hooks when he trys to hard, I think it because he very flexable and throws his whole body into the down swing, typical of someone who has played since a small child.
At your age I suspect you have the same type of swing (alot of lower body action). This means that with the lower body out racing the arms to much, you go from a late hit to a very very late hit and the hands race to catch up and thus the Duck Hook.

Simply try to slow the swing a little and see if this makes a difference.

The other way to get rid of a duck is to shoot it.

Hope this helps

Ian