hooking drives

[nibs10]

Hi,

Generally im pretty straight off the tee but recently i have been hooking my drives. They usually start right of centre then almost snap left around 220 yds out. It sometimes happens with my 3 iron but the rest of my irons are straight.....any advice??

[msklar92]

Re: hooking drives

check your ball position and alignment. If the ball starts right and then hooks, you may have it too far back in your stance. the hook may come from an early release trying to turn the ball into the fairway. just a guess.

[Sipes]

Re: hooking drives

Hi Nibs,

How far do you drive the ball on average and what shafts are you playing?

It might be that your swing speed/tempo is to fast for your shafts. The shorter the club/shaft, the less you'll see the effect on your shots.

If you are interrested, this is why....

When you swing a club, it builds up tension as it bends backwards. The stiffer a shaft is, the more energy (quicker swing) is needed bend it backwards. It builds up the tension up to a point where the limit is reached and the shaft "kicks" to release the built up energy. Similar to a elastic band being stretched and released.

If the shaft is too floppy for your swing speed, this "kick"point is reached to early, which means the clubface is closing to soon. It also bends back to far before it kicks, which causes an exagerated inside apraoch.

The shorter shafts have a wider is generally stiffer than a longer shaft (just as it is easier to bend a long ruler than a short one) and because your shorter shots require less "kick" and more stability.

Therefore the impact of the aproach angle is reduced by the the reduction of the length of the shaft.

Hope that makes sense

[nibs10]

Re: hooking drives

hi sipes,


On average i hit 280-300 yds, i have a titleist 983k with a graffaloy prolite stiff shaft....i also have a taylor made rescue mid 2 which has a tm stock stiff shaft which i hit 260-280

[Sipes]

Re: hooking drives

Nibs,

in that case, it probably isn't because of your equipment.

I've had a similar problem over the last year and recently I found that I've been trying to get my ball starting off to the right to compencate. It just got worse.

Turns out all I did was to close my shoulders at impact more and more as I tried to get the ball flying of to the right. This just caused a exagerated in-to-out swing path while my clubface was always square at impact.

Maybe you are doing the same in trying to fight the hook, you're pushing your hands out more. Try getting your hips 45° open by the time your club head reaches the ball. That way you're clubface will attack the ball on a more natural line.

[TeachingPro]

Re: hooking drives

Hi. The problem is pretty easy to solve really...

1> Is the ball starting too far right for your liking, like a push?
2> When you say it snaps left at around 220 yards, does it move from right-of target to left-of-target like a strong draw or does it literally take a 90* turn left "snap hooking" left?

Let me know the parameters and we'll panel beat the ball flight in no time. Also, what is your natural ball flight? If you setup to a fairway, explain what you normally expect from your ball flight.

[nibs10]

Re: hooking drives

Hi,


1. the ball mainly starts just right of center
2. sometimes it snaps but mainly its a strong drawing flight

my natural ball flight is pretty straight with a slight draw.
normally when i set up to a fairway i expect a straight flight with the occasional draw.

i played yesterday and it was the same...booming drives starting out right middle of the fairway then ending up in the left hand ruff or sometimes on another fairway!

[TeachingPro]

Re: hooking drives

Cool! This is an easy one to solve then ...

The initial flight of the ball is generated by the swing path and the curving of the golf ball once is starts to slow down is influenced by the angle of the club face. (basic ball flight laws 101)

So, by starting just right of centre you are approaching and impacting the golf ball slightly from the inside, which is what you want with a draw.

The extreme curving of the golf ball is generated by putting tons of side spin on it by closing the club face too much.

Okay, so to straighten out the extreme curving:
1. check the club face alignment at address, maybe you have it slightly shut without noticing
2. try to slowly 'under do' the rolling of the wrists during practice through impact. Your are obviuosly shutting the club face down in a big way, as if you wanted to hook the ball around a 90* dogleg ... you need to straighten up the impact alignment of the club face.

A good way of practicing this is to imagine you have to steer the golf ball through a window 12 feet ahead of you. Or you can take a 7-iron and hit punch shots for a while making sure you roll the wrists just enough to control the ball flight ... then hit some drivers. You might need a few practice sessions, okay, it may not be as simple as it sounds to get into the new alignments.

Okay? There you are. Check the alignment and then work on reducing the 'roll over' through impact.

Any problems, send me a message.

[nibs10]

Re: hooking drives

cheers

i'll give it a go