can't hit a ball straight..please help

[chimkychink]

i play off a 16 handicap and have been improving steadily for the last few years. about 6 weeks ago i couldn't hit a ball straight to save my life. a lot of practice has almost cured my irons, but i'm still not able to hit a drive straight (about 1 out of 20, before was about 18 out of 20). i'm right handed and find that i'm suddenly wildly hooking a lot of drives. nothing really feels right when i tee off but i don't know why.
can anyone tell me why this is happening and what i have to do to fix it? is it better to have some lessons immediately or should i not play for a few weeks and see if this improves it? i've had bad rounds before but never this bad and for this long.
any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.
thank you

[SevenBall]

Re: can't hit a ball straight..please help

Why its happening is because your closing the clubface at impact and its probably due to the fact that you can't feel your hands yet. When I was learning (of course still learning too) I too couldn't feel my hands. Instead of just going to the range and hitting balls and trying to get them straight, I would hit 5 slices, then 5 hooks and then try and get 5 straight. Over abit of time that turned into 5 controlled fades, draws and straight shots.

What I do next shot, if I hook one, is setup for fade and compensate my aim and make sure I hit fade. For me, that usually gets them going straight again. You can't just swing at the ball if you're hooking, you will only start to groove it into your swing and yeah, that one hook will turn into 20 like you said is happening to you. You have to actively say, right I'm going to make this one go the other way.

That's just what I do.

[EDIT] Oh, and always have a lesson.

[bill reed]

Re: can't hit a ball straight..please help

hi
99% of pro golfer dont hit the ball straight with there driver as it so hard to do, the hit a draw or a fade as its easy to control, if you are always hooking then try and use it and try and hit a draw, when you try and hit it straight down the middle you never know if it will hook or fade and if you set up with your set up closed and hit from in to out the face will be a little closed and you will impart sidee spin and you will draw the ball and you know it will always come in from the right. its someting you have to work on but its a lot easer that trying to hit every shot straight.
even the pros cant do that every time. you often hear the them on tv say he hit it straight but the mean it ended up wher he was aiming, lee trevino was often said to be the straightest hitter when on tour and he always hit a fade, hogan and nicklaus and monty did too. longer hitters tend to draw the ball more as the hit lower and runs more, fade tends to be more on target as it dont run into troble like a draw does.
bill

[SevenBall]

Re: can't hit a ball straight..please help

Bills got some good points and also, when the hook problem is fixed find out what your bad shot for the week is. (a pro who I think is very wise told me that) Know that this week I am missing left, so when I need the par I aim right edge of the green. At worst you will hit it straight and catch right edge or lose it left and get the left edge. I find that useful when I have a good score that I want to keep through the last few holes when pressure is on.

Of course if you need birdies you have to suck it up and just try and bomb the pin.

[Scragger63]

Re: can't hit a ball straight..please help

See, here's the value in this site... In reading this thread, a penny has dropped for me...

I'm always fighting a big pull hook with my woods and they are currently enjoying a holiday in the shed for just that reason. Now, I read this thread and it seems so simple, when teeing up with either driver or three wood, I should just align myself down the left hand side of the fairway and go ahead and try and hit a fade/slice.

Man it seems so easy now...

Wonder if I'll still feel that way when I go out into the shed on Saturday morning......



Cheers