hooking longer irons, woods & driver

[Whizz]

it seems that the longer the club gets, the worse the hook becomes. vey happy when the ball is played further back in my stance, like with 7 iron to my wedges, nice clean hits, good ball flight. When I move it up for the longer clubs, I become a unhappy hooker. My better shots still draw a fair bit.

anyone wanna give me a pointer here?

whizz

[Scragger63]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

Maybe don't move it up as much...???

I'm always fighting a hook as well and I find centre of stance works ok most times, even for the longer irons...

Knows it's not text book per se, but it works for me...

Try it if you wanna...

Cheers

[Whizz]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

Bro,

How about your driver? how do you combat the hook? I put it 2 far back & i get a weak pop up.

[Scragger63]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

Mate, for me it's centre of stance for all irons AND 3 wood as well for the most consistent results. As for my Driver, well that's another story. I'm probably not the right person to be offering advice where it is concerned, though, last week, I did get it away better than I have in recent months. I teed it up about two balls ahead of centre.

All I will say is for me it was a bit of trial and error. I'm still not quite there, but I am closer than I have been...

Good luck with it.

Cheers

[BrianW]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

Hooks can be created by a number of things resulting in a closed club face through impact. The longer the club the less loft, this will excentuate the effects of any side spin on the ball due to the lower back spin created, so your driver will normally be affected most.

Placing the ball too far forward can be a cause. I prefer to always place the ball around 2.5 inches inside my left heel with all clubs(including my putter), this aligns it around your left armpit where your left arm reaches the bottom of it's swing arc. I then move my right foot backwards or forwards from there so that the ball can be forward or centre of my stance without moving my left foot and retaining this relationship.

EDIT:

Take a look at this link, it may help:

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...1_1_lh,00.html

[Jeff Mann]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

I could offer much more rational advice if I had access to your swing video, but in general I think that hooking is due to various combinations of a strong grip, shallow swingplane, downswing plane that comes from too inside, and too much forerarm roll over during the downswing. I don't think that placing the ball forward causes hooking. I think that placing the ball further back can aggravate hooking if it causes the golfer to come further along in inside-out track.

Jeff.

[msklar92]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

I would be helpful to know what the initial ball flight is to determine if it is a path problem in addition. Personally, I have found that when I hook it has a lot to do with tempo. I rush and do not complete the backswing and when I go through the ball it forces the club face shut.

[golfseeker]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

I had the exact same problem and went to my local professional for his advice. Within minutes he had my problem fixed. This is what he told me... "Finish high". Your last swing thought on every swing is to "finish high" on your follow-through. Hale Erwin is a prime example of doing just that on the senior tour.

Look at where your club ends up on your follow-though. The club should be somewhere between your left shoulder and left ear. The closer it gets to your left shoulder the better the chance of hitting a hook.

GolfSeeker

[jbrunk]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

Hooks can be created by a number of things resulting in a closed club face through impact. The longer the club the less loft, this will excentuate the effects of any side spin on the ball due to the lower back spin created, so your driver will normally be affected most.

Placing the ball too far forward can be a cause. I prefer to always place the ball around 2.5 inches inside my left heel with all clubs(including my putter), this aligns it around your left armpit where your left arm reaches the bottom of it's swing arc. I then move my right foot backwards or forwards from there so that the ball can be forward or centre of my stance without moving my left foot and retaining this relationship.

EDIT:

Take a look at this link, it may help:

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...1_1_lh,00.html

I like this idea a lot. It also forces you to pivot into the ball, whereas moving the ball back seems more of a bandaid to fix another swing flaw.




Maybe you are hooking because you are losing the angle in your right wrist, and moving the ball up makes that even more difficult to maintain if your weight shift is poor, so at the last minute (with a driver for example), you flip the head around, close the clubface and hook.

[paterick]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

me too. but!

I think my problem when i do it, is because i am coming out of my stance and not keeping my spine anglel. when ever i do it i find that at the end of my swing, i am standing almost erect and facing forward. so now i am trying to force myself to maintain my spine angle. when i finish this way, my spin angle stays the same and my head if i turn it toward the target is like being on a pillow. i also find that i dont shift my weight when i come out it. its very uncomfortable to remain this way, but i am thinking that its because i am not use to it. studing the pros i notice they also stay on the angle but some how end up a little more erect. this may be a lack of physical strength thing.


its like i catch the ball when the club is in front of me and the hands had already turned over severly. so the path is out in wiht a closeing face. i have found i can even do it with a wedge only it just gose left of the larget with not as much spin.

the reason i dont move the ball further back is because when i am not coming out of it. all is well. it would probably help if i carved twenty lds off my sides.

anyway, not sure if this helps you, but its a thought, or note to myself as i continue to work.

[GreeBoman]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

2 points I would look at

1) Moving the ball forward in your stance is fine, but you need to make sure that you are following out after the ball, towards your target.
If you are not doing this, rather swinging around youself and finishing low, the resulting drwa/hoook will be more pronounced the further forward the ball is.

2) Make sure that you are not accidentlly closing the club face as you align with a more forward ball, it can be easily to close the face in an attempt to reach for the ball.

[jbrunk]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

I would think that a front ball position should not be a problem for with a good pivot, he should have no problem reaching the ball. It sounds like he is releasing his wrist angle too soon and swatting at the ball. A good pivot would fix most of that.

[GreeBoman]

Re: hooking longer irons, woods & driver

I would think that a front ball position should not be a problem for with a good pivot, he should have no problem reaching the ball. It sounds like he is releasing his wrist angle too soon and swatting at the ball. A good pivot would fix most of that.

I dont mean that he would have a problem reaching the ball, just that the new ball position might be causing a closed clubface