While most golfers struggle with slicing the golf ball, some golfers actually have trouble with hooking the ball too much.
Golfers who hook the ball too much tend to be better players, because they’ve developed a swing sequence that is closer to the professional golfer.
As such, fixing your hook golf swing should be less of a challenge.
Most commonly, the golfer who hooks the golf ball has a swing shape that results in the golf club crossing the line at the top of the swing as in the photo below.
In this case, the tendency for this golfer is to pull the club to the inside too much on the takeaway, and then cross the line at the top. From this position, the more skilled golfer will start the downswing with the lower body as they should.
In the downswing, the club approaches the ball too far from the inside. If the golfer does not aggressively turn through the shot with the lower body, and hangs on his back side a little to long, the hands take over, and release the club too soon.
In this photo, in the impact position, I have too much weight still on my right side. My shoulders are tilted far too much, and in most cases, the shoulders will be aimed out to the right too much. Golfers with this swing fault tend to also have a pretty strong grip.
Notice with this golfer, where the feet are aligned. Yet, as the club is just inches from impact, the shoulders are aimed well to the right, and club is coming into the ball from well inside.
To fix this swing fault, as usual we want to exaggerate the correction. With this swing shape the golfer tends to have too much of an inside out swing. So, we need to get them to do the opposite.
This starts with the takeaway. The takeaway needs to be more outside, as seen below. Next, we will then want to get the club into a more laid off position at the top of the swing, rather than across the line.
From this position, the golfer will have a better opportunity to get his hands more in front.
Typically, a golfer who hooks the ball tends to be a better, more athletic player. They will have a bit better understanding of what kind of swing they need to make to change the ball flight.
In this instance, we simply want them to get a better feel for how to slice the ball, which is the opposite of what they do. Usually, when they first start trying hard to slice the ball, they will actually hit the ball fairly straight.
While they may feel as if they are making a significant outside in swing, they really are getting much closer to the correct swing plane.
However, we still want them to eventually have the ability to slice the ball. Then, we work back into
what I call the happy place in the middle, which is a better swing shape overall.
The other swing shape that results in more hooks is the flat swing shape.
In a previous post, where I discussed how to fix a slice, I discussed curing the outside in slice swing. The drill I used was to do the opposite and learn how to swing the club on a flatter swing plane.
With someone who has a flat swing plane, we just try to do the opposite. This is actually the same thing we do to cure the other hook swing described above.
I would also note that many golfers with a tendency to hook the ball keep the head down too long after impact.
Keeping the head down too long causes a disconnect between the upper and lower body. As a result, the hands release too soon and this results in a pull hook.
Check out the video below where I discuss how to fix your hook golf swing.
