Golf Lessons: Practical Advice to Help You Cure a Hook
When you start to notice a hook becoming a problem in your game, you want to do everything you can to fix it as quick as possible. The longer you continue to fight a hook, the more difficult it will become to correct the swing mistakes that are leading to this poor ball flight. A hook can sometimes be an easy thing to fix – while other times it will be a little more difficult. If you find that you are hooking more than one or two shots per round, the time is now to get to the driving range and figure out what is going wrong.
The advice below is intended to guide you while working on your swing to eliminate the dreaded hook –
- Don’t try so hard. Many golfers who struggle with a hook are simply trying too hard to hit the ball with everything they have. Being too active or aggressive with your hands through impact is a good way to hit a hook, so you need to force yourself to relax and swing the club more with your body than with your hands. This type of swing might not feel as fast to you, but it can actually be more powerful when done properly.
- Square up your stance. Your address position could be the underlying cause of your hook, rather than you swing itself. Check your stance before each shot on the driving range to make sure you aren’t ‘closed’ to the target line. For a right handed golfer, for example, a closed stance would be one that is pointing to the right of the intended target. This creates a natural hook swing even when the rest of your technique is in good shape.
- Make sure your arms keep up. Another cause of the hook is when your arms fall behind the rest of your body during the downswing. While you want your body to lead the way when rotating toward the target, you can’t allow your arms to fall behind so much that they reach impact late and too far from the inside. Pay attention to the connection between your torso and your arms and make sure that everything is coming down toward impact together in a powerful position. When the timing is right in your swing, it will be very difficult to hit a hook.