Cause Of A Hook Shot In Golf

As you can see in the picture; typically a hook is caused by an in-to-out swing, coupled with a closed clubface, creating a strong topspin (right to left) rotation on the golf ball. The closed clubface is the real issue, as in inside to out swing is a good thing, not a bad one. Learning how to square your golf clubface at impact will be crucial in correcting your hook in your golf swing.

Another cause of a hook shot is the stopping of your upper body rotation before impact, and the hands take over, which closes the face prematurely. If you are hooking the golf ball, a great tip is to work your ABT’s. The ABT’s mean…“Always Be Turning”. I can promise you, if you focus on rotating your body (and hips) aggressively through impact, you will not hook the golf ball. If you are, you have a strong golf grip causing it to close to much at impact. Getting the proper left hand golf grip (slightly weaker) will help correct the rapidly closing clubface.

Getting stuck on your downswing is another cause of a hook golf shot. This is something Tiger Woods is notorious of. Getting stuck means, your lower body gets way ahead of your upper body in the downswing, and your hands, arms and club get stuck too far inside, and the ONLY way to make decent contact is to flip your hands through impact.

Learning how to slow down your golf swing is crucial to proper golf downswing sequence. Once you get this right, you will have a perfectly timed golf swing coming into impact. Your lower and upper body will be sequenced to come into the ball with a square clubface, and just a slight in-to-out swing path.

Simple Tips To Correct Hook

1. Square your clubface at impact. Start by making sure it is square at address, and not closed, or even open, which would make you compensate coming down.
2. Weaken your left hand grip. If you’re a right-handed golfer instead of seeing 3 or even 4 knuckles on your left hand, rotate it to your left to only see 2 knuckles.
3. Slow your downswing. If you learn how to slow your downswing, your body’s sequence will be much better. You will come into the golf ball with the face square, and both upper and lower body nearly matched up, and not one ahead of the other.
4. Work your ABT’s. As mentioned earlier, focus on aggressively rotating your upper body through the shot. That way your hands will never want to take over.
5. Get your right should to come out not down. This is for the more advanced player, as the fault is coming inside too much on downswing, and part of that may be an “over-dropping” of the right shoulder in the downswing. So for that player, thinking of the right shoulder coming just a bit out and not down, might be the ticket.

Hope you enjoyed this article on how to correct and/or fix your golf hook shot. If you did, you’ll want to download our FREE Golf Lessons right away!

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Take a look at this picture of Ben Hogan from his Book Five Lessons. I drew a blue line that you can barely see that shows how perfectly straight his left wrist is. This is the ideal impact position in golf. Notice the forward shaft lean at impact? His hands are ahead of the ball with maximum compression on that poor golf ball. Hogan was known as one of the best ball strikers of all time!

You cannot attain a flat left wrist if you flip at the ball through impact. This is one of the most common faults of high handicap golfers (and some low handicappers like me ) We’ve got to convince ourselves that we don’t have to help the ball get in the air. A descending blow gets the ball in the air with compression. To get this descending blow, we must have a bent right wrist, and a flat left wrist. Anything else is incorrect and will not produce the results you’re looking for.

Left Wrist Action Through Golf Swing

It took me years to figure out exactly what the hands and wrists do through the golf swing. I had the hardest time comprehending it until I read Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons book. On page 102 the below picture was an “awakening” for me. I could finally see exactly what the left hand especially does throughout the entire golf swing.

Notice how the left wrist NEVER bends throughout the whole golf swing! This is KEY to better ball striking. The left wrist in a sense rolls over through impact. It is not an intentional rolling as that would cause a big hook or pull to the left. But notice after impact how the back of the left hand is facing the ground. For most golfers it’s facing “up” because the hands were “flipped” and not rolled.

If you liked this golf tip regarding a flat left wrist at impact, you should get our FREE Golf Lessons Download!

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Take a look at Tiger Woods below. Notice the angle in his right wrist right at impact? I drew an orange line to show you the very distinct and obvious angle he has. Tiger has retained his golf wrist cock beautifully, which results in maximum compression on the golf ball.

If Tiger had flipped his wrists like most amateurs, you would not see that angle in his right wrist, and his left wrist would have been bent quite a bit. You would never see Tiger, nor any other pro have that position at impact. That is a hackers swing fault, and one I’ve faught my entire golf career. I’m a flipper, but am slowly retaining my right wrist much better.

For flippers like me, I have to force myself to hold that right wrist as LONG as I can… which feels a bit awkward, but I know it’s a swing thought that works when I do it. You might want to give it a try. It’s amazing to trust it, and see the kind of compression you can put on the ball through impact.

Tips To Retain Right Wrist Angle Through Impact:

• Preset your right wrist (like impact) at address. This is a great drill to feel what impact should be, before you start your swing. You can do this on the range for dozens of balls, but when you play I would not recommend presetting your right wrist as it might mess with your swing and ball contact.
• Driver your right hand down. This was a great thought for me. Instead of flipping through impact, I visualized driving the back of my right wrist (and even the palm) through the ball. This helped me finally compress the golf ball and take a divot AFTER the ball, not at it, or even worse, before it, and it’s a great way to learn how to get power in your golf swing.
• Flat left wrist. If you maintain a flat left wrist at impact, it is impossible to lose the angle in your right wrist. Sometimes golfers have a hard time thinking about their right hand, but when they think “flat left wrist” it’s easier. Visualize wearing a watch on your left wrist, and you’ve got a ruler through the band on the back of your left wrist. Don’t break the ruler!
• Lead with butt of club through impact. This is another thought that worked well for me. Through impact, I focused on the butt of the club going through first. So that encouraged my hands to be ahead of the ball with a forward lean of the shaft, for better ball contact.

Give these tips a try if your goal is to maintain your right wrist angle at impact.

If you’re looking to improve your golf swing, download our Free Golf Lessons today!

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Some of the issues causing an inconsistent clubface at impact is:

• Rolling the face open at the start of the takeaway.
• Improper golf grip that encourages an open/or shut face.
• Cupping of the wrists at the top, which either opens or shuts the face.
• Early release of the wrists (flipping, scooping) through impact.
• Upper body rotation stops in downswing, and hands take over and close the clubface.

Here’s how you can make sure you will have a square clubface at impact:

Clubface At Address

This was a huge eye opener to me after 15 years of playing golf and studying the golf swing. Setting your golf club square to the target at address like the above picture. All this time I had it slightly open and didn’t even know it. This is so important. Try to copy the picture next time you go out to practice or play. This is a perfectly square clubface. You are starting off with the best chance of returning square with this position.

Square At Top Of Golf Swing

Having a “checkpoint” at the top of your golf swing is not a bad idea when you’re doing mirror work at home, or you can have a buddy check it when you swing. The key to being square at the top is not having too much cup in your wrists. You can also have a bow in your left wrist which will dramatically shut the face as well.

Take a look at Tiger Woods. This is a perfectly square clubface at the top of his golf swing. Look at his left wrist. It’s not cupped or bowed. You can barely see his clubface, but see how it matches up with his left forearm. That’s a perfect example of square at the top.

Square At Impact

This is the “key to the kingdom”. Getting to impact with a perfectly square clubface. If you can get to impact with your hands ahead, hitting down on golf ball, a forward lean of the club shaft, and your square clubface, you’re golden! Take a look below at an overhead view of what it should look like. My face is square to the target. You can see the hands are ahead of the ball, making sure to hit the ball first with a descending blow.

Great Resource On Attaining A Consistently Square Clubface

If you are a student of the golf swing, I strongly recommend you get the Clubface Golf Ebook. It is by far, the most comprehensive ebook with over 50 videos on just the clubface in your golf swing. It’s impressive to say the least! Click here to learn more.

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Take a look at Woody Austin. I drew a white line to show you his forward shaft lean at impact. The camera angle isn’t the greatest, but notice his hands ahead of the ball.

The biggest issue with most amateurs and beginner golfers is getting the proper impact position. I know I fought it and did it wrong for the first 15 years of my golf career. I always wondered why I hit my irons thin, and weak to the right. Don’t get me wrong…weak for my high expectations.

I’ve got to get you to understand where your hands, shaft and clubhead should be at impact. I can guarantee many of you don’t get there, even if you think you do. I was one of those golfers in denial. I hit my irons pretty far, but not solid or compressed. They sounded clunky and thin. Not the kind of sound you’d be proud of, and trust me… I wasn’t.

I want to give you a few simple tips (swing thoughts) that helped me finally get the impact I was dreaming of. They may work for you too, but at least you will have some different ideas of how to achieve a compressed, crisply hit iron shot.

Golf Tip #1 Lead with your hands all the way through impact. This may sound extreme, but I can assure you, you will never get the forward shaft lean any other way. You must, must have your hands ahead of the ball with ALL your irons, and even your hybrids.

Golf Tip #2 Pull the butt of the club toward the ball in your downswing. Again, this is similar to golf tip number one, but it specifically refers to the downswing, not necessarily through impact.

Golf Tip #3 Hold your right wrist angle as long as you possibly can. This will give you that forward lean of your shaft. If you release your right wrist angle, you will not only lose that forward lean and get a backwards (flippy) lean of the shaft. The later is much more common with mid to high handicap golfers.

Okay… this site is all about simple golf! The three above tips is plenty on your plate, but will give you a strong sense and feel for the proper impact position with the forward lean of your golf shaft.

If you liked this article, you’ll want to get our Free Golf Lessons Download today, to get you further along the golf improvement path.

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