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Hi there, I play in England off of a handicap of 5 but recently I have developed an awful and somewhat embarassing shot. When on the tee with driver I have an annoying habit of hitting a low fast pull hook and I am having to adjust and aim up the right. The problem with this is that every now and then I hit one straight. I sometimes do it with irons as well and can often leave balls out right.

when I am playing very well I hit a high long ball with a touch of draw with every club but at the moment this drive is killing me.

I have focussed on the basics with it such as weakening my right hand grip, posture but this doesnt appear to be helping.

I had a 145 yard shot the other day after getting beat in a match and worryingly after putting another club down to check alignment I was aiming about 30 yards right?!?!

If I am aiming too far right, am I in fact promoting a pulled shot? Could I be swinging too hard at the ball and thus causing myslef problems?

Any suggestions or ideas please let me know.

Maybe, the place to start is: get your alignment square to the target line. That should help you immediately. Hit a few balls with a slightly open stance particularly your shoulders and hips. It will feel like you are aiming miles to the left. Come back to a square set up and it will feel more comfortable. For some reason this crazy game causes all of us to incrementally position ourselves in a bad way over time even if we are playing good. It is similar to the shock absorbers, or dampers in your part of the english world, on your car wearing out. It happen so slowly you don't notice until you are bottoming out. Give it a go, it should help.
Cheers, Bob

Ok great thanks. Could it also be a case that I am swinging too hard at the ball or swinging too fast?Could this also creat this problem?

Swinging too hard can bring out the worst, but not necessarily cause what you have. I think aiming to the right is the probable cause. It would tend to make you come inside out, an ingredient to hooking. Then leaving the ball out right could induce you to do something that causes the hook.

The alignment problem can be dealt with by aiming with the club you are hitting with. In address position I hold the club under my eyes, point it at the target by sighting down the shaft, and then look down to align my toes to the shaft. I am very nearsighted so I don't know if the average person can see the shaft clearly enough when looking down. Maybe just holding it lower will help.

Hello Oggy

Good golfers tend to miss with the pull-hook, usually caused by quick arms and hands taking over ahead of your hip turn. This is usually a simple adjustment of timing; take a deep breath, relax before you start the swing, take the club away slowly, get your club set at the top of your swing before pulling the trigger; start your down swing with the hips then arms not the other way around, get your weight transitioned to your forward side at contact with the ball. Try this for a while before messing with your grip, alignment, or wrist snap. Remember what Julius Boros once said - "swing easy, hit hard". It's amazing how often a less aggressive swing with proper timing can smack a ball as long as or longer with less effort than an aggressive swing.

If you find your shot tends to be a low trajectory with the dreaded pull hook, check your swing plane too, it may be too flat. With the above timing adjustment, also get your takeaway straighter back - agressive swing tends to pull your muscles tight which contracts the muscles which can pull the club to the inside on the backswing - relax, relax and then relax even more before you swing.

Good luck
nh43211

I agree with the above posts. Watch for the quick hands and do basic alignment checks. I recently had a bit of an extended draw going on (4 handicap) and was missing many greens. A quick lesson with the pro quickly showed I was closing my stance and my clubhead causing the draw. Also snap hooked many. Now that I have got my stance square and slightly opened my club face its like night and day.

Somethimes its worth the $50 to visit the pro and get someone to work it out. A lot easier than just troubleshooting the issue.

Great help guys, thanks for all the advice. I checked yesterday and certainly some of the things mentioned are apparent. Certainly if I am aiming right then the stance is closed and will promote the swing plane discussed.

I have a lesson with my pro this week to hopefully iron out what I am doing as like said above, I either hit the ugly low hook or I absolutley middle it and it goes miles and straight with a slight draw. The missing greens is also a key thing with like said, leaving it out right or over draing it to miss left. Further reading suggsts that if I am too quick onthe swing to the ball then my hands would have taken over and that is also a cause of this shot. But allignment is perhaps my major problem.

I was playing so well then BANG and 2 rounds of nightmares. Anyway, anything else would be nice and I will post and let you know what my pro says.

Thanks in advance