Preventing hooks on my drives

maynooth_rules

Id consider myself an above decent golfer but i have one major major problem that is preventing me bringing in excellent scores. Off pretty much every drive i take, with any club under an 8 iron, the ball goes from right to left.Ball starts out going strange but then hooks left. I generally change my game a little bit to accommodate it but its getting on my tits. In windy weather or on a left to right dog leg i am completly f**ked. This tends to only happen off the tee and hardly ever off the fairway.
Any ideas why this is happening??
I should add that i hold the club right hand above left. I know this is wrong but it is the only way i am comfortable and is something i cant really change at this stage

Nemesis

Turn your left hand anti-clockwise.

Neutralise the grip as Myksyk suggests.

fairwaysallday

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Id consider myself an above decent golfer but i have one major major problem that is preventing me bringing in excellent scores. Off pretty much every drive i take, with any club under an 8 iron, the ball goes from right to left.Ball starts out going strange but then hooks left. I generally change my game a little bit to accommodate it but its getting on my tits. In windy weather or on a left to right dog leg i am completly f**ked. This tends to only happen off the tee and hardly ever off the fairway.
Any ideas why this is happening??
I should add that i hold the club right hand above left. I know this is wrong but it is the only way i am comfortable and is something i cant really change at this stage

in my opinion a 30 quid lesson is ure only man....get it sorted and enjoy the summer

Myksyk

Yeah, there's quite a number of reasons this could be happening and any number of combination of those reasons. but usually you should start with the basics. Make sure your alignment is square remembering that hookers tend to end up aligning themselves more and more to the right (for right handers) and make the hook worse. Neutralise your grip ... in your case this would mean turning your lower left hand to the left ... or both in fact. Third piece of advice might be to make sure your not overly stationary with your hips on the downswing, clearing your hips is essential ... otherwise you will definitely hook. But the best piece of advice is probably don't listen to us hackers and go talk with your pro!

maynooth_rules

fairwaysallday wrote: »

in my opinion a 30 quid lesson is ure only man....get it sorted and enjoy the summer

Ill probably have to. But im worried ill be told straight away to switch the way i hold the club, which i don't think i can do at this stage

maynooth_rules

Thanks for the replies guys

Mr. Guappa

I have the opposite problem, just off the tee as well, about 3/4 of my drives veer off to the right so i have to aim well left but there is such a swing on the ball that it really eats into my distance. I'm right handed and hold the club left hand above right, with the ball in the middle of my stance.. any tips?? What is meant by neutralising your grip?

P.S. I dont mean to hijack the thread, just didnt want to start another 1 on a similar topic

stockdam

Ok I'm going to take a flyer on this as I haven't listened to it but Clemshaw is usally very good.......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg8hSHfi1oI

He's talking about a weak grip verses a strong grip.
If you slice the ball then you should try to strengthen your grip. If you hook the ball then you should try weakening your grip.
That's not the magic cure but it's worth a try.

Sorry if it's not relevant.


Edit: ok I had a quick listen. I think he's also showing you how pros deloft the club (using a strong grip) and keep their hands ahead at impact thus hitting the ball first and also hitting it a long way with their irons.

BombSquad

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Ill probably have to. But im worried ill be told straight away to switch the way i hold the club, which i don't think i can do at this stage

There are plenty of reasons for hitting hooks and slices. I wouldn't change my grip because someone on the internet said to. The grip might not be the problem. Go to a pro and get some good advice... If it is the problem and you don't think you can change your grip you might be stuck with the hook... Of course 2 weeks of pain changing it might be worth it in the long run...

Edit: If you're from Maynooth you could do worse than heading to Carton for a lesson. There's an American guy (Brian I think) there who's very good...