From slice to straight to snap hook!

Alright guys, just started playing the game this spring and I dont know why I am as frustrated as I am right now. I never imagined I would play as well as I do.

However, running into a new problem now.

I went from a major slice to hitting it absolutely dead on a line. I went through 2 months where the driver was my favorite club in the bag. I was literally foaming at the mouth when I came up on the tee box on a par 4 or 5.

Now, I am thinking about par 4 and 5's and its literally in my head before I get there. I am hitting an AWFUL duck hook. It goes about 150 and goes straight into the ground and hooks left big time! It is ugly/nasty and whatever you want to call it.

I dont feel anything different!!

Any quick ideas on what I could possibly be doing? I am getting some videos together soon, so I will post them up. But I was hoping someone would be able to let me know on some grip changes or anything of that sort!

Thanks in advance.

I have a natural slice because I stand up with the driver and swing across the face of the ball. To fix that I need to stay down and try to swing inside out,that causes a snap hook. Both are effects of poor visualization and follow through. Super secret number one at our level of play is to slow down our swing and get control of the follow through; another for me is to shorten my backswing. When I focus on DRIVING THE BALL I loose control, when I focus on putting the ball in the fairway I usually can. (Sure is fun to hit the snot out of it though! , ...but that only works on the range.)

The one thing I have noticed about my swing is... in the follow through, I never hold balance well. I catch myself falling off balance and stuff like that.

Is slowing down everything the easiest way to correct that!

i assume your x-slice was due to over the top move, then out to in, with open face.

you corrected that.

now duck hook. i wonder if you are coming down too inside so that by the time of contact, you have closed your clubface.

think about your plane a little, look at it if you have chance for video. may want to lead down more with left hand lead and stronger hip turn so that your wrists have to chase the body and give them no chance to flip early,,,

just a thought.

When you're falling off balance, you're probably swinging too hard. If you can get to a point where you can hold your finish for 3 seconds or so, it's a good starting point to develop some consistency. It may take some time to find this comfort zone.

Remember this:

The start of the path of the ball is determined by the swing direction (i.e. if you are hitting a cut or slice from left to right, you are probably releasing left, which is fine)

The way the ball moves during the flight is a function of the club face at and through impact.

So.....when you were slicing the ball you were releasing left and leaving the clubface open which brought the ball back to the right.

Now....you are probably still releasing left, because that is a hard habit to break, but you are closing the face and the ball is starting left and snap hooking.

So whatever ball flight you are wanting(doesnt matter they all work if you play them right) focus on those two things:

The ball starts on the line of your direction of your release and it will turn on the direction of the clubface at impact.

The ideal swing addresses the ball from the inside where the right arm is VERY close to the body on the downswing up to impact and releasing the club and your arms directly down the line you are aiming. So if you are wanting a straight ball flight that is what you need to be striving for, but you are going to have to break that over the top move, which is EXTREMELY difficult to do.

But the most important thing in the swing is the position of the clubface at impact. It does not matter how you get there as long as the face is square to your target at impact, you will hit the ball relatively straight.

bsettle, you should read the sticky post on club face angle and swing path. I'd be interested to hear your response.

I have read those articles and I am in NO place to dispute them, because well they are correct. But my explanation for the OP will help him determine why he is snap hooking the ball off the world.

EVERYONE agrees that if a slicer has always aimed left and swung left and left that clubface open to get the ball to come back ever closes that face they will snap the ball off the world. That is what I would think is happening to the OP. But you are exactly right those findings made alot of "old" golf swing ethusiates feel pretty stupid. Although when I want to work the ball, those "old" thoughts work for me......just perhaps not in the way I thought they did. Thanks for the input, those articles would be great for the OP to read.

Before trying out a bunch of swing fixes, I would have someone (ideally a pro) tell you exactly what's going on with the clubface and path, and how to correct it. If you start tweaking your grip and swing without knowing the root of the problem, it might just make matters worse (speaking from experience).

Since you just started this spring and played pretty well, you're probably a good athlete. Remember, everyone struggles at times in this game. It is a constant learning process, and instead of trying to find your "old swing", just keep moving forward. The more simple you can keep things, the better IMO.

Also check the last couple posts in my "Help with Driver" thread for the balance issues you mentioned.

Assuming that your basic swing has remained inside-out through all your travails from slice to straight to hook, I would suggest that you pay attention to your swing plane which can drift without your being aware of it. I always swing inside-out, but when my plane is too vertical, I begin to fade or even slice the ball. When my plane is too horizontal, I can hit a wicked hook. In between, I am relatively straight. So whenever a slice or hook pops up on me, I pay close attention to adjusting my swing plane accordingly.

Watch the right thumb, if it wanders loosely around the handle rather than down and to the side, you will get too much wrist action.
Check it out.