driver woes.... help needed

[senorchipotle]

so i'm a pretty decent golfer, but i've been having lots of problems with my driver the last few rounds. just about all spring i was hitting it straight and long with a hint of right to left at the end. now it starts straight for about 130 yards, then duck hooks dead left.

i've been playing for half my life(13 years), and have never had such an unsolvable dilemma. i keep my elbow in, lead with my lower body, everything. i've tried moving closer to the ball to steepen my swing, and further back to flatten it. NOTHING is working. i know it's not my grip cause i have the same grip for all my clubs and it doesn't happen with them

any tips, i'd very much appreciate it!

[jcard71]

so i'm a pretty decent golfer, but i've been having lots of problems with my driver the last few rounds. just about all spring i was hitting it straight and long with a hint of right to left at the end. now it starts straight for about 130 yards, then duck hooks dead left.

When Im hooking my driver, it's one of two things. My stance is way too closed and Im trying to swing too hard. Also, you will get through it! a SLICE IS A LOT HARDER TO FIX THAN A HOOK!

[saltman]

When Im hooking my driver, it's one of two things. My stance is way too closed and Im trying to swing too hard.

This isn't always true. In lower handicap players, the hooks can be very very difficult to overcome, ask Ben Hogan!

I have fought the hooks for about 10 years, only recently have I started getting them back under control. In my last round, the only misses I have had were right and I can't tell you how happy I was. All that meant was I didn't fully commit to the shot. In a nutshell, hooks scare the %^& out of me. One hooked drive in a round is hard to overcome mentally.

[mdvaldosta]

If you're in a spell where you're fading or drawing the ball too much, check your feet and (most likely problem) shoulder alignment. It's easy to start creeping too far in either direction after alot of practice, and that's where those curve balls can sneak in.

[senorchipotle]

When Im hooking my driver, it's one of two things. My stance is way too closed and Im trying to swing too hard.

so... i had tried everything, or so i thought. then i went to the range today and worked on tempo. i slowed down my driver to the pace i hit my long irons. turns out, it worked! i was indeed swinging too hard. it felt like it wasn't going to go very far, but with a perfect controlled tempo it allowed me to stay in control and swing with a perfect backswing and follow through. the ball was going just about exactly where i wanted it too. granted, before i had these swing problems i was hitting it about 20 yards farther, but for now i'm content with being able to put the ball into the fairway where i want it. the only thing is, how do i get my distance back and still stay in control? i was hitting it about 300 on the fly, now only 280. any ideas?

thanks to all who've contributed! you've all helped tremendously.

[imtomtomim]

yeah, after I learned to work the ball more naturally, I'd much rather hit a slice than a hook. I just feel more control on it and I end up with better misses. My hooks will absolutely vanish where as I could still power it out there with a slice and it would still be playable, a harder shot, but still playable.

[umpiremark]

so... i had tried everything, or so i thought. then i went to the range today and worked on tempo. i slowed down my driver to the pace i hit my long irons. turns out, it worked! i was indeed swinging too hard. it felt like it wasn't going to go very far, but with a perfect controlled tempo it allowed me to stay in control and swing with a perfect backswing and follow through. the ball was going just about exactly where i wanted it too. granted, before i had these swing problems i was hitting it about 20 yards farther, but for now i'm content with being able to put the ball into the fairway where i want it. the only thing is, how do i get my distance back and still stay in control? i was hitting it about 300 on the fly, now only 280. any ideas?

"Tour Tempo" by

John Novosel ... I cannot reccomend this book enough. Read the glowing thread on this book on this site. Buy it, read it, do it. Tempo, tempo, tempo. 10 bucks at Amazon. Who can go wrong for 10-bucks?

[deronsizemore]

so i'm a pretty decent golfer, but i've been having lots of problems with my driver the last few rounds. just about all spring i was hitting it straight and long with a hint of right to left at the end. now it starts straight for about 130 yards, then duck hooks dead left.

You sound like you're having the same problem I've been fighting for a while? Is your trajectory pretty low as well? Can't see your swing obviously, but a pro yesterday watched me swing three times and told me what he thought I was doing wrong. Everything was good until I started the downswing. On the downswing as I transfer my weight back to my left side, I was also moving my upperbody/shoulders toward the target and smothering the ball I guess you could say. I'm not talking about a huge move to the left with my upper body or anything here, but enough to where I was hitting more down on the ball with the driver than catching it on the upswing. My irons and every other club in my bag has been great and likely would be as this swing would give me more of a descending hit on the golf ball. Once he told me this and I deliberately tried to keep my upper body back on the downswing all while still transferring my weight and releasing my hips, it was like an instant improvement and I was no longer hitting low quick hooks. The other thing you might take a quick look at is your ball position. Sometimes it can drift back in your stance and you don't even realize it. Hope that helps.

[senorchipotle]

You sound like you're having the same problem I've been fighting for a while? Is your trajectory pretty low as well?

yeah, my trajectory was lower than normal, which is not good because my driver's already 9.5*. i was confused as well, because i could take out every other club and my bag and hit them perfectly fine. but honestly, i don't really know what i was doing wrong. i just slowed down my swing and lengthened it a bit and everything's fine. i thought i was doing the same thing when i was swinging harder. i think now i just have an extra split second to bring my club head through the impact zone straight, where as before my club face was closed. so i think it was just a timing issue, but not completely sure cause i haven't seen myself on film.

[Hitman]

Heard this saying by Anthony Kim on the Tee it up with Tiger show's on the Golf Channel. He said all I want or try to do with a shot is not go left, cause if it goes left it is going off the planet left. And for me,I do that when I try to crush the ball which never works.

[senorchipotle]

i also noticed that in my backswing, the top of my forehand is more vertical than horizontal, could this play a factor in my timing being off or my clubface being closed at impact?

[imtomtomim]

only if your club "goes past parallel". What that means is the shaft at the top of your swing actually leans towards the target with the clubhead lower than the grip when your back is turned to the target. What that effectively does is make you go up against gravity and then back down to use gravity again. It really messes up your timing at the bottom of your swing. Yes, it is doable, but requires a lot of skill and ends up being inconsistent anyways. Phil goes past just a bit, John Daly goes past a lot. That's one of the reasons they get streaky on their ball striking. High hands is perfectly fine just don't cock that club to fight gravity and then re-engage.

[senorchipotle]

only if your club "goes past parallel". What that means is the shaft at the top of your swing actually leans towards the target with the clubhead lower than the grip when your back is turned to the target. What that effectively does is make you go up against gravity and then back down to use gravity again. It really messes up your timing at the bottom of your swing. Yes, it is doable, but requires a lot of skill and ends up being inconsistent anyways. Phil goes past just a bit, John Daly goes past a lot. That's one of the reasons they get streaky on their ball striking. High hands is perfectly fine just don't cock that club to fight gravity and then re-engage.

went to the range today after watching many slow mo's of tiger, adam scott, and charles barkley(jk), i finally noticed that my forehand on top was too vertical, and on my downswing my clubface was closed before i hit the ball. so, i flattened out my forehand to almost horizontal, then my normal swing, and started crushing them like i was before i changed my swing. i'm back! it felt awesome to once again be able to rip one into netting at the back of the range. i feel like a new man.