Pulling dilemma...

[MiniJeffrey]

Hi there!

The issue: pulling left with irons.

The good: My ball goes dead straight.

The question: as I am hitting 90% straight shots I have no issues squaring the club face. However to compensate my pull I am now lining up to the right of target. Alignment and pull neutralize eachother et voila: a good shot. Should I work on fixing the pull or is it okay to keep doing what I'm doing?

Remarks: Sometimes my divot is going dead straight to where I'm aligned to and still my ball pulls. What is happening? Am I closing the club face too much or...? Also when I focus very ahrd on swinging in->out to prevent the pull, sometimes I still pull, so I'm a bit confused what may be causing my pull.

How bad it is: Sometimes it's just a slight pull (110 yard shot: a few yards left), but some days/shots it does happen to be a bigger problem (10-15 yards left). Sometimes the ball draws, rarely it's a nasty hook. Sometimes I don't pull... :)

Any advice is welcome.

[arturo28mx]

I'm currently struggling with pulls and have done a lot of research on the subject. There can be many causes to a pull. Yes it's usually due to an out-to-in swing but this also can have many causes. Some things to check:

1.Overactive hips (hip turn occurs too early)

2. Swinging too steep and/or out of plane

3. Overactive hands/forearms

4. Too strong grip

5. At address, club is leaning left too much (causes a too strong grip and a backswing out of plane)

6.Right shoulder moves to the front instead of down on the downswing, so you are casting the club.

I recommend you do some swings in slow motion (as slow as you can) and observe how your body is moving and the path of the club head so you can do your own diagnosis.

[Rich1212]

stop turning your left hip so early.

[TheDIYGolfer]

Assuming good alignment, the reason a golfer will pull the ball is due to the stopping of the lower body and the continuation of the upper body.  Think about swinging in one piece, and by no means should you stop turning!

Rich1212 is right, but I don't want you to misinterpret that.  The downswing should start with a compression down your right leg followed by a lateral movement.

Honestly, I would practice this drill until you can do it successfully (hit the ball before your left foot hits the ground):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwo5f5Evz-I

[boogielicious]

Hi there!

The issue: pulling left with irons.

The good: My ball goes dead straight.

The question: as I am hitting 90% straight shots I have no issues squaring the club face. However to compensate my pull I am now lining up to the right of target. Alignment and pull neutralize eachother et voila: a good shot. Should I work on fixing the pull or is it okay to keep doing what I'm doing?

Remarks: Sometimes my divot is going dead straight to where I'm aligned to and still my ball pulls. What is happening? Am I closing the club face too much or...? Also when I focus very ahrd on swinging in->out to prevent the pull, sometimes I still pull, so I'm a bit confused what may be causing my pull.

How bad it is:  Sometimes it's just a slight pull (110 yard shot: a few yards left), but some days/shots it does happen to be a bigger problem (10-15 yards left). Sometimes the ball draws, rarely it's a nasty hook. Sometimes I don't pull... :)

Any advice is welcome.

@MiniJeffrey

I recommend you keep aligning right of target and make a My Swing (MiniJeffrey) thread in the Member Swings section. We can help you more if we see your swing. Check out the info at the top of the section on how to film.

My miss is a pull or over draw as well, so I align so as not to get into trouble on the left.

[mvmac]

Hi there!

The issue: pulling left with irons.

The good: My ball goes dead straight.

The question: as I am hitting 90% straight shots I have no issues squaring the club face. However to compensate my pull I am now lining up to the right of target. Alignment and pull neutralize eachother et voila: a good shot. Should I work on fixing the pull or is it okay to keep doing what I'm doing?

Remarks: Sometimes my divot is going dead straight to where I'm aligned to and still my ball pulls. What is happening? Am I closing the club face too much or...? Also when I focus very ahrd on swinging in->out to prevent the pull, sometimes I still pull, so I'm a bit confused what may be causing my pull.

How bad it is:  Sometimes it's just a slight pull (110 yard shot: a few yards left), but some days/shots it does happen to be a bigger problem (10-15 yards left). Sometimes the ball draws, rarely it's a nasty hook. Sometimes I don't pull... :)

Any advice is welcome.

Ball starts where the face is aimed so the face is left at impact and if it's a straight pull the path matches the face.

The quick fix is to just aim the face more right.

Good thread for you to check out.

[Mike Boatright]

It's a real easy fix just don't over do it or you will start to miss to the right! Take your ball and move it 1.5 inches back and your cured as long as your shoulders are in about direct unison with your toe line. If you go to far back you will hit it straight or miss it weak right. Your ball right now is to far forward you aim right come over the top and pure it left. By moving it back and keeping your shoulder levelish with your toe line pre set up you will establish a nice hit point,. Go ahead and go after it by design your shots will now be baby draws and light pulls in play.

Look at this link 5 iron set up it's perfect open your shoulders to the left of your target and gradually creep them back to square avoid setting up closed it could cause your shoulders to dip pre set up causing fat shots or bad toe hooks.

https://www.google.com/search?q=rory+mcilroy+iron+setup&espv;=2&biw;=1280&bih;=879&source;=lnms&tbm;=isch&sa;=X&ved;=0CAgQ_AUoA2oVChMIlYr0qN6MyAIVATqICh0ntQsS#tbm=isch&q;=+golf+iron+set+up&imgrc;=8xfVRGDVX_0YeM%3A

[Mike Boatright]

Ball starts where the face is aimed so the face is left at impact and if it's a straight pull the path matches the face.

The quick fix is to just aim the face more right.

Good thread for you to check out.

This is the worst possible thing you could do a common mis conception.

[saevel25]

It's a real easy fix just don't over do it or you will start to miss to the right! Take your ball and move it 1.5 inches back and your cured as long as your shoulders are in about direct unison with your toe line. If you go to far back you will hit it straight or miss it weak right. Your ball right now is to far forward you aim right come over the top and pure it left. By moving it back and keeping your shoulder levelish with your toe line pre set up you will establish a nice hit point,. Go ahead and go after it by design your shots will now be baby draws and light pulls in play.

Most amateurs set up with the ball too far back to begin with. Given if the ball is actually too far forward it could cause a pull. Just in front of the middle of the stance should be the furthest back the ball position should be with wedge shots.

This is the worst possible thing you could do a common mis conception.

You are incorrect. You might want to check out the ball flight laws

Also path is instinctual, meaning if the face is pointed right then a person typically wants to swing out to the right. If the face is pointing left they typically want to swing left. A high percentage of slices are hit with a closed clubface to the target line.

A pull is caused by a leftward swing path (for a righty) with the face square to the swing path. .

[mvmac]

This is the worst possible thing you could do a common mis conception.

Which part? The ball flight laws?

[MrDC]

I've struggled with this as well, many golfers do, and I like the advice to check your swing path and watch the hips, it's very possible you're coming over the top just a little bit and the hips are spinning out too early instead of sliding towards the target a tad first, Key #4 (diagonal swing path) has been huge for me fixing this, think of the ground as a clock, 12 to 6 is the target line, swing the club head from 8 o'clock to 2, or maybe 7 to 1, it's just that simple.

[mvmac]

Your ball right now is to far forward you aim right come over the top and pure it left. By moving it back and keeping your shoulder levelish with your toe line pre set up you will establish a nice hit point,. Go ahead and go after it by design your shots will now be baby draws and light pulls in play.

How the heck do you know that? Have you seen his swing?

Most higher handicappers play the the ball too far back. And you can pull it with the ball back, middle, forward and with a path that's In-Out or Out-In.

[jcjim]

Generally the pull is when you don't finish your backswing and your arms come down late after you are turning

and your swing is going across your target line from right to left.

Just make sure you finish your backswing and when you do make sure let your arms drop first, in the transition

The transition takes place when your weight moves to your left foot [ for right handers ]. the arms will drop.

[Mike Boatright]

Most amateurs set up with the ball too far back to begin with. Given if the ball is actually too far forward it could cause a pull. Just in front of the middle of the stance should be the furthest back the ball position should be with wedge shots.

You are incorrect. You might want to check out the ball flight laws

Also path is instinctual, meaning if the face is pointed right then a person typically wants to swing out to the right. If the face is pointing left they typically want to swing left. A high percentage of slices are hit with a closed clubface to the target line.

A pull is caused by a leftward swing path (for a righty) with the face square to the swing path. .

If a golfer aims more right he will pull the ball even more same goes for a golfer with wide open shoulders he will slice the cover off it. You can get away with or manipulate the face however you want but overall alignment dictates swing plane and has a huge influence on what you can or cannot do at impact.

[saevel25]

If a golfer aims more right he will pull the ball even more same goes for a golfer with wide open shoulders he will slice the cover off it. You can get away with or manipulate the face however you want but overall alignment dictates swing plane and has a huge influence on what you can or cannot do at impact.

Alignment has different results depending on the golfer and how severe the alignment is. There are some golfers who aim right and pull left. Some who aim right so the path is more outward not inward. There are golfers who aim left and swing right. I played all of last year with an open stance, but had a very outward swing path. I know a guy who aims left and his path is very inward. It just depends on the golfer.

You generalizations are not true.

What dictates swing path is arm, hand and body movement.