Playing a "Mis-Hit" (Big Hook) as Your Shot?

[DrMJG]

I was golfing with someone  a little bit younger than I am.  We were well paired by the course that did not wish to send out two single players.  So, I was with a golfer of similar skils and handicap.

I noticed that when she used a driver, she had a very, very large and sweeping hook on every shot.  Hit about 175-190 off the tee, landed well in center of fairway.  The arc was on no other club. She used a Ping 400.

I was usually straight with 20-30 yards longer distance. 41 for 9.

It was only after the round that we really talked about golf.  Making a long conversation short, she said she stopped trying to eliminate the hook on the drives. She has accepted the wide arc as "her" shot and started making allowance in aiming to allow for the hit. While the end result of her shots were often very nice hybrid or even wedges for the second swat, I was being mentally driven crazy with my personal training think it was a good shot. For her, bad shot wit acceptable results.

So here is my question: Have you ever thought with a particular club that trying to make drastic improvements is not worth upsetting how well you play it over all?  Do you "accept" how you may mishit a club, but because it is 90% predictable you allow for the mishit by aiming and simply carry on?

At what point in you game did you stop working on a club and say "I know what I do and allow for it"?

As I am only back into full playing for a year, I am not at that point with any of my weapons.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2018 by DrMJG

[Patch]

I have always gone with what (I hoped) was my normal swing for that day. What ever ball flight it consistently caused for that round was what I played with. It was what it was. Most of the time my ball flights were in the same landing areas, and distances. Obviously there were some "stinkers" during a round, but they were not the norm. 

I never seriously thought about changing my swing, after I got to the point my swing created consistent ball flights, and distances. Why would I?

You hear sbout "Joe PGA Pro" going through a swing change, that takes  them several weeks/months, while putting in a tremendous amount of daily practice. This, usually with their pro swing guru watching over their progress. As an amateur, I don't have that kind of time to spend on a swing change. Nor do I want to pay someone to watch me. I just do the best I can, with the swing I have created. A swing that on average serves me quite well.  

 

[iacas]

If that's her shot pattern, it's not necessarily a mishit or a "bad" shot at all.

[criley4way]

A bad shot is one that does not do what you expect it to do. If the shot starts where you need it to start and finishes where you expect them what is the issue?

[DrMJG]

It was just that I have never seen a shot go 75+  yards left and sweep back in a grand arc to end up in the fairway.   Almost a full 180º half circle. Sort of hitting a ball out past the 3rd base foul line and ending up on the first base side of the field.  Have never seen that with the consistency she has. Again, only with the driver. Not even with a fairway wood or when she used a 3 wood off of the tee.  Oddest thing I ever saw.

BTW, I did not even think of making any suggestions.  Topic was started when she wanted to know what I did to get so much more distance off of the tee. I said I practiced a number of things to be more consistent and I worked with a coach.  Then changed the topic to how she liked the course!

 

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by DrMJG

[billchao]

It's not a mis-hit if it's her stock shot. It's not the ideal shot, but she makes it work, right?

[Osnola]

I play with my brother and he plays a big slice as his normal shot....He sets up for it, hits it and generally is in pretty good shape.  Only time he really struggles is when there are trees to the left right off the tee box...He plays the same shot with his irons, so it it his normal shot...he makes adjustment based on a cross wind being from right or left, but that is it. 

[iacas]

5 hours ago, DrMJG said:

It was just that I have never seen a shot go 75+  yards left and sweep back in a grand arc to end up in the fairway.   Almost a full 180º half circle. Sort of hitting a ball out past the 3rd base foul line and ending up on the first base side of the field.

I don’t think that’s possible.

[Vinsk]

16 hours ago, DrMJG said:

I was golfing with someone  a little bit younger than I am.  We were well paired by the course that did not wish to send out two single players.  So, I was with a golfer of similar skils and handicap.

I noticed that when she used a driver, she had a very, very large and sweeping hook on every shot.  Hit about 175-190 off the tee, landed well in center of fairway.  The arc was on no other club. She used a Ping 400.

I was usually straight with 20-30 yards longer distance. 41 for 9.

It was only after the round that we really talked about golf.  Making a long conversation short, she said she stopped trying to eliminate the hook on the drives. She has accepted the wide arc as "her" shot and started making allowance in aiming to allow for the hit. While the end result of her shots were often very nice hybrid or even wedges for the second swat, I was being mentally driven crazy with my personal training think it was a good shot. For her, bad shot wit acceptable results.

So here is my question: Have you ever thought with a particular club that trying to make drastic improvements is not worth upsetting how well you play it over all?  Do you "accept" how you may mishit a club, but because it is 90% predictable you allow for the mishit by aiming and simply carry on?

At what point in you game did you stop working on a club and say "I know what I do and allow for it"?

As I am only back into full playing for a year, I am not at that point with any of my weapons.

 

 

 

 

Can’t play a shank. So no, I’ve never just allowed for that. 🤣

[Moxley]

I find predictable curvature a good thing , and more preferable to slightly straighter but unpredictable. Play with a guy who slices off the tee and reliably finds fairway or light rough. 

That said, the curvature sounds really extreme, I'm surprised she holds the fairway with a hook like that , because normally hooks are low and roll out a lot on landing. And if she does get sufficient height, I'm surprised that the kicks don't mess things up. 

[mcanadiens]

1 hour ago, Osnola said:

I play with my brother and he plays a big slice as his normal shot....He sets up for it, hits it and generally is in pretty good shape.  Only time he really struggles is when there are trees to the left right off the tee box...He plays the same shot with his irons, so it it his normal shot...he makes adjustment based on a cross wind being from right or left, but that is it. 

A buddy of mine does the exact same thing and that's why he'll only play a couple of courses. Trees to the left of the box is a no go and he isn't long, so short courses only, but he hits about 90% of his fairways. Dude's been grooving that little, bunt 175-yard drive of his since before I had pubic hair.

I call it the Stevie Slice.

 

[Lihu]

When I had a big hook (25 degrees as measured by my partners 🤪), they pointed me 25 degrees to the left so they wouldn’t have to watch me make multiple rescue shots 😂

Eventually, I just stopped using a driver until it got cut down an inch from the tip and 2” from the butt. Now it’s fine. 😁

[Piz]

Bobby Locke hooked his way to 4 or 5 Claret jugs.  

[rehmwa]

as long as it's repeatable, she's only losing some distance - so would you trade some distance for confidence that you can hit the fairway fairly often?  most would.

though at some point, fix the swing

8 hours ago, DrMJG said:

It was just that I have never seen a shot go 75+  yards left and sweep back in a grand arc to end up in the fairway.   Almost a full 180º half circle.

I know it "looks" like that much, but it's not.  To me, it's funny how misses left and right seem so much more than they are.  Visually we process that image pretty exaggerated.....until we learn (calibrate).  So often I'll hit an approach and just be pissed that I missed SO FAR to one side - then I get up to the green and i'm just off the edge 10 feet......(after I search the edge of the trees and the other fairway - it's important to mark landmarks for where the ball lands, our 'feel' on this is tough).

Edited October 26, 2018 by rehmwa

[DrMJG]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

I don’t think that’s possible.

I may have exaggerated the fullness of the arc, but I have never seen such an arc off a wide gook.  I am saying what it looked like.  This was not an arc at the end of the shot, like I sometimes get off a heel hit, but a shot that looked "left of" the tee and sounded solid.  Best I figure is it has some thing she makes serious adjustments for with the way she hold her club plus all position and club face factors.  Well, I can say I have the closest I have seen to similar arcs are in long drive contests.

I have enough to worry about with my own game to obsess with this one.  As for now, I have not stopped giving up on making shots predictable wile improving line and distance. So off to the range...

 

[gjunkie57]

I sliced so badly that if it stayed in the air longer it would have been a boomerange.  140 yds max with the ball spinning and rolling dead left after landing (I am a leftee).   I appreciate my playing partners for putting up with that.  

Anyway if she had that grooved then no problem.   If I had been helping her look for her ball for 4+ hours (which you were not) I would have been annoyed. 

[billchao]

2 hours ago, DrMJG said:

I may have exaggerated the fullness of the arc, but I have never seen such an arc off a wide gook.  I am saying what it looked like.  This was not an arc at the end of the shot, like I sometimes get off a heel hit, but a shot that looked "left of" the tee and sounded solid.

I used to play a big sweeping draw off the tee. I would start it at the tree line to the right of the hole and the ball would turn away from the trees just before it hit them, ending up in the left rough. It was about 45 yards of right to left movement and as you can imagine I rarely hit any fairways.

A member once asked why I didn't just shift my shot zone to the right and be in better position for my second shot and I told him I couldn't. I don't think he understood that aiming more right would have brought trees into play based on the flight of my ball.

Those were the good hits. I also hit a block that resulted in a push-fade. So on any given hole, I could hit a drive that can land anywhere in a 90 yard wide shot zone. Good times.

[Killa]

I adopted my slice for the rest of the year. I didn’t play my driver at all the last two seasons and last time out I said I’m hitting it no matter what. Luckily it was at a wide open course (my first time playing it) and it was playing just over 6600 yards so the driver enabled me to break 100, and that was with 43 putts...

Thing is that I have a straight shot with everything from 7i down. A 6 iron has a small fade, the 5 has a large fade and 4 iron, 3 hybrid and driver just get exponentially worse. 

 

I line up at the left side of the fairway with the driver and then close my clubface at set up about 15-20°. The only real problem are trees left right of the tee. 

I will be working on eliminating that over the winter, but for the last few rounds this year I’ll just compensate for it with a lineup and grip change.