There’s nothing more frustrating than stepping up to a shot, making what feels like a powerful swing, and watching your ball fly dead straight… left of your target. That dead-left pull is a confidence-killer that can wreck a scorecard and leave you utterly confused. This guide will walk you through exactly why the pull happens and provide a clear, step-by-step process with practical drills to eliminate it from your game for good.
Before you can fix the problem, you need to understand the 'why' behind it. A pulled golf shot is a simple matter of physics. For a right-handed golfer, a pull occurs for one specific reason: your club is swinging "out-to-in," or "over the top," while the clubface is square, or aiming left, relative to your target line at impact.
Imagine two lines. The first is your target line, which runs from your ball straight to the flag. The second is your swing path, which is the direction your clubhead is traveling through impact.
So, an out-to-in path combined with a face pointing left makes the ball start left and fly straight. This isn't a hook (which curves from right to left), this is a shot that never had a chance to find the target. The "over-the-top" move is the most common swing fault among amateur golfers, and it's the engine that drives the pull.
Most swing flaws don't just appear out of nowhere during the swing. They are often direct results of small errors in the setup. Before you start overhauling your swing motion, let's run a quick diagnostic check on your fundamentals. You might just find the fix is easier than you think.
This is the number one cause of an over-the-top swing. Many golfers inadvertently align their body - specifically their feet and shoulders - to the right of the target. Your brain, being the brilliant problem-solver it is, knows you're aimed wrong. To get the ball back to the target, it subconsciously sends a signal to your body: "We need to swing left!" This triggers a chain reaction where you throw the club 'over the top' to redirect the ball. You think you're correcting a mistake, but you're actually creating the pull.
Practice hitting shots this way until this new, correct alignment feels normal. You might feel like you're aiming way right at first, but trust the sticks.
A ball that's positioned too far forward in your stance for a given club can also promote a pull. When the ball is too far up, your body's center has already moved past it by the time you reach impact. Your body naturally wants to catch up, causing you to lunge with your shoulders and come over the top. You end up chopping down on the ball with a steep, out-to-in swing.
Experiment to find the precise spot for you, but use these as your starting point. A consistent ball position simplifies the swing dramatically.
If your setup checks out but the pull persists, it's time to work directly on the swing path itself. This means retraining your body to swing the club from the inside out, attacking the ball from the a "shallow" angle instead of a steep one. Here are three incredibly effective drills.
This drill provides immediate, visceral feedback. It forces you to swing from the inside or suffer the consequences.
Start with half-swings to get the feel, focusing on that sensation of the club dropping behind you rather than coming out toward the ball. This will gradually retrain your swing path.
This is more of a feelings-based exercise than a mechanical one, but it is powerful. The out-to-in pull is triggered by starting the downswing with the hands and shoulders.
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