Watching your golf ball start on a decent line only to take a sharp, uncontrolled turn to the left is one of the most frustrating feelings in golf. That destructive left hook not only misses your target, but it also tends to run forever, finding the deepest trouble on the course. This guide will break down the exact reasons why you're hitting that dreaded hook, from your grip to your body rotation, and provide straightforward, actionable steps to straighten out your ball flight for good.
Before we fix the problem, let's understand exactly what's happening. A hook isn't a mystery, it's a predictable result of physics. For a right-handed golfer, a ball hooks because your clubface is closed (pointing to the left) relative to your swing path at the moment of impact.
That's it. The entire fix is about getting that relationship between the clubface and the path to be more neutral.
There are two main types of hooks you might see:
While fixing ball flight might seem complicated, it boils down to identifying what in your swing is causing that clubface to shut down. Let's look at the most common culprits.
The way you hold the club is the steering wheel for your golf shot. If your grip is pre-setting the clubface to close, you're fighting an uphill battle before you even start your swing. A "strong" grip is the number one cause of a hook.
What does a strong grip look like? For a righty:
This type of grip naturally encourages your hands to roll over aggressively through impact, slamming the clubface shut. It feels powerful, but it makes controlling the face nearly impossible.
We want to adjust your hold to a more "neutral" position, which gives you the best chance to deliver a square clubface.
Heads Up: If you've been using a strong grip for a while, a neutral grip will feel weird. It might feel weak, like you're going to hit a massive slice. Trust it. Hit some easy half-shots to get used to the feeling. This change alone can tone down your hook dramatically.
Imagine a turning merry-go-round. The horses on the outer edge move fast, but they are carried by the rotation from the center. Your golf swing works the same way. Your body is the engine, your arms and the club are just along for the ride.
A huge cause of hooks happens when this engine shuts down too early. Through the downswing, many players stop rotating their hips and torso. When the body stops, the arms and hands, which are still carrying tremendous speed, have nowhere to go. They fly past the body and the hands flip over, rapidly closing the clubface. Your arms and hands are just trying to find a way to get the club to the ball because your body quit on them.
You need to feel like you are using your body to pull the club through impact, not push it with your hands.
This is a fantastic drill to engrain the feeling of a complete body rotation.
You physically cannot perform this drill if your body stalls. It forces your hips and chest to keep turning all the way to a full, balanced finish. This gets the "engine" working through the ball, which keeps your arms in sync and prevents that last-second "flip" that causes the hook.
Many golfers who are trying to stop slicing learn to swing "from the inside." This is good advice, but it's easy to overdo. When you swing too far from the inside, your swing path travels excessively out to the right (for a righty). This forces you to close the face with your hands just to get the ball to start somewhere near the target. When you time it poorly or exaggerate the move, that clubface rolls over and an aggressive hook is the result.
This is the classic push-hook swing. If you find your ball starting to the right before snapping back left, your path is likely the problem.
We need a visual guide to keep your swing path from getting stuck too far behind you.
This drill gives you instant feedback on your club's path through the impact zone.
If you're hooking, you'll likely hit the outer headcover on your downswing as your path moves too far out to the right. To avoid it, you have to swing the club on a more neutral path down towards the target line, preventing the extreme in-to-out move. This drill trains your swing to attack the ball on a much straighter line, reducing the amount of curve you put on the ball.
Curing a hook comes down to understanding the relationship between your clubface and swing path. By neutralizing your grip, ensuring your body rotates through the ball, and shallowing out your path, you can eliminate the right-to-left curve and start hitting straighter, more reliable shots that find the fairway.
We know that trying to diagnose your own swing faults by yourself can often feel like guesswork. It can be difficult to tell if your body is stalling or if your swing path is really the problem. With a tool like Caddie AI, we help you take the uncertainty out of the equation. We provide fact-based analysis of what your swing is actually doing, helping pinpoint the cause of your hook and offering personalized drills so you can practice with purpose and finally see a real change in your ball flight.
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