Watching your golf ball start left and fly dead left of your target is one of the most frustrating sights in golf, especially when the contact feels pure. You did everything right, but the ball simply ignored your intentions. This shot, the dreaded pull, plagues golfers of all skill levels, but the good news is that it's almost always caused by a few common and correctable swing habits. This article will break down exactly why you're pulling your shots and give you practical, actionable advice and drills to get your ball flying at the pin again.
Before we can fix it, we need to be crystal clear about what a "pull" actually is in golf terminology. A pure pull, for a right-handed golfer, is a shot that starts immediately left of the target and flies in a relatively straight line on that path. It doesn't curve significantly, it just takes off on the wrong line from the start.
This is different from:
Understanding this distinction is important because the cause of a straight pull is unique. At its core, a pulled shot is the result of one thing: an out-to-in swing path combined with a clubface that is square to that path.
Picture your target as the number 12 on a clock face. An ideal "in-to-out" swing path would travel from roughly 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock. An out-to-in path, however, cuts across the balfrom 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock. When your clubface is pointing directly at 11 o'clock when it strikes the ball, you get a pull. Your swing's direction is left of the target, and the ball simply follows that direction.
So, the question isn't just "why am I pulling it left?" but "what in my swing is causing this out-to-in path?" Let's look at the most common suspects, starting with the simplest one to fix.
Before you start making complicated swing changes, you must rule this out. In my experience coaching, at least 50% of golfers who think they have a swing-path problem actually have an alignment problem. Their body is simply aimed left of the target, and they're making a perfect swing directly where they're aimed.
Most golfers walk up to the ball, place the clubhead behind it, look at the target, and then set their feet. The problem is that your eyes are several feet away from the ball. This parallel perspective often fools you into setting up with your body line - your feet, hips, and especially your shoulders - pointing well left of your actual target line.
You need a systematic way to align yourself every single time. It should be non-negotiable.
If your alignment is truly square and you're still pulling the ball, your next checkpoint is the very first move you make away from the ball. An out-to-in swing path doesn't start at the top, it often begins in the first two feet of the backswing.
The core concept of a good golf swing is that it's a rotational action. The club moves around the body in an arc, powered by the turn of your torso. A common fault is to lift the club with only the hands and arms, pushing it away from the body and outside the target line right from the start. Once the club is working away from you and outside the ideal plane, its only natural path back down to the ball is from the outside - causing the pull.
The key is to feel the "one-piece takeaway." The triangle formed by your hands, arms, and shoulders should move together for the first few feet, initiated by the rotation of your chest and torso.
The Gate Drill:
This is arguably the most common and powerful cause of a pulled shot, especially for golfers who generate decent clubhead speed. The transition is the moment you move from completing your backswing to beginning the downswing. A poor transition is often called an "over the top" move.
At the top of your swing, your arms and the club are in a powerful, loaded position. The amateur's instinct is to immediately unleash that power from the top down by throwing their right shoulder and arms toward the ball. This lunge violently throws the club out in front of the body and onto that steep, out-to-in path. The body's rotation stalls, and the arms take over Completely.
A good downswing is a chain reaction that starts from the ground, not from your shoulders. To prevent the over-the-top move, the first move down should be a slight-yet-noticeable shift of pressure into your front foot, followed by the unwinding of your hips. This lower-body action creates space and allows your arms and the club to "drop" into an inside path before they accelerate towards the ball. You have to create the rotation first, and then unwind.
The Pump Drill:
This drill actively separates the transition into its correct sequence, fighting the urge to fire everything from the top at once.
Your grip is the steering wheel of the clubface, and sometimes your hands can put you on a path to a pull without you even knowing it. While a "strong" grip (where the hands are rotated too far to the right) is often associated with a hook, a "weak" grip can indirectly cause a pull.
If your left-hand grip is too "weak" (rotated too far to your left, so you see maybe one knuckle or none), the clubface will naturally want to be open at impact, which would produce a slice. Your body is smart, and to compensate for an open face, it instinctually reroutes the swing path from out-to-in to try and get the ball to a playable square-up. Often this overcorrection results in the face being held square to this new path, leading to a pull.
Check your left hand. Can you comfortably see two knuckles? Does the 'V' formed by your thumb and index finger point somewhere between your right ear and right shoulder? This neutral position allows the clubface to rotate naturally without your body needing to make drastic compensations in your swing path.
A pulled golf shot almost always points back to an out-to-in swing path. By systematically checking your setup for faulty alignment, ensuring your backswing stays connected and on an inside path, and sequencing your downswing correctly from the ground up, you can eliminate the root causes of the pull and straighten out your ball flight.
I know drills and checkpoints on a webpage are helpful, but identifying exactly what's causing your pull in the moment can be tough. I built Caddie AI to be that instant, on-demand golf expert in your pocket for this reason. You can describe your miss-hit and get tailored drills right on the range, or even snap a photo of a tricky lie on the course to get specific strategic advice that avoids trouble. It takes the guesswork out of improving so you can focus on confident, committed swings.
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