A cycle of suckiness

[MIKE1218]

My tee game has been wild this year. First round of the year, I missed only a few fairways. Second round, it went to shit halfway through and I hooked everything on the back nine. I swapped the driver out for a different one, hooked everything. Swapped again, pounded everything long and relatively straight. Played a few rounds with that driver then it went in the shitter too.

The strangeness of it is: the rest of my game is the best it has ever been. Even with the wild tee shots I am hitting 12 or more greens a round. No three putts in my last 4 rounds. Not a single messed up chip or pitch in my last round. Aiming at pins and getting it close, wedges are gold from every distance, hitting long irons high with a little tiny fade, picking my target (the pin) from 5 iron down. But I can't hit a consistent tee shot! My swing feels great and I don't know what to do or how to make my drives more consistent. When I aim right to play the draw/hook, I hit a straight bomb into the rough. When I aim down the right side of the fairway, I hit a monstrous hook OR a low snap hook. They each occur with relatively equal consistency.

WHY?!?!?!? must I be punished? Because the rest of my game is so solid right now? The golf gods must destroy my tee game so that I cannot score as I should? Those bastards!

 

[SilverUberXeno]

When I'm hooking drives it's because I didn't turn through the shot. Make sure that club is getting back inside the target line. Sometimes trying to juice it with the wrong muscles makes it impossible to do anything but go way in to way out. So, be smooth, and get back to the inside.

 

[MIKE1218]

When I'm hooking drives it's because I didn't turn through the shot. Make sure that club is getting back inside the target line. Sometimes trying to juice it with the wrong muscles makes it impossible to do anything but go way in to way out. So, be smooth, and get back to the inside.

Honestly that is probably it. My playing partners at the moment really are terrible at golf... Maybe I'm subconsciously trying to show them how much bigger my penis is and how much more badass I am... but it's not working because I hook it OB while they punt it up the fairway. New plan: be smooth and suave and sophistocated to intimidate them with my coolness. I'll pretend I'm hitting an 8 iron or some other such club. I'll report back if I still suck.

The J33R I got from you is the club I hooked the worst! I blame you Zach!

 

[SilverUberXeno]

Well you know what causes a hook, right? An in-to-out club path relative to the face angle. If the ball STARTS on target and then turns left, your face angle was gold but your club path was terrible. You'll probably need to find a way to keep the face a little more open than you have been if you commit to turning through the ball harder, but it won't be a substantial change.

If you're playing that well minus the driver, just swing the driver trying to hit it 250. As long as you're in play, you're in great shape with the rest of your game. And if you make a nice smooth swing, you'll probably hit it farther than 250. Stop being a jackass!

 

[MIKE1218]

I played yesterday. I was thinking about your thread about committing to the shot, Zach. Smoked the driver all day. I was thinking, "I'm just going to hit this one straight." Focused on my turn back and through the ball and just hammered it. Putting was a little (a lot) off but I still shot 77. No longer a jackass, maybe!

 

[FATC1TY]

I'm suffering from the hooks really bad. I have to seriously focus on my body turn and my release to keep from doing it.

Now my alignment is screwed up because of using it as a bandage for the hooks!

Not to mention, my hooks are getting so bad, I've started coming over the top to save it, and I've seen a few dreaded shanks!

 

[eclark53520]

I have had kinda the same thing going on lately.

I normally either hit dead straight, or a slight fade with most clubs. Well lately, everything has been coming off down the target line, but drawing...and sometimes verging on the edge of hook.

I used to be able to draw when i wanted to, but i felt much more comfortable with a fade. Now i can't fade even if i try to. When i try to fade, i just pull it.

I need to spend some time working on it because it keeps getting worse and worse. At the beginning of the season i was doing well, now i can't seem to hit anything with any confidence.

 

[FATC1TY]

Check your alignment.. I went out for 18 after work with a buddy, and he's not a bad golfer.. Can get down to 85's and can go up to 100 even on terrible days. I help him alot with stuff and tips and we have a good time.

He noticed my hooking, and the pulls.. I play a fade normally, and have been getting some draws to come around on command more than normal, and now they hook and pull. He noticed I've gotten my feet super closed to the target line, and my shoulder open or at the target. Thats a recipe for disaster..

Guess what it also does? Causes the in/out and shanks when you turn it over and release.

I took an alignment stick out my bag and lined up to where I "thought" I was aimed, put it down and good lord, now I figured it out. Took a hole to get it worked out and even my chips that always ended up right of my line, now I aim right and I hit 3 friggin' sticks last night, and chipped in 1 for a birdie!!!

I swear it's always the basic crap, and not a swing re-make sometimes.

 

[eclark53520]

Thats a solid possibility...there is a hole i played which is somewhat tricky. The tee box is lined up so that if you hit straight off the tee box, you will be in the right rough, but while you are addressing the ball, if you are lined up down the middle of the fairway, it feels like you are lined up way left...sure enough i hit it into the right rough. Dead straight shot...felt good, i must just have been lined up that way.

 

[sssmokin]

Might just be too flat a swing plane is causing the hooks. That's what always does it to me. I don't even realize I'm doing it. But now I know, and it seems to correct it.

 

[SilverUberXeno]

As long as you're turning all the way through the shot, swing plane really CAN'T cause a hook if you're making good contact. It's easier to let the club get away from you when you're swinging flat, though. You REALLY have to commit to that full turn with a flat swing.

 

[MIKE1218]

Zach, making absolutely sure that the one thing I will do if nothing else is turn through the shot made a big, big difference. Still hit hooks of course but they are not as bad when I do. Many more shots are 10ish yard draws that stay in the fairway if I aim down the right side. Lots of solid drives.

Played a quick 9 today - bogey the first, birdie 2, 3, and 4 (3 birdies in a row! mostly due to fantastic iron and wedge play), bogey 6 and 7 to shoot even par 36. Feels good, playing tomorrow too.

 

[FATC1TY]

I threw up a 37 on the back nine, with 8 pars and a bogey on a terrible wedge, AND chip, on a long double dogleg par 5.

If I make the turn, and "undo" the turn, I can eliminate the left side most of the time. I just have to trust that I do it, and leave my hands alone!

I'd rather push one right than hook one left.

 

[SilverUberXeno]

I just have to trust that I do it, and leave my hands alone!

Welcome to the war, soldier! This is my epic struggle.

If I take a strong grip (which is the only way I can seem to make good contact), I have to keep my hands absolutely DEAD through the swing to keep the ball straight. When I do that, and I make a nice full turn through the ball, I hit exquisite shots. But if I get the SLIGHTEST bit handsy, it's all over the place.

My swing is simple, but it's not easy. It's the ultimate "do NOTHING for complete control" swing. The millisecond that I try to "control" something with my hands, or arms, or anything, I'm eating land mines.

It's the most vivid counter-thought in golf. Let everything go to gain total control. There's a great line in Tin Cup about that.

 

[warbirdlover]

I'm not that good but I had this problem too. I knew the only thing I changed was my grip so when setting up at the range to find the problem I noticed my hands were even with or behind the ball and when I moved them (at address) to slightly ahead of the ball no more hook. Just something simple that might help you too.