postheadericon Guidelines on How to Fix a Hook in Golf


by Deann M Odelle


For those who aren't aware of what a hook is, it is actually a shot related to golf which when not played properly, will cause a mishit, but when played properly it could cause the golf ball to reach for the sky. This happens because of the effect on the ball which is caused by the club. In order to distinguish a successful hit from a fail, the ball has to spin after it has been hit in either the anti-clockwise direction or the clockwise direction.

When playing golf you will quickly learn there are different types of hook shots. If you want to have a classic hook then swing your club more to your right. This will make the clubface point in the direction to your left. There is also the beautiful hook flight that will cause the ball to sail through the sky. In order to proper do the shot the swing will end on the left of the divot.

In the same manner, if the ball is hooking towards the left side, then it is most likely to spin in counter-clockwise direction, thus the hook flight would assume more of a right-to-left direction. So how can one create this kind of shot? After thorough investigation into this mystery, it has been found that the golfer's stance and the bearing on the grip are a few of the many factors which cause such shot.

Each golfer has his own take on the grip of the club, but if one wants to fix a hook then one will have to follow a few guidelines on this matter. A tip here would be to check whether one can clearly see only the two knuckles of one's left hand when one is looking down the length of the club while taking a stance. If you can see more than two knuckles, i.e. about three or four, then it implies that you are not having the right grip on the club for fixing a hook.

Secondly, the golfer must ensure that the 'V' formed by his knuckle and thumb of both hands should point towards his right shoulder and right ear as going farther right than this would cause the club to look left after impact. A grip may not determine the direction of the swing but could cause the shot to end up either straight or in a hook or slice.

A common pitfall to be avoided here is to not aim too much towards the right in order to counter the ball's left movement. This is a blunder because by doing this the hook would only distort from the desired path instead of following it and this could trace an extremely right parabola, which isn't desirable of course.

There are various ways in which this alignment can be corrected and while sometimes it is achieved solo, at times taking help from a friend could also help to accomplish the objective. The idea is to check the aim by laying the club on the ground parallel to the target line and align the feet, knees, hips and shoulders parallel to the club so that then they would be parallel to the target line as well.

So the bottom line is if you want to fix a hook then you have to be aware of your grip as well as stance in order to send the ball curving or flying straight during its hook flight.




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