To start with, you need to make sure you are taking the shots slowly and steadily. Middaugh has a drill for that: Place a small piece of two-by-four on the ground, lengthwise toward the target. If you were a baseball player, standing at home plate, youd imagine throwing your hands towards the shortstop, or left-center field, through impact. You can purchase the Eyeline Golf Speed Trap (pictured below) off Amazon. Middaugh and his student, 15-handicapper Alex Talib, go through a 20-minute lesson, reviewing basic fundamentals and the keys to creating a secure grip, proper backswing and powerful impact. So, if you are currently trying to get rid of a snap hook, its likely that one of the three errors below is giving you trouble. This extremely handy device, which you can place on the ground and hit shots from, comes built with four foam uprights that guide your club along the correct channel through impact. A structured and disciplined practice session is the only way to develop your golfing skills to the maximum. Ideally, every serious golfer over a certain amount of time would work hard to eliminate/address eachs swing faults/issues while demonstrating progress towards one goal in a linear fashion. Like a pull hook, a snap hook is typically caused by an overactive release of the hands, but in this case, the golfer also tends to swing the club too far inside the target line on the downswing. You can do the traditional towel drill, and that does well. Golf Podcast 471: The WILDEST Golf Stories Weve Ever Heard! A post shared by Duffs2Darts (@duffs2darts). And, if you do manage to hold the face open to match it up with the swing path, youll simply turn your hook into a push. How to Fix a Duck Hook with the DriverHitting a Draw Step-by-Step Checklist: http://www.mygolftutor.com/draw-checklist-testimonialsBlog Post: http://www.mygo. BA1 1UA. Lambeck asked Gregg to take a swing like shes hitting a greenside bunker shot and to hold the follow through. It will also include the strike pad that shows the feedback. Join the Search 4 Scratch Program http://search4scratch.tv/search4scratchprogram SUBSCRIBE TO GOLF UNIVERSITY CHANNEL NOW https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw57RwBWooSqPqDCDTyZp_w?sub_confirmation=1 Have you Watched the Search 4 Scratch Documentary Yet? If you want some extra feedback while doing this drill, Id recommend trying the Total Golf Trainer. To check your swing plane, take your stance with a full-length mirror or reflective window to your right. If you make contact with the alignment stick, it means youre swinging too far under plane. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Not only will good rotation help you strike solid shots and maximize distance, but it can also help you avoid snap hooks. What youll need is an alignment stick, or snow pole, that can be stabbed into the ground. When you feel unsure about the shot you are hitting, you bail on the rotation and wind up with a hook, This is what I wanted to know and needed to find out. PGA TOUR or LIV: Who Will Win Bragging Rights? This will help you flatten your lead wristthe opposite of that flipping motion. A common fault among golfers occurs at the start of the swing. It can also help us to bend a shot around an obstruction. From that trapped inside position, youll have no choice but to swing dramatically from the inside just to make contact. Here's a drill: Take a narrow stance, and hit drivers at 75 percent. The drill That's why this is such a good drill to help solve the snap-hook issue. Really destructive shot, a shot that moves in the air then goes severely off to the side and most of the time will be the lost, a rebound or in trouble. Work on fine tuning the other fundamentals of your swing and you should be able to settle your hands down through the hitting area. This stops the clubface from flipping closed and will help keep your ball in play.". So, lets get started. Let your arms hang naturally with your palms facing each other to hone a more neutral grip. THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, TRANSMITTED, CACHED OR OTHERWISE USED, EXCEPT WITH THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. 2023 DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The cost of the Divot Board will run about $140.00. Butch Harmon is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional. About us | Affiliate disclosure | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Contact us, Address the golf ball as if you were about to play a shot, and note the angle of your club shaft, Take an alignment stick and place it in the ground a few feet behind you, and tilt it so it matches the angle of your club shaft (if you cant press it into the dirt, thread the alignment stick through a range ball bucket so that it stays upright), Using a 7 or 8-iron, practice hitting half shots while trying not to strike the alignment stick, Using a 7 or 8-iron, slowly take a backswing until it reaches parallel with the ground, with your wrists slightly hinged, Practice maintaining those wrist angles through the impact zone (without hitting the ball), After doing a few practice swings, take a three-quarter swing and feel as though youre playing a low punch shot (with the club finishing not much higher than parallel on your follow through), Repeat, focusing on feeling as though you maintain your wrist angles through impact, while using your chest rotation to move the club around your body, Grip the club with your top hand first, making sure your thumb and forefinger make a V down the centre of the handle, Take your bottom hand and open your palm, ensuring it is pointed at your target, Grip the club with your bottom hand, keeping the palm square to your target, Take an alignment stick and place it into the ground next to your lead side, on a 45-degree angle from where the centre of your hips are, Take another alignment stick and place it through the belt loops in your pants, Set-up over the ball and take the club to the top of your backswing, In the downswing, the aim is to get the alignment stick in your belt buckle to make contact with the alignment stick next to you before you connect with the ball, Start off slowly, and gradually build to hitting three-quarter shots. The result of this change will be a more open, or square, clubface at impact. From 2015 to now, Jordans life cycle, like ours, is characterized by different goals at different times. Thats great to know, but now we need to talk about how that happens. Keeping the clubhead more out in front of his body on the takeaway/backswing/downswing thru strengthening his grip and involving his lead side was supposed to help Jordan fight his big-miss. Golf Fix: Eliminate the snap hook. High Hands in the Backswing: Is a Vertical Swing Better? Basically, a duck hook is when the ball turns sharply and quickly into the ground shortly after impact. Knowledge like this will help translate into correction. Modern technology allows us to analyse the golf swing in a very technical manner, which has now proved that both were ahead of their time in making a golf swing a simple exercise. A lot of times when the duck hook flares its ugly head, a player has a grip that is too strong. At times, he works diligently to guard against its damaging presence. A different setup means a different swing. Golfers Like You: Fixing a Hook is one of more than 100 video programs in Golf Digest Schools. It's hard to convince yourself to do this, but you have to trust it. Always make sure that your setup is perfect before any swing begins - its pointless to work on a swing change with an inconsistent and changeable setup. Youll want to make sure you can see the pole in your peripheral vision. Lambeck then instructed Gregg to start with a 50-yard shot, and that greenside-bunker-strike mentality helps solidify that preferred path. After a few weeks of using this product, my impact with the ball has continued to get better with fewer chunked shots. Another often overlooked swing flaw that can lead to snap hooks is a stalling of the hips through impact, rather than rotation. So, in the video and article below, PGA pro Andrew Reynolds looks at what causes this destructive shot and offers some advice for those in need Its important to know the causes as well as what to do if you find yourself struggling with this shot. This allows me to take full shots without choking up and gives me the outside divot feel while working on my game inside my garage. This could be more or less depending on your swing speed and how steep your downswing is into the ball. Ironically, the opposite is true. This super-helpful aid, which you can grab off Amazon, slips onto your lead wrist and promotes neutrality, rather than a wrist position that is too closed (bowed) or open (cupped). But thankfully, they are curable, and following some of the tips above will put you on the right path to straightening out your ball flight. Top 100 Courses in the U.S.: GOLFs all-new 2022-23 ranking is here! Well be putting it to the test with real data to find out. Combine that with a stalled turn, and it's easy to snap it. If youre worried about damaging your clubs with the stick, a great training aid to use instead is the Eyeline Golf Speed Trap. This is what I wanted to know and needed to find out. The design is simple and easy to use. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'jnSmM6d3Sm5JMpd41KhqPw',sig:'eQFOU3_4KZjlucIdTwcuegAnZFZTxdUVPQKDOV9jy-s=',w:'594px',h:'378px',items:'1474693876',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); In an exceptional display of internal fortitude, Spieth salvaged a great bogey after rinsing his tee shot on the difficult par 4 16th hole before stuffing his tee shot on the par 3 17th hole to roughly ten feet from the cup. The Minnesota native graduated with a journalism degree from Minnesota State University in Mankato. Your email address will not be published. If you can make small but incremental changes, it should make a big difference! There is no place for the duck hook in golf. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Go to our email list signup page to join over 10,000 golfers who receive our email list where we send out exclusive information only available to subscribers. If you take the club away far to the outside of the target line, youll be at risk for dropping it inside during the transition. Now, those two things may also cause a nice little baby draw that flies perfectly straight down the fairway. They most commonly occur with driver, fairway woods or long irons and are caused by a severely in-to-out swing path combined with a closed clubface. If you feel that you are having trouble with your swing path, spend some time practicing a neutral takeaway where the club moves back away from the ball as close to the target line as possible. September 09, 2013. Today, Jordan is embarking on a journey of self realization within the context of his own evolving life cycle. Visit our corporate site. With excessive top spin imparted onto the ball, it will often roll deep into trouble whether its the thick rough or, even worse, out of bounds which is what makes duck hooks (also known as snap hooks) such an awful, debilitating shot. This stops the clubface from flipping closed and will help keep your ball in play. If you come into the ball under plane, youll collect one of the uprights, giving you instant feedback (but without damaging your clubs). Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'AUH31VcaTMlPASqpcvNruQ',sig:'o32AoPoRInIVVNpBRUbPDZGx7Q-w9prAlCBAqZDsFYs=',w:'396px',h:'594px',items:'530272308',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Strikingly similar to how a young Tiger Woods used to save shots on the downswing in big moments, Jordan Spieth was also able to save shots in those monster moments that usually serve to expose world class players who rely on increased trail hand rotation at impact. Wherever your club hits the divot board, the sequins will flip over and turn white. Higher launch conditions make hooks more difficult. RICK SMITH,* a Golf Digest Teaching Professional, is based at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich., and Tiburn, in Naples, Fla.*. You should see between one and two knuckles on the lead hand when looking down. In theory, adopting these changes from a strictly technical standpoint is a sound approach in order to prevent getting stuck. Using a club you tend to hook, set up to the ball in your normal manner and take the club back slowly. There are few worse feelings in golf than catching a case of the duck hooks. See details. New ball flight laws show that clubface has the biggest effect on the starting line your ball will take when it leaves the clubface. This next drill, youll need that same alignment pole from the first drill. Rotation is a key element of the golf swing. One coach I spoke to who grabbed themselves a Divot Board for lessons suggested removing the sequin strip from the board and laying it down on the mat directly. 3 easy wedge-shot tweaks that will have you stuffing it close, How these 3 tips helped a 10 handicap become a better ball-striker. You line up the divot board in the direction you want to hit the ball. If you can keep these three elements as neutral as possible, you will eliminate duck hooks from your game. Golf is a cruel game. Not only are snap hooks hard to watch, but they have a harsh impact on your score, as well. Driver was the worst part of my golf game. Today, Spieth seems to be swinging well and putting well. In order to prevent students from relying on increased hand rotation, teachers often will base their proposed solutions on mitigating the use of the hands during the downswing. A great concept or drill to get this feel besides looking over your shoulder is to grab a range basket and set into your posture with Hitting Angles. The point of this drill is to feel what the ball flight does when you create a weaker grip. First, we have to clarify the term duck hook or snap hook. In practice or actuality, however, Jordans inherent habits/tendencies simply didnt allow him to play good golf using the less-natural 2017-2020 golf swing. Adding more control to your game is easier than you might think. Despite the agonizing finish for Jordan, hes clearly playing at a high level and swinging the golf club in a fashion that reminds me of the 2015-2017 version of himself. Peter Thomson, too. Swing Faults of the Snap Hook One thing I didnt like about the Divot Board was how it sat slightly elevated onto the mat. Let your arms hang naturally with your palms facing each other to hone a more neutral grip (Image credit: Kevin Murray) To cure this, stand at address without a club and let your arms hang down naturally before bringing your hands to the centre. The chicken wing look with respect to his right arm, the weak grip, the verticality in his backswing with respect to the arms/hands/club, and other unique traits to Jordans swing all pose as favorable physical characteristics that each derive from his unique genetic makeup. Grace Kim Secures LOTTE Championship After Three-Way Playoff, 'Little Bit Frustrating' - LIV Golfer Calls For An Increase In Schedule, Top 100 Golf Courses UK & Ireland 2023/24, 10 Biggest Storylines From The 2023 Masters, LIV Golf Final Leaderboard At The 2023 Masters, SUBSCRIBE TO GOLF MONTHLY FROM AS LITTLE AS 3*, Get insight to top players, instructions & drills and extensive coverage of equipment. If you're right-handed, a push hook begins to the right of your target, but ends up curving back to the left. With most snap-hooks, there's another telltale sign: Your weight never shifts. All rights reserved. Spieths quest to gain more distance and not get stuck as often after he won the Open in 2017 meant optimizing the use of a demonstrably inferior lead arm/side. Be careful, too strong does not refer to the pressure of your grip, but your position. By comparison, Tiger Woods has been getting stuck on the downswing since he was a little kid. As Ive explained in another article, your hips should, ideally, be 45 degrees open at impact. Also, assuming you have an average swing speed (around 100MPH), try to change your swing so you are hitting up on the ball at impact. The duck hook will happen when a player is trying to hit a full, or almost full, shot. Golf Shaft Torque: Dial in the Perfect Feel, The Beginners Guide: Different Types of Golf Shots, Understanding the Golf Swing: Shoulder Tilt Explained. Golf Podcast 474: The Most Anticipated Masters Tournament Ever? Such is the case with a hook. Your weight should be on your front foot, and your hands ahead of the clubhead. All this motion does is impart more and more sidespin on the ball, causing it to hook more and more sharply from right-to-left, rather than getting it moving left-to-right in a fade-like manner. There are three, fairly simple, drills you can practice to help stop the duck hooks. A hook is easier to hit with a strong grip. This, in turn, well prevent the clubface closing over and moving the ball right-to-left in a hooking fashion. Ernest Joness book, Swing the Clubhead, who stressed that if your set up was neutral, balanced and correct, all body actions were responsive to the club swinging.

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