HOOKING

Hooking is a result of hitting the ball in counter clockwise swing which forces the ball to move both in the air and on the ground from right to left. If you hook regularly your score will greatly improve if you can transform your stroke into a draw or straight hit.

The most common cause of hooking is swinging from the inside of the correct line of impact to the outside of the correct line. This can be caused by a close stance and this is when feet are aimed to the right of the target by a flat swing. Poor posture will cause the hips to rotate back right with weight on your back foot. You will immediately push right or hook. The centre of gravity, as seen by the red line in the diagram on the left, is changed to the back foot with your hip rotated it will cause you to have an in to out swing plane and you won't be able to square the club face at impact.

The diagram (left) shows the typical hooking posture at impact with the red lines indicating the shoulder and hip relationship and the green line indicates the centre of gravity. The green shading indicates that the weight at impact is on that side of the body.

Note: The centre of gravity (COG) refers to the line in the midline from your forehead to the centre of your stance. Changes in the centre of gravity, as indicated by the green line, will alter your centre of balance (COB).

The diagram, (right), shows the typical hooking posture with the centre of balance indicated by the yellow line. The swing arc is indicated by the blue line which travels in and out of the swing plane. Point your mouse over the image to see the golfer dressed in blue which has the correct posture (red lines indicate the centre of balance) and a straight and correct swing arc traveling along the ideal swing plane indicated by the purple line. The correct posture should have a spine angle of 30 degrees, or as demonstrated in the diagram by the red lines (red lines also indicate the centre of balance), at 11 o'clock or 1 o'clock depending if you are right or left handed. The correct swing plane is shown in purple.

Swing Summary: There is a noticeable ‘tilt’ in the pelvis towards the rear leg, causing the player’s COG to shift to the rear. The hips are in an closed position while the shoulders are in an exaggerated ‘closed’ position. The back-swing comes up high (near 12 o'clock) while the downswing is at a much lower angle (or inside). The swing arc finishes well outside the plane of the back-swing – that is, inside to out swing path. It produces a flat swing around the body. The body doesn't turn and the arms swing around the body.

Note: The clock diagram indicates a general swing arc for hooking and both diagrams illustrate the posture at the point of impact.

To see the definitions of swing plane, swing arc and swing path please CLICK HERE