Driver is killing me!!! Lately I am hitting a low hook that is not solid or a very solid and straight but a push. At the moment my irons or good. I was hitting my irons good but with a lower flight. I started working on axis tilt and got my ball flight back up. But no matter what I try with my driver it does not work. I am a hitter and use Brian's grip. Has anyone gone thru this before. Any suggestions or drills will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask any questions you might have to help with my situation.
low hooks or pushes (help)
- Thread starter pld
- Start date
- Status
c21heel said:
c21heel, No I am not using Brian's twistaway. I don't know if this will help but when I set up at address I preset the bend in my trail wrist that I want at impact and just freeze it in that position. From that position I just pick the club up with my trail forearm and let the pivot react to that. On the way down I add my axis tilt while keeping my wrist frozen and try too drive the ball into the ground. This has greatly improved my iron play but has done nothing for the driver. My bad iron shots happen when I let my trail wrist unbend early(leakage). I have always had trouble with the driver and the 3 wood. The rest of my game is solid.
thanks for the reply
Bill Miracle
New
my two cents.....
After taking lessons with Brian and reading all the articles and videos....I destroyed my driver....literally. I got to where I was hitting everything from pop-ups (that's how I practcally destroyed the head) to hosel rockets. I did quit slicing and starting hitting low hooks and pushes.
NONE OF THIS IS BLAME. It was just me going through swing changes that screwed me up for awhile. So, how did I fix it? One thing I did was buy a new driver !!! And then, started beating the $hit out of the old one (a perfectly good R7 TP).
What I found was I needed to get a really good pivot back and don't over swing with the arms. Tilt a little to right in setup and take the driver back lower than irons and wait until I feel the backswing complete and pressure against the right forefinger. Do the twistaway and hold that right wrist bend (big key) , hold the lag, and pretend to take a divot under the tee (hitting down on ball but not into ground). Keep the club low on exit, swing to the left and finish with wedding ring up.
Don't know if all that makes sense but.....hit a 300yd'er (according to my sky caddie) in the scramble last night and a couple of really good 275 'ers (which is really good for me). NO SLICES, HOOKS. I get a slight push and pull but very playable misses. We never use my drives in scrambles and last night we used 4 (was a 9hole scramble).
All of this has developed over the last week. Before that, I spent the last month is driver hell.
PS...I find when I over-do the axis tilt, I get pushes! Also, the new driver is a Cally FT-3 Tour. Love it! Hate the R7
pld said:
After taking lessons with Brian and reading all the articles and videos....I destroyed my driver....literally. I got to where I was hitting everything from pop-ups (that's how I practcally destroyed the head) to hosel rockets. I did quit slicing and starting hitting low hooks and pushes.
NONE OF THIS IS BLAME. It was just me going through swing changes that screwed me up for awhile. So, how did I fix it? One thing I did was buy a new driver !!! And then, started beating the $hit out of the old one (a perfectly good R7 TP).
What I found was I needed to get a really good pivot back and don't over swing with the arms. Tilt a little to right in setup and take the driver back lower than irons and wait until I feel the backswing complete and pressure against the right forefinger. Do the twistaway and hold that right wrist bend (big key) , hold the lag, and pretend to take a divot under the tee (hitting down on ball but not into ground). Keep the club low on exit, swing to the left and finish with wedding ring up.
Don't know if all that makes sense but.....hit a 300yd'er (according to my sky caddie) in the scramble last night and a couple of really good 275 'ers (which is really good for me). NO SLICES, HOOKS. I get a slight push and pull but very playable misses. We never use my drives in scrambles and last night we used 4 (was a 9hole scramble).
All of this has developed over the last week. Before that, I spent the last month is driver hell.
PS...I find when I over-do the axis tilt, I get pushes! Also, the new driver is a Cally FT-3 Tour. Love it! Hate the R7
Last edited:
driver hell
30yrlayoff thanks for your two cents. Glad to know someone else is fighting the same thing and is winning!!! Your reply makes perfect sense. I am going to try the twistaway and see what happens I was under the impression that the twistaway was more for slicers, anyway I will give it a shot. I am starting to think I am allergic to graphite.
30yrlayoff thanks for your two cents. Glad to know someone else is fighting the same thing and is winning!!! Your reply makes perfect sense. I am going to try the twistaway and see what happens I was under the impression that the twistaway was more for slicers, anyway I will give it a shot. I am starting to think I am allergic to graphite.
birdie_man
New
Don't worry I find it hook prone too with my driver.
I can get it down if I put in some time....but my normal swing has a more open clubface so it's hard to adjust.
Worked for Trevino tho....
Trace less inside with less right wrist bend to help those hooks. (you adjust the amount that you "twist")
I can get it down if I put in some time....but my normal swing has a more open clubface so it's hard to adjust.
Worked for Trevino tho....
Trace less inside with less right wrist bend to help those hooks. (you adjust the amount that you "twist")
Bill Miracle
New
and one more thing...
and not hitting the inside-aft of the ball!
I find the lack of axis tilt and hitting the back of the ball mostly contributes to my low hooks.
c21heel said:
and not hitting the inside-aft of the ball!
I find the lack of axis tilt and hitting the back of the ball mostly contributes to my low hooks.
Hey, Tell me what you think of this. Last night I was taking some slow motion swings and I noticed when I got to the follow thru(both arms straight) and the club started up and back in my leading elbow was staying stuck to my side and bending to allow the club to work up and in. It was not a chicken wing. No matter how hard I swung the club I could not get my leading elbow to come off of my side. It was like is was tied to me. Can any one make something of this?? Could this be the problem or a contributor to my driver hell!! It seems that with my leading elbow stuck to my side I couldn't help but really let the club roll shut. Does this make any sense????
bergsey
New
pld said:
I've had the exact same problems over the last month, hitting solid irons but couldn't hit 3W or driver to save myself.
The key thing i have found was that i was letting a bit of sway come into the pivot, also taking the club a bit too much inside on the backswing. The two thoughts that have got me out of the hole - Pick the club straight up with the right forearm while keeping my body steady (no swaying).
Perfect Impact
New
When people say "I couldn't hit...such and such" I consider it absolutely primary to discover where impact occurs on the clubface and what the trajectory is because the information is divined from THAT REALITY. Often there is absolutely nothing about the swing that causes mis-hits: it is the adjustments at setup that need to exist to allow for the natural stretching and pullaway of the arms and shoulders that is different for those clubs. For a driver and fwy woods I must walk a bit closer to the ball so that it lays at the heel of my club in order not to thin or toe it. For irons I need usually to take out the slack in my shoulderblades so as not to hit it fat (Ala Inkster, Lopez, and Greg Norman). The more forward the ball position, the weaker generally the grip needs to be because of the natural roll/rotation of the arms that occurs in an unmanipulated procedure, etc.
So, for example, a ball hit on the toe of the driver with a hook spin can be an absolutely terrible shot requiring the simplest possible adjustments that have NOTHING to do with the swing itself: often the entire remedy is in two things: addressing the ball with feet a hair closer (an inch or so) to the ball, and weakening the grip a degree or two. Wonder of wonders, you hit a great shot realizing that holy smoke, my swiing WAS ok: look at that ball go!
I don't pretend that all fixes are simple setup adjustments; I do know that most of them are when a swing is reasonably well done and when it works fine for other clubs.
So, for example, a ball hit on the toe of the driver with a hook spin can be an absolutely terrible shot requiring the simplest possible adjustments that have NOTHING to do with the swing itself: often the entire remedy is in two things: addressing the ball with feet a hair closer (an inch or so) to the ball, and weakening the grip a degree or two. Wonder of wonders, you hit a great shot realizing that holy smoke, my swiing WAS ok: look at that ball go!
I don't pretend that all fixes are simple setup adjustments; I do know that most of them are when a swing is reasonably well done and when it works fine for other clubs.
Perfect Impact, I do hit the driver on the toe more than the sweet spot and that is when I get the low hook. When I hit the sweet spot it is long and straight but a push. My playing partners say I have two handicaps a 50 when I use the driver and 12 when I leave it in the bag. Go figure. But I know to lower my HC I have too be able to hit the driver or 3wood.
Perfect Impact
New
Are you not aware of pullaway?
Stand up without a club and let your arms hang. Bend over as though you are going to drive a golf ball. Now, turn your left shoulder to the left. YOUR LEFT SHOULDER IS FURTHER FROM THE GROUND NOW. Setup has it HERE: at impact it is HERE - a couple inches FARTHER FROM THE BALL.
So A GOOD SWING TAKES the hand and club closer to your body, to your feet, than where the clubhead sat at address. This is greatest with the driver.
SO GO TO THE DAMN RANGE AND USING YOUR EXACT SAME SWING, AFTER YOU ADDRESS THE BALL AS YOU ALWAYS HAVE, HAVE SOMEONE PICK UP THE BALL AND TEE AND MOVE THEM AN INCH CLOSER TO YOUR FEET.
Then swing, aim of course at the ball, BUT DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES IN your posture or setup after the ball was moved to its new spot. Tee the ball low enough not to sky it and ruin the top of your club, or use an old driver, because finding the exact adjustment necessary is personal and needs some feedback trial and error tweaking.
The secret is to overcome your subjective, instinctive "there's something counterintuitive going on here!" that registers in our subconscious. Simply accept the REALITY THAT YOUR BODY IS NOT AT IMPACT WHERE IT WAS AT SETUP.
This cures the toehits on drivers for good golfers unaware of the reality.
Witness Daly, Donald, Zoeller and a ton of other great golfers who do this routinely. In one way or another....either by softening their arms (which is too inaccurate a way for me to do it), or by using my normal posture and setup and simply "walking that much closer" to the ball before takeaway.
Stand up without a club and let your arms hang. Bend over as though you are going to drive a golf ball. Now, turn your left shoulder to the left. YOUR LEFT SHOULDER IS FURTHER FROM THE GROUND NOW. Setup has it HERE: at impact it is HERE - a couple inches FARTHER FROM THE BALL.
So A GOOD SWING TAKES the hand and club closer to your body, to your feet, than where the clubhead sat at address. This is greatest with the driver.
SO GO TO THE DAMN RANGE AND USING YOUR EXACT SAME SWING, AFTER YOU ADDRESS THE BALL AS YOU ALWAYS HAVE, HAVE SOMEONE PICK UP THE BALL AND TEE AND MOVE THEM AN INCH CLOSER TO YOUR FEET.
Then swing, aim of course at the ball, BUT DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES IN your posture or setup after the ball was moved to its new spot. Tee the ball low enough not to sky it and ruin the top of your club, or use an old driver, because finding the exact adjustment necessary is personal and needs some feedback trial and error tweaking.
The secret is to overcome your subjective, instinctive "there's something counterintuitive going on here!" that registers in our subconscious. Simply accept the REALITY THAT YOUR BODY IS NOT AT IMPACT WHERE IT WAS AT SETUP.
This cures the toehits on drivers for good golfers unaware of the reality.
Witness Daly, Donald, Zoeller and a ton of other great golfers who do this routinely. In one way or another....either by softening their arms (which is too inaccurate a way for me to do it), or by using my normal posture and setup and simply "walking that much closer" to the ball before takeaway.
Bill Miracle
New
A something else Brian told me about hitting hooks...
You may stop turning your body at some point. You've got to keep the belly turning.
When you mentioned the elbows stuck...that made me thing of it. When you quit turning the body, the hands will race around you causing the ball to hook.
Was going to type more but...just got my eyes dialated. I can barely make out what I am typing.
You may stop turning your body at some point. You've got to keep the belly turning.
When you mentioned the elbows stuck...that made me thing of it. When you quit turning the body, the hands will race around you causing the ball to hook.
Was going to type more but...just got my eyes dialated. I can barely make out what I am typing.
- Status