Stopping Hooking Fairway Woods

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

richf

New
I have never liked fairway woods - always hooked them. :(
Anyway, hitting balls the other day and noticed something that might cause it and thought I would share my "wisdom" ;)
I have a neutral left hand grip and normally grip the club when it is on the ground with my left then add my right hand. I know this grip is fairly neutral when I grip club with left hand, lift club to shoulder height, club in front of chest, flatten left wrist and look at angle of clubface. Normally clubface is flat and relates well to angle of left wrist.
Normally hit the ball pretty straight.
Same procedure with fairway wood - ouch - hook! :(
So I took my grip on my 4w, (Miz MP0001 - pretty straight faced - not closed!) lifted left arm to shoulder height, club in front of chest, flattened left wrist and looked at angle of clubface. Clubface was well closed!
I have since tried this with my other clubs and the fairway wood is the only club that this happens to. All other clubs set up square in my hand when I grip it.
The solution seems to be to hold the club out in front of you with clubface straight up (vertical) and then grip with left hand and this gets left hand/wrist and clubface in sync and then add right hand.
When I do this I hit the fairway wood the best I ever have! Tried it on course and no hooks!
Sorry about the long post but interested to hear your feedback.
 
R

richf

New
Don't like bumping my own post but hoped this might interest some people enough to give feedback.
Brian - in your article about the grip you suggest gripping club with left hand when club is on the ground to get neutral left hand. When I do this with the 4w, the club is closed when I lift the arm up and flatten the wrist.
As this is the only club this happens with, can anyone suggest why this might be the case? My 4w is Mizuno MP0001 and is pretty straight faced.
By some form of logic, this would appear to be the reason why I always seem to hook fairway woods off the tee but not any other club to the same extent.
 
J

jimmydean

New
Good observation, Hue, it's the first thing I thought of. Thinner grips generally promote a hook. I would definitely measure all my grips,richf. good luck.
 
B

Brian Manzella

Administrator
The solution would be to grip the club when THE CLUBFACE is pointing to the sky, in front of you, at a 90dgree angle to your body...

..then 'fit' your left hand on the club, heel pad on the 'real top' of the grip and the back of your left hand facing skyward.

And then....DON'T RE-GRIP IT!!
 
R

richf

New
quote:Originally posted by brianman

The solution would be to grip the club when THE CLUBFACE is pointing to the sky, in front of you, at a 90dgree angle to your body...

..then 'fit' your left hand on the club, heel pad on the 'real top' of the grip and the back of your left hand facing skyward.

And then....DON'T RE-GRIP IT!!
Click to expand...

Thanks - I noticed at the weekend that Bob Tway and Mike Weir both hold the club in front of them and put their left hand on the grip first. Bob Tway was pretty meticulous about it!
What is the benefit of having the club across instead of in front of the body?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top