Any idea why I'm pulling that ball????

[Jayuqo]

Hey everybody,

Since the beginning of the season, it seems like I've been pulling the ball a lot. I've asked the people I usually play with to make sure I was well aligned with the target but most of the time, I will pull the ball (I'm a lefty...). I'm able to choose the right club but the ball lands 20,30 yards left to the target. I know it's hard to provide tips/hints on a forum like that but maybe you guys can tell what to look for or what to focus on...

Thanks a bunch...
Jay

[DIbit]

If you are a lefty and pull the ball doesn't that mean the ball always ends up right?

I'm a righty and my pull is left.. which sometimes I have a tendency too... as my right hand comes off the club sometimes.

[Jayuqo]

That's right......I pull the ball and it goes way right....sorry..........

[DenisO]

I'm probably not the best person to take golf advice from since I just started playing recently, but over the last few weeks my slice has reduced dramatically and I'm hitting a lot more very straight shots. I've been watching youtube videos mostly on proper grip, wrist position at impact, and swing plane. Make sure the grip fundamentals are there, make sure your left or right wrist in your case is flat or just slightly arched at impact, and that they are infront of the ball, and that you are not swinging outside-in.

More experienced people please correct me if I'm wrong in anything I said above, I'm still new

[dreaded_snowman]

The pull is a sign of an over-the-top slicer's swing, but where you're getting your hands through (rolling the wrists) so that the club face hits the ball square to your outside-in swing path. Even if you think you're swinging inside out, you can't be, it's just physics. You can turn the pull into a slice by weakening your grip (if you're pulling your grip is probably a smidge strong, with the bottom hand rolled outwards, just a guess), but that won't really help all that much. Best thing to do is get some lessons and fix up your swing path.

I have the same issue sporadically; basically, whenever I step up to the tee expecting a slice and thing "don't go right, don't go right, tempo, tempo" and then swing easy, my brain tells my body to swing outside-in to ensure a leftward path and boom, off goes a big pull. I'm slowly working this out, but it's a long process involving lessons and lots of range time.

[Goshawk]

As Snowman said, there's an extremely good chance you've got slight outside-to-inside swing path and the face of the club is square to that line. And it doesn't have to be very far outside to make a pull happen. If the face were slightly closed, you'd be hitting a pull hook....if slightly open, you'd be hitting a pull slice. The first thing that needs to happen is for a qualified set of eyes determine what your path is and give you ways to rectify it. I wouldn't tinker with the grip or alignment until you've solved this problem first.
Here's a simple exercise to see if the path is outside to inside. Take a few old socks and roll them up inside each other to form a ball. On the range, place this ball 3" behind the ball and 1-2" outside your target line. If you're on the correct path, you won't touch the sock ball. If it's outside, you'll hit the sock ball.....and since it's made of socks, you won't hurt yourself or clubs (or anyone else on the range!).

[rezadue]

Here is a little handy chart on why your ball does "that":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/skills/4245518.stm

[leftylucas]

That's cool Reza. Well, as a lefty who has struggled greatly with the pull I can tell you that it is over the top. I have been working with my teacher to eliminate this and it basically entails you 1) ensuring you are properly aligned with your shoulders, knees, feet paralel to your target line. This must be done with someone behind you to see the lines. Stand behind your ball and lift your left arm in front of you pointing at the target line then lift your right arm and point it paralel and you will see where your feet should be pointed. You will not believe it. Once you do this it may feel like you are way to open to the target. The next thing he did was to make me hit short little shots at half speed that start out left of the target line. This starts the feel of swinging out from in. We concentrated on this aspect for a long time as my over the top move was very ingrained. We continued doing this until I could consistently hit balls that started left of the target line and would come back toward it. The next step was to concentrate on contact of the ball. The next step after that is of course distance. Every time I hit a ball that starts out at or right of my target line then I know what I did wrong and more importantly what to do to correct it. More often than not it is because I was swinging too hard and not remembering that less is more.

[DJW]

I was pulling earlier this year as well. It turned out that a lot of it was simply having too wide of a stance. So give that a try. Narrow your stance a bit. It was causing me to not complete my turn properly. Nice and simple. Good luck.