Any tips?

[Big Johnny69]

I need some help. I was struggling with my driver earlier in the year. I went to stronger grip and straightened out my drives. Slowly but surely I have now developped a hook/pull in my irons, even worse when hitting off a tee. I have tried to weaken my grip but doesn't feel good to hold the club. But when I slow my swing down and stop at impact my face is already closed. So I think it is one of two things. My grip is way too strong or my hands are way too quick. Just wondering if anyone has any tips to try and fix this problem. And the hook/pull is more pronounced with short/mid irons, wedges are more pulls, but long irons hook/pull as well.

[Golfpeasant]

I need some help. I was struggling with my driver earlier in the year. I went to stronger grip and straightened out my drives. Slowly but surely I have now developped a hook/pull in my irons, even worse when hitting off a tee. I have tried to weaken my grip but doesn't feel good to hold the club. But when I slow my swing down and stop at impact my face is already closed. So I think it is one of two things. My grip is way too strong or my hands are way too quick. Just wondering if anyone has any tips to try and fix this problem. And the hook/pull is more pronounced with short/mid irons, wedges are more pulls, but long irons hook/pull as well.

Went through the same thing. As you get more confident, the hands tend to release more and more, and suddenly that nice closed face is too closed. I adjusted my grip repeatedly, and continue to do depending on the day...some days, I release well, other days I don't...

I found two things worked for me: a strong left hand grip, and a weaker right hand helped a lot...I was way to strong on both... and I had to get used to throwing my club out to target instead of trying to steer it...

Also, I find its 90% confidence....if I'm tense, its a tough game, but when I'm sure of myself, its easier.

I don't do a lot of pulls...thats an indication of over the top...I tended to either block it to the right or hooked it ... build that "INSIDE APPROACH" tool that was posted on here, that will cure your pulls.

Oh, and practice practice practice, or live with the consequences.

[Big Johnny69]

I thought about the Inside Approach tool but I am worried that it might make the hook worse. I am already coming from the inside when I hook it, practicing it more will only make it worse will it not?
Also thinking of trying irons with less offset. Mine now are game improvement irons and have significant offset, so my theory is coming with a closed face with more offset makes hook worse, no?

[shankenstein]

Does the ball start out straight and then curl to the left or is it starting out straight left and travelling in a straight line to the left of the intended target?
Knowing the ball flight will help determine whether the problem is either your swingpath, a hooded/closed clubface or perhaps both.
I've been taught to use a neutral (square-to-square) grip with the back of my left hand and the palm of my right hand both facing the intended target. I find that using a strong or weak grip really limits my control over clubface rotation and hinders my left side from dominating my swing. When swinging, my right arm mostly just goes along for the ride, so keeping it square just makes it easier.
I would suggest having someone tape or watch your swing to see whether it is an issue with swing path, grip, rotation or all of the above.
I've had times where I thought my rotation or timing was off, but the real problem was that I was bringing the club inside a little and pulling the shot.
Having my teacher watch my swing really helps as he can see things happening that I cannot always sense or feel.
Maybe the same can help you out as well.
Good luck!

[Big Johnny69]

It's a little bit of both. Shorter irons tend to be straight pulls sometime hooks. Longer irons are more pulls then ball starts to hook. But driver is pretty straight, sometimes fades to right. If this gets me any farther to solving my problem I am all ears.

[shankenstein]

It's a little bit of both. Shorter irons tend to be straight pulls sometime hooks. Longer irons are more pulls then ball starts to hook. But driver is pretty straight, sometimes fades to right. If this gets me any farther to solving my problem I am all ears.

Wow, it sounds like you have alot going on there!
pulls, hooks and fades.

I've been playing golf for about 10 years, but until last year I was always an inconsistent player. I would shoot the odd game in the 80's, but would also shoot closer to 100 on occasion.
I would have weird things happen with my swing and had no way of telling what was causing it or how to fix it. I almost quit the game all together as a result of these things.
This year, I was fortunate enough to become good friends with a person that used to play in the PGA during the 80's. This person also studied and taught the square-to-square golf method developed and taught by Jim Flick. He offered to rebuild my swing using the methods he's taught and I gladly agreed.
I've since studied alot of the squre-to-square theory and have hit thousands of balls applying this method. My teacher also comes to the range with me regularly and helps me iron out issues as well as provide input regarding my swing.
I am now consistently in the 80's and see possible 70's just around the corner.
Since learning all of the fundamentals of the square-to-square method and practising them, I have gained the ability to 'know' what happened when my ball doesn't travel the way I intended.
When I pull the ball, I can literally feel whether it was an outside in path, right hand pressure (where there should be none) or a failure to follow through after impact.

So why am I blabbing all of this to you?

I'm not trying to sell you on the method I use, but am trying to point out that my way of doing things may not help your game at all.
Since I've never seen your swing, it is almost impossible to tell why you are pulling, hooking or fading without knowing your entire swing process.

I can tell you some tips and theory that help me, but I can't guarantee that they will fit your swing since you could have different fundamentals than the ones I use.

With that in mind, here are some of the things I've learned from the method I use and I hope they are of some use to you.

Watching ball flight provides very very valuable info about your swing.
knowing why a ball reacts the way it does is like having a teacher with you at all times.
A ball that travels straight off the tee and then starts to curl left indicates that your swing path was on line (or close to it), but the clubface was closed or hooded at impact. This creates left sidespin on the ball. The sidespin is what causes the ball to start curling left after initially starting out straight.
A ball that travels in a straight line left of the target after impact and continues staight along that line, means that the club face was square to your path at impact, but the swingpath itself was moving from outside to inside.

Your shorter irons hide sidespin more than the longer irons. That means that you might be creating the same amount of sidespin with each swing, but it's more evident on the longer irons. While it looks like you just pulled the ball straight left with a 9 iron, the sidespin that causes the hook might have actually been there, but not just as evident.

Fading your driver could also be a number of things. I'm sorry to sound vague, but it goes back to my not knowing your fundamentals first.
Does this fade go away if you slow down your swing?
I have a comfortable swing tempo that I use for all clubs. When I try to swing out of this tempo (faster), my hands tend to get ahead of everything else and the result is a more open clubface at impact and a fade or slice.
I get similar results if I apply too much pressure with my right arm/hand during the downswing. It opens the face and causes a nasty fade or slice.
I fix this by doing some drills to help either keep me in tempo or get things working the way they should. I also check my swing fundamentals in the process.

The things that usually cause pulls and/or hooks in my swing are any of the following:
outside in swingpath
closed face at impact
right hand pressure during downswing (where there should be almost none)
limited or no followthrough (closed face or alterered path)

One of those might be causing your problem too, but you'll have to experiment to figure if out or have someone check out your swing.
I can't stress enough how valuable it is to tape your swing or have someone behind you to watch your swing. My teacher often pointed out things that I would have mis-diagnosed when I was first getting started.

Sorry for the ultra long post. I didn't want to offer advice without first explaining my thoughts on what they could cause. I also didn't want to just ramble off things that work for me and end up making your problems worse.

Good luck with fixing the issues and feel free to write me if you have other quesitons.

[Big Johnny69]

Much appreciated shankenstein. Gave me some spots to start at. And I will contact you if I have any more questions. Thanks.

[SwingGuru]

I need some help. I was struggling with my driver earlier in the year. I went to stronger grip and straightened out my drives. Slowly but surely I have now developped a hook/pull in my irons, even worse when hitting off a tee. I have tried to weaken my grip but doesn't feel good to hold the club. But when I slow my swing down and stop at impact my face is already closed. So I think it is one of two things. My grip is way too strong or my hands are way too quick. Just wondering if anyone has any tips to try and fix this problem. And the hook/pull is more pronounced with short/mid irons, wedges are more pulls, but long irons hook/pull as well.

What you just described is a dilemna that faces many players. The strong grip feels the best, but it tends to shut down the face of the club near the top of the swing. Best strong grip Tour players have a cupped left wrist at the top of the swing. Ted Tryba is the all time best at this. Ernie Els is a good one to watch as well. Don't slow the swing down, just work on getting the club square at the top of the swing with the strong grip and you'll hit paydirt with long, straight golf shots.