What is Causing My Smother Hook?

[radiman]

So, I bought a net and mat for my garage. I can’t get to the course or range often enough to stay consistent. So, I’ve been working on positions and wasted movements. I still have to drop the club into position in transition but it’s not as much as I used to. 
 

Anyways, visually my swing seems to be in a better place. But, when I brought all of this hard work to the course with me, I found myself hitting some really low smother hooks. The swings felt great but the results were pretty awful. 
 

When I watch my swing in video the thing that stands out the most to me is how closed the club face is when it’s coming over my left shoulder in the follow through. Now, when I was battling a really in to our path, I consciously let my left arm break down shortly after impact to promote a right to left path. Or at least more neutral. Could that be what I’m fighting here? The driver swing video I think shows that smother better than the iron. 
 

I just feel like I’m so close that there has to be something simple to address. Would love some knowledgeable feedback. 
 

https://youtube.com/shorts/4W01VHtoUts?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/yhjVgDC3iQI?feature=share

[radiman]

Not sure what happened with the YouTube videos. Thought they would embed. Also the video I uploaded is supposed to be in slow motion. At least it is on my phone 🤷‍♂️ 

[glk]

 

Arms work too much away from body in takeaway.  Leads to poor depth.    Basically two options bring arms straight down which gets them too out and swing out to in - drop arms behind you and swing into out - you are option 2.  So when you close the face too much in release - smother hook.   
 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by glk

[N0rs3man]

Take a weaker grip and rip it. See how that feels.

[radiman]

2 minutes ago, N0rs3man said:

Take a weaker grip and rip it. See how that feels.

That was one of the first things I tried. Did not feel great very awkward. 

[radiman]

1 hour ago, glk said:

 

Arms work too much away from body in takeaway.  Leads to poor depth.    Basically two options bring arms straight down which gets them too out and swing out to in - drop arms behind you and swing into out - you are option 2.  So when you close the face too much in release - smother hook.   
 

 

 

Man, great suggestion. Played around with it a bit and tempo felt pretty good. Path looks to be a bit into out but the face is appearing to stay more square. Coming across the line a little bit but can worry about that later. 
 

Normal speed:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ALoKp_SVj-I?feature=share

 

Slow Motion:

https://youtube.com/shorts/XtupLJOGaK8?feature=share

Edited July 24, 2021 by radiman

[Cwebb]

2 hours ago, radiman said:

That was one of the first things I tried. Did not feel great very awkward. 

 

You could try addressing the ball with a "slightly" more open club face.  Use your normal grip by rotating the club slightly open, then place your hands on the grip.  Don't just let the head sit "natural" wherever it wants to.  Always set the face angle precisely, while taking your grip.

 

Obviously a head that sits more open on it's own "more open face angle spec" will help, but you can always grip any driver more open, if you don't just let it sit where it wants.

 

For technique, I'd try more upper left arm rotation in your takeaway to the top.  Will get the club less across the line and can reduce a closed face.  The Faldo drill is great for feeling this....

 

Edited July 25, 2021 by Cwebb

[radiman]

So working on rotating my left arm. Feels like a ridiculous amount but in video it’s not much change lol. Feel isn’t real right? Haha. Also trying to get a little more wrist set. Had one swing with the 7 iron tonight that felt smooth as silk and so effortless. Felt like the ball compressed like crazy. Got too hot in the garage so I had to call it for the night. Will pretty much try to replicate this swing with my 7 iron over and over for the rest of the week before I even try my driver. 
 

[Scottbox]

A good drill I always use is the "set" drill:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-5w6UAFx8u/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Scottbox

[radiman]

27 minutes ago, Scottbox said:

A good drill I always use is the "set" drill:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-5w6UAFx8u/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

I like it!

[Scottbox]

Yeah it's simple, but it allows you to break down your backswing and work on what you need to.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Scottbox

[TheDeanAbides]

5 hours ago, radiman said:

So working on rotating my left arm. Feels like a ridiculous amount but in video it’s not much change lol. Feel isn’t real right? Haha. Also trying to get a little more wrist set. Had one swing with the 7 iron tonight that felt smooth as silk and so effortless. Felt like the ball compressed like crazy. Got too hot in the garage so I had to call it for the night. Will pretty much try to replicate this swing with my 7 iron over and over for the rest of the week before I even try my driver. 
 

 

This is much better. 

[glk]

7 hours ago, radiman said:

I like it!

this is a drill i use a lot - great for sequencing the backswing - it's is basically Monte's partial swing - can hit from the set position or use pivot to take club to the top.   

 

Good progress - i ignored the across the line and almost commented on it - but it was the next piece since the extra motion in transition to undo the across the line was costing valuable time in transition - still need to chip away on the takeaway - still a bit out - at p3 hands need to be inside a bit more aligned more with right pec (keep that good arm structure that you have) - you'll ultimately end up with hands just outside right shoulder and not as vertical.     Right now you still have to stall thru release - if you rotated then you'd hit it way left.

 

Shauheen talks about this here

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNLebffF-HL/

 

here is a lesson from Shauheen where the guy doesn't get enough depth and has vertical arms - his is from poor hip depth not outside takeaway (but you should check your right hip depth; maybe you need more too - hard to tell from video)  - but the stuff Shauheen talks about applies to you for the downswing.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIWkm8ApRuZ/

[mgoblue83]

Relax your arms and wrists to reduce the "hit" instinct at impact that is closing the face significantly. Gripping the club a little bit more in the palms can also help.

[radiman]

4 hours ago, glk said:

this is a drill i use a lot - great for sequencing the backswing - it's is basically Monte's partial swing - can hit from the set position or use pivot to take club to the top.   

 

Good progress - i ignored the across the line and almost commented on it - but it was the next piece since the extra motion in transition to undo the across the line was costing valuable time in transition - still need to chip away on the takeaway - still a bit out - at p3 hands need to be inside a bit more aligned more with right pec (keep that good arm structure that you have) - you'll ultimately end up with hands just outside right shoulder and not as vertical.     Right now you still have to stall thru release - if you rotated then you'd hit it way left.

 

Shauheen talks about this here

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNLebffF-HL/

 

here is a lesson from Shauheen where the guy doesn't get enough depth and has vertical arms - his is from poor hip depth not outside takeaway (but you should check your right hip depth; maybe you need more too - hard to tell from video)  - but the stuff Shauheen talks about applies to you for the downswing.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIWkm8ApRuZ/

Gotta chip away at it one thing at a time haha.  I was trying to get a feel for the takeaway.  On video it was better but almost more across the line.  And, contact was inconsistent.  So, I decided to alter course a little bit and focus on my arm rotation going back.  I think there's room for a little more there and as a side benefit it seems to have brough my takeaway a little closer to my body.  So, for the time being, I am going to try and hammer this arm rotation into my system.  In a series of roughly 10-15 swings I found that even though I was trying to rotate it wasn't always the case.  So, for the next week or so that will be my primary focus until I get a little more comfortable with it.  Then, will check where my takeaway is at.  Possible that it will be even better by then?  Who knows.  It's a funny game.  

[radiman]

On a side note, the target that Rukket included with their net sure didn't last long.  Don't want to destroy the net so I have to figure something out to hang in there in the meantime.  

[radiman]

Just realized that since I uploaded directly to the site the video isn’t viewable on a desktop. 
 

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by radiman

[D0ch0l1d4y]

7 minutes ago, radiman said:

Just realized that since I uploaded directly to the site the video isn’t viewable on a desktop. 
 

https://youtube.com/shorts/fp_HKTqENI8?feature=share

 

if you delete the "s" from the https:// it'll embed the video.

 

 

weird...that didn't work either

 

 

lol....straight pasted from youtube with the https and it embedded. Not sure what's going on.

Edited July 27, 2021 by D0ch0l1d4y

[radiman]

3 minutes ago, D0ch0l1d4y said:

 

if you delete the "s" from the https:// it'll embed the video.

 

 

weird...that didn't work either

When I copied the link from YouTube's desktop site it was a lot shorter and able to embed.  Weird lol.  

[glk]

54 minutes ago, radiman said:

Gotta chip away at it one thing at a time haha.  I was trying to get a feel for the takeaway.  On video it was better but almost more across the line.  And, contact was inconsistent.  So, I decided to alter course a little bit and focus on my arm rotation going back.  I think there's room for a little more there and as a side benefit it seems to have brough my takeaway a little closer to my body.  So, for the time being, I am going to try and hammer this arm rotation into my system.  In a series of roughly 10-15 swings I found that even though I was trying to rotate it wasn't always the case.  So, for the next week or so that will be my primary focus until I get a little more comfortable with it.  Then, will check where my takeaway is at.  Possible that it will be even better by then?  Who knows.  It's a funny game.  

while you are chipping away here is something to fix first  - you don't extend your trail wrist - pretty flat with cupped left - makes you across the line.   Matt Wolff gets away with it and really extends it is transition but not recommended for us mere mortals.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by glk

[radiman]

Just now, glk said:

while you are chipping away here is something to fix first  - you don't extend your trail wrist - pretty flat with cupped left - makes you across the line.

 

 

 

 

Yep.  Been something I have been dealing with for years.  It's on the list haha.  

[Krt22]

1 hour ago, radiman said:

Yep.  Been something I have been dealing with for years.  It's on the list haha.  

Many hooks are a response to the face being too open at some point, so this is likely directly contributing to the hook. Switching to a weaker grip very well may make it worse

[Pepperturbo]

For most of my golfing life, I played 120g + "X & S" steel shafts, and seldom smothered anything left. 

 

My smother hook came to exist after I went to lighter weight composite Tensei AV White AM2 Irons shafts.  No problem with long or 9-PW-SW irons, only 6-8 mid-irons.  Last weekend I had three smother hooks with those clubs.

 

My first suspect is my hands/grip loosing affecting the face angle at impact, as I try to get more yardage out of a club.  I might be changing my spine angle too.  However, the other nagging question is might the lighter weight 98-102g shafts be suddenly affecting my tempo??? 

 

 

[radiman]

8 minutes ago, Pepperturbo said:

For most of my golfing life, I played 120g + "X & S" steel shafts, and seldom smothered anything left. 

 

My smother hook came to exist after I went to lighter weight composite Tensei AV White AM2 Irons shafts.  No problem with long or 9-PW-SW irons, only 6-8 mid-irons.  Last weekend I had three smother hooks with those clubs.

 

My first suspect is my hands/grip loosing affecting the face angle at impact, as I try to get more yardage out of a club.  I might be changing my spine angle too.  However, the other nagging question is might the lighter weight 98-102g shafts be suddenly affecting my tempo??? 

 

 

Definitely a possibility.  I have tried lighter to negate some of the side effects of getting older.  It has never ended well.  May just need some more adjustment time. 

[Pepperturbo]

14 minutes ago, radiman said:

I have tried lighter to negate some of the side effects of getting older.  It has never ended well. 

Age and arthritis are reasons I went to composite.  Kinda odd though the problem is with 6, 7, 8.  I hit the sh** out of 5-2iron and no problems with 9i PW or SW.  Go figure....

 

It looks to me as thought in both vids, your hips are not in sequence with your upper body action.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Pepperturbo

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I have similar issues, I would try Monte's under the counter drill to try and bring your path closer to neutral. You look to be swinging well right.