A hook feels as bad as a slice. Here's how to fix it

September 23, 2025 · ByCorbs

In the world of golf misses, the hook is often seen as the "good player's miss". And look, let's be fair, a shot that curves from right-to-left (for a right-hander) often feels powerful and compressed. But a hook is not a draw. A draw is a controlled, reliable shot shape. A hook is a wild, unpredictable beast that dives out of the sky and runs into trouble you didn't even know was there.

How to Turn That Uncontrolled Snap into a Powerful Draw

That low, screaming snap-hook that never gets more than 20 feet off the ground and scorches the bark off the trees as it disappears? It's just as damaging to your scorecard as a slice. It's a sign that something in your swing is out of sync, and just like a slice, it can almost always be traced back to a couple of key fundamentals.

The good news is, if you're hitting a hook, you're probably doing a lot of things right. You're likely swinging the club from the inside and generating a good amount of speed. We just need to get the clubface under control.

Drills to Fix Your Hook

Watch as Golf Pro gives a low handicapper a lesson on fixing his hook.

The Anatomy of a Hook

At its core, a hook is the opposite of a slice. It happens when your clubface is closed relative to your swing path at the moment of impact. This causes the ball to spin aggressively from right to left. The more the face is closed to the path, the more violent the hook will be.

But why is the face closing so much? It's usually a combination of a few factors that feed off each other.

Culprit #1: The Grip is Too "Strong": This is the number one cause of a chronic hook. A "strong" grip doesn't refer to pressure; it describes a grip where your hands are rotated too far to the right (for a right-hander). You might look down and see four knuckles on your left hand, and the 'V's formed by your thumbs and index fingers could be pointing way outside your right shoulder. With a grip this strong, the clubface is already "hooded" or shut at address. From here, it naturally wants to close even more during the swing. You'd have to make a very awkward, unnatural move to hold it square through impact. More often than not, the hands will release, the face will slam shut, and the ball will take a sharp left turn.
Culprit #2: Your Swing Path is Too Far From the Inside: This is where the dreaded "stuck" feeling comes from. Some golfers, in an attempt to create a draw, drop the club too far behind them on the downswing. The club gets trapped, and from this position, the body's rotation stalls because it's blocked by the arms. The only way to get the clubhead to the ball is to use a rapid, last-second rotation of the hands and forearms. This aggressive "flipping" action slams the clubface shut. This is what creates the push-hook—the ball starts right of the target and then hooks like a boomerang.
Culprit #3: Your Body Stops Turning: This is linked to getting stuck. An efficient golf swing involves the body rotating continuously through to the finish. For many hookers, the hips and chest stop turning through the impact zone. This stall causes the arms and hands, which are still carrying a lot of speed, to fly past the body and flip the club over. The body stops, but the arms don't. That massive rate of closure on the clubface is what sends the ball ducking left.

Right-handed fade target line and swing path illustration — Fade target line and swing path illustration for right-handed golfer

Left-handed fade target line and swing path illustration — Fade target line and swing path illustration for Left-handed golfer

How to Straighten Out That Hook

Taming a hook is all about synchronisation—getting your body rotation and your arm swing to work together, not against each other. And it starts with the most common culprit: your hands.

Feel a More "Neutral" Grip: This is your first port of call. Try rotating your hands back to the left on the club. A good checkpoint is to see only two to two-and-a-half knuckles on your left hand at address. The 'V's should point more towards the middle of your body or your right ear. This will feel incredibly weak, like you're going to slice the ball a mile. That's a good sign. Stick with it. This one change can often solve 80% of the problem.
Feel the Club Stay "In Front" of You: To prevent getting the club stuck behind you, feel like your hands and the clubhead stay in front of your chest throughout the swing. Imagine your arms and chest are connected and they turn back and through together. This "one-piece" feeling promotes a wider swing arc and prevents the club from dropping too far inside, giving you plenty of room to swing without needing a last-second flip.
Feel Your Body "Win the Race": A great swing thought is to feel like your belt buckle and chest "win the race" to the finish line, ahead of your hands. This encourages your body to keep rotating all the way through the shot. When your body leads the way, the club simply follows, releasing naturally and squarely instead of flipping shut.

Fixing a hook is about dialing back that excessive curve. You've already got the power and the inside path. By neutralisng your grip and syncing up your body rotation with your arm swing, you can turn that uncontrollable hook into a gentle, powerful draw that finds the fairway every time.