Stop hitting your shot into trouble on the left (2)

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

Water flowing along the left edge of a fairway can be menacing. If you have a small lapse of concentration and splash into the water, you are done for, dead and gone. Several tips here will save you free from any possible disaster you may face.

Improve your pre-swing preparations

To stop hitting hook shots, you need to align your body parallel to the target line. Also, you need to place your ball off the tip of your left shoulder when you are hitting with your driver. If you position the ball too far forward in your stance, you will pull, or hook, a shot to the left.

Keep your hands still

Avoid snatching your club back too much outside or inside the target line with your right hand. You’ll have trouble swinging your club down on the correct path. You will yank your club down from outside to inside the target line. An out-to-in swing path inflicts hook shots.

Also, don’t try to close your clubface too much with your hands as you swing your club down. You need to keep your clubface square as you hit the ball. However, if your natural shot shape is a hook, you need to stop closing your clubface. You’d better avoid rolling your forearms and hands over to square the clubface or release it fully as you hit the ball. Just keep your hands as steady as possible.

Using your right hand too much as you start your downswing, you can swing your club from outside to inside. You will also roll your wrists prematurely, incurring a pull or hook. To avoid this fault, you need to keep your right wrist under the shaft at the top.

You’ll have pull shots thrust on you if you swing your club from outside to inside, with the clubface square to the path of your swing. The shot starts left of your target and keeps traveling left in a straight line. Leaving the face of your club closed to your swing path on impact, you will incur a hook.

To keep pull shots at bay, you’d better have a neutral grip first. Then, try to get the back of your left hand aimed at your target as you whack your ball. This ensures you will hit a straight shot. If your ball still curves left, however, you are swinging your club inside to outside the target line. Just adjust your swing path by taking your club back along the toe line. This will allow you to deliver your club to your ball from slightly inside the target line. You will eventually hit your ball straight to the target rather than sending it to the left.

Finish your backswing

To stop pulling your shots to the left, complete your backswing by turning your hips fully so your back faces the target. That enables you to drive your hips and legs correctly toward the target as you start your downswing. That also helps you keep your head and upper body remaining behind your ball at impact. If you fail to coil fully on the backswing, you will stop way short. This leads you to yank your club down with your arms and hands to compensate for it. When that happens, you will throw your club outside the target line. This, in turn, forces you to pull your shot to the left.

Let your left shoulder move down

Set up your downswing by letting your left shoulder move down, then rotating. Once your left shoulder hits your chin at the top, start your downswing by getting your left shoulder moving down away from your chin. That will allow your arms and hands to drop to slot your club into a downswing path. Once you swing down on the correct path, you’ll stop cutting across the ball and pulling it left.

Shift your weight into the inside of your right ankle

Move your weight enough to the right on the backswing. Leaving too much weight over your left side can cause you to shift your weight to the right on the downswing. That results in a reverse pivot. You will fall back, throwing your clubhead outside the target line at the start of your downswing. You will eventually have to hit your shot to the left.

On the backswing, shift your weight over the inside of your right foot, or rather into the inside of your right ankle. This will encourage you to shift your weight to the left properly as you start your downswing. If you shift your weight properly to the left, your club will slot into its downswing path. If your club works on the correct path, you’ll swing your club toward the target rather than yanking it left.

To swing your club on a plane, you must let your arms and club fall down when you begin your downswing. To this end, you need to set up your downswing by shifting your weight to the left. That will let your club drop automatically to the inside, allowing you to swing your club from slightly inside the target line. To this end, just stand more on your left foot as you start your downswing. Or just slide and turn your left hip toward the target. You need to shift your weight gradually left the way you would do when you throw a ball.