Hook
The shot starts near your target line, then curves sharply to the left, often diving quickly into trouble.
Why it happens
A hook is caused by the clubface closed relative to the swing path at impact. The more closed the face is compared to the path, the more the ball curves left.
Possible causes in your swing, and how to fix each one
Tap any cause to see its fix. Work through them one at a time, usually one or two are the real culprit.
01
Grip too strong
Hands rotated too far away from the target on the handle tend to deliver a closed face at impact by default.
02
Hands flipping through impact
Trying to add power by actively rotating the hands closes the face faster than the body rotates.
Practice keeping the left wrist flatter through impact, feeling like the chest "covers" the ball as you strike it.
03
Excessively in-to-out path
A path that comes too far from the inside, combined with a closed face, produces a big hook.
Set an alignment stick or a headcover just outside your ball on the target line, and practice swinging through without clipping it, this limits how far from the inside the path can approach and helps moderate it back toward normal.
04
Ball too far back with quick hands
Catching the ball early in the arc, before the club has squared up, with active hands closes the face further.
Move the ball slightly forward and focus on a smoother tempo through the ball.
How do you compare to the pros?
Greens in regulation
A Hook is one of the main reasons an approach shot misses the green instead of hitting it in regulation.
Sources: PGA Tour greens in regulation stats (season average, about 65 to 68%); Break X Golf amateur data aggregate, 15-handicap band (about 26%).
When to stop self-diagnosing
If you've genuinely worked through two or three of these causes over several range sessions and the miss keeps showing up, that's not a failure since it usually means the real cause is something you can't feel or see in your own swing. A single 30-minute lesson with a certified instructor, who can watch you hit balls, will find it faster than any website. Bring this page along and tell them what you've already ruled out; it'll save you both time.