How to Fix a Hook: When 'Fixing Your Slice' Goes Too Far
A hook is a slice's mirror image mechanically, but it usually shows up after a golfer overcorrects a slice. Here's how to find the middle ground.
A hook — a shot that starts right of target (for a right-handed golfer) and curves hard left — is mechanically the mirror of a slice: a closed clubface relative to an in-to-out swing path. It's less common than a slice among high handicappers, but very common among golfers who've worked hard on fixing a slice and overcorrected.
The overcorrection pattern
Golfers who successfully fix an over-the-top slicing path by exaggerating an inside path, or who strengthen their grip significantly to combat an open face, sometimes swing past "square" entirely — ending up with a closed face relative to a now in-to-out path. The good news: this means you've already built the tools to fix a slice; you now need to dial back the correction rather than learn something new.
Check your grip strength first
If you strengthened your grip to fight a slice (rotating your lead hand to see more knuckles), check whether it's now too strong — three or more knuckles visible is strong, and combined with full release through impact, can close the face more than the path calls for. Dial back toward two to three knuckles and reassess.
Check for an overly in-to-out path
An excessively in-to-out swing path (the opposite of the over-the-top slice pattern) paired with even a slightly closed face produces a hook. If you deliberately exaggerated an inside path to fix a slice, you may now need to swing slightly more neutral rather than continuing to exaggerate inside.
Think of face-to-path relationship as a dial, not a switch. Slice-fixing drills often push that dial hard in one direction. Once your ball flight starts hooking, you've found you can move the dial — now it's about finding the middle, not reversing direction entirely.
The release timing angle
A hook can also come from releasing (rotating the forearms) too early or too aggressively in the downswing, closing the face before impact rather than at it. Slowing down your conscious release slightly, or feeling like the release happens "at" the ball rather than "before" it, can moderate an overactive hook without undoing your path work.
Course management while you dial it in
A hook is often a lower, more penetrating, longer-rolling shot than a slice — useful information for course strategy. See our course management guide for how to account for a known hook tendency in target selection while you fine-tune the fix.
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