Perhaps a good psychiatrist ???

I sure hope one of my senior golf partners decides ( in his words ) " I've had enough, time to call it quits " to reconsider. He certainly is one of the nicest golf partners I've had the pleasure to play with in many years. At the start of this season he was playing off an eight handicap then for some strange reason it all went south, so to speak.
He told me that in his mind's eye he sees every shot going right to left and he sets up that way, our last game he hit three balls OB in the first four holes ( all hooked ). He took a couple of lessons last week, he said he hits them fine on the range but once on the course he can't resist swinging hard at every shot. He told me no matter how well he sets up to the ball he is convinced that he is going to hook it and also said there is nothing he can do about it.
It's rather obvious something has gone wrong with Peter's swing, I watched him hit a shot from behind ( 185 yard approach, good lie, #4 hybrid ) his setup looked really good, his takeaway was smooth, the result was awful. He pull hooked it about thirty yards off line into the pond in front of the green, his comment, " oh well, I knew I was going to hook it anyway ".
Pretty sad indeed, this guy has ( had ) a very nice swing and had no problem playing off his eight handicap when we first teed it up together at the start of the season. He said no matter what he does he can't resist trying to hit the ball hard and that I'm afraid is the reason he is pounding everything left,,,,,,,no answer in sight,,,,,, any ideas ????

Buy him a Secret. He can hit is as hard as he wants and it will still go straight.

He is most likely flipping his hands at it. The flip makes him feel like he is getting that last bit of power, and it may feel right, but you are watching a disaster in the making.

The range is a funny thing. You can isolate things and keep them at bay for a while, but the course has a way to striping all that is superficial away and exposing the real truth.

A golfing buddy told me he discovered the reason he previously was hooking his shots since he was hitting too hard with his right hand... I could hardly relate as most of my shots are either straight or a slight fade which is fine by me...

Hi Greg.

I get a little confused in some threads with the terms "Flipping" and "swatting" and whether people are referring to the same fault. I consider them to be the same where the lead wrist collapses towards the target through impact. I sometimes think people are using the term "Flipping" when the wrists and forearms are rotated through impact.

Rotating is not flipping to me. I take flipping and swatting as the same term.

Thank's Greg.

Try to convince him to keep his left hand from turning over at impact. Tiger Woods says that he tries to have the emblem on his glove facing his target at impact. If he can keep his left hand from turning over there's no way for him to hook his shot.

When I have to fight off a case of the hooks on course I weaken my grip and create the feeling as if I am hitting a karate chop with the bottom of my left hand at impact, it delays the closing of the clubface and keeps them at bay. "Wax on Wax off"

Interestingly enough, the "karate chop" is my favourite move, leaving balls wiiiiiiiide right. Until, of course, I compensate for it, going with a 4 knuckle strong grip, then I swing a little more relaxed and my hands release, shutting the face down like there's no tomorrow and I hit the ball with the crown.