sudden case of the "snap-hooks"

Interest thing happened to me in my round this morning:
I piped my opening t-shot down the fairway about 270, the next had a nice little draw, and then it happened - I duck hooked 3 consecutive drives. This is unusual for me considering I tend to hit a straight ball with the driver/3-wood or even a little fade.
I don't mind the draw, in fact, I have been really working on eliminating my OTT move with my irons and have just recently began to hit solid iron shots (straight or baby-draw) for the first time in a long time (maybe the swing changes are contributing to my hooks with the longer clubs)?? BTW - irons are coming along nicley evident by my second straight 85, even with fighting the hooks off the tee, this is approximately 5 to 8 strokes better then what I was averaging prior to my swing changes.
I believe I somewhat understand what causes snap hooks - to handsy, to fast, grip, or swing path. However, I couldn't fix it! I am hoping that someone can shed some additional light on what may be causing this. Thanks!

If it helps I tend to hook when my tempo gets off (swing is too slow) and also when my head/upper body moves in front of the ball through impact (i.e. I turn too quickly). Im coming to the theory those 2 things are also related in my case so I need to swing at a faster tempo to match my arm swing to a naturally fast body turn

My guess is this is a tempo/rythmn thing rather than anything overly mechanical

Heres my .02..from someone who fights this problem regularly...When i make a full shoulder turn in the back swing AND i dont try and take the club back on TOO WIDE an arc.. i hit it squarely(and long) down the middle...my snap hook comes when i dont let the right elbow fold naturally like it wants to so it can bring the club "in" and around over the shoulders.Trying to overextend the arc causes the flying right elbow and causes the clubface to be closed coming into the ball.If i could only conquer this error i believe my handicapp would go to single digits.As it stands now(18 handicapp)..with one drive being a shot that would make Greg Norman proud..to the next drive(snap hook) that will make me want to go hide under a rock somewhere..Hope this helps-David.

check to make sure the club is not in the fingers of the left/lead hand, if it is that can shut the face down.

It's almost certainly a tempo issue as the hands are getting way ahead of the body. This doesn't mean that your rhythm is too quick, as pnean has noticed, it might be that your hands are initially too slow then whip through to try and catch up hence the "snap" hook. It can be difficult to correct this on the course as the danger is that you'll overcorrect. If it's only the driver that suffers, as is usually the case, then I'd suggest a 3-wood for the next couple of holes until you're happy that the rhythm has returned then take the driver out again (that tip I pinched from Bob Rotella in Golf is not a Game of Perfect).

Appreciate the feed back gents. I will bring these pointers to the range tomorrow. In regards to substituting my 3 wood for my driver during the course of a round - this is great advice! I have a tendency that if I start going to "the bad place", I try to fix my swing while I'm out there, which usually results in taxing me at least 1/2 dozen precious strokes.
Spank - I know exactly where you're coming from! I play at a 16 and I am notorious for running off 6 straight pars then suddenly - BOOM!!! Blow up time........stupid game!

you may be hanging back on the right side.

Check the direction of the club just after impact, dont allow the club to complete the follow through. If it's pointing out left of centre that's the problem, you will be taking an inside to inside path, work on an inside to out path, this is asuming you are swinging from the inside. If you are using an outside in path you will be compensating by over rotating your arms and closing the clubface, this can produce a snap hook instead of a slice.

try being more aggressive with your lower body into the ball

I played last night and hit a couple of hooks off the tee. Always happens on the holes where its OB or the boomdye off to the left isnt it

For me its all about the feeling of making sure I keep my head and upper body behind the ball through impact. Simple as that. I can then really swing hard around to the left. The reason *I believe* is that by maintaining this feeling I stop my upper body outracing my arms/hands into the ball

^^^^^ That's what I do when I get those nasty snap hooks.