Hooding the club

I have been told at the range that sometimes I tend to hood the clubface on takeaway. It does not seem to be affecting my strike, but I would like to know what the disadvantage is (if any) and how do you know what to do to correct this? Any response gratefully appreciated.

are you hitting pulls or hooks? and who is hte one telling you this, do you feel they are credible enough or knowledgeable enough to know what they are talking about?

Hi Shootin.
yes I am hitting to the left (hook), and this comment was passed to me by my coach who was collecting empty baskets!

What is 'hooding the club' gents?

Hi VP. I think it means the clubface does not open on the takeaway through to the finish

VP . What is that creature you have as your avator?

think i'll have to go back to Darth Maul

first I would look towards grip, then I would look towards hand action. hooding could be caused by rolling your right forearm counter clockwise when it should rotate some clock wise. ANd since it was your coach, why did he not tell you how to fix it?

The correct term "Hooding the clubface" means delofting it by holding the hands forward of the ball or the ball back in the stance, the further forward the hands or back the ball the more the loft is removed or hooded. For example this results in an 8 iron having the loft of a 7 or 6 at setup.

Some use the term "Hooded" incorrectly referring to the clubface being held open or closed at address to counter a slice or hook though.

Regards
Brian

Brian.
your knowledge never ceases to amaze me. You are absolutely bang on.
I have for many years " hooded the clubface " at address. This gives me a feeling of a cupped left wrist at address ( i'm left handed )which gives me a much better feeling for the clubhead to the top of my backswing. The only disadvantage to this is you get a lower trajectory but extra roll.
My clubface is still squre ( not closed ) but my hands are a little further forward address than normal, just enough to feel a slight cup of the left wrist.

Sandy Lyle once advised Nick faldo to hood the clubface, at the time Nick was in the process of rebuilding his swing with david leadbetter and was having problems with his take away, a process which took two years. Nick took sandies advice and still sets up this way to this very day.
I would not advocate that anybody else sets up this way but it has worked for me for years.
I suppose it's all a question of feel Robert

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If you hood the club face you will find that the ball is coming in hot, low and left to right for a right hander. For the short irons you will find a nice strike and good distance as you are de-lofting. The problems will come with the long irons and drivers. To make the ball go straight you will have to swing in to out. Famous hooders of the club were Ray Floyd and Sandy Lyle.