A question came in from a Dewsweeper who is having a hard time getting the ball started on line. He is a right hands golfer and my ball starts way too far right. He says ” Sometimes it hooks back sometimes it doesn’t. can you give me a practice drill to help?”

Well here is some information that will help you get the ball started more on line.

Well it would certainly appear that the path of your swing is much too far from in to out. It is important to remember that the path that the club swings on controls the direction that the ball starts on. There could be many reasons you have created an in to out path but we cant know for sure here.
We need to remember that the golf swing is a circle laying on a side angle. The golf club must swing back up and in on the back swing but must also swing back down around and to the left on the through swing.

Trying to swing the club down the target line is often a cause of a path swinging to much in to out.

If a club swings too much in to out it will force you to use your hands to square face which can be very inconsistent which is why sometimes your ball hooks back and sometimes it doesn’t.

A great and simple drill I use is to set up your practice station
Make sure you have an alignment aid such as a club, umbrella, etc
Next take a broken shaft and walk about 10 yards in front of your hitting station and place the shaft in the ground directly in line with the ball and target.
Hit balls making your self starting the ball to left of the shaft then learn to work it back over the shaft.

If you learn to start the ball on line and over the shaft it will help you learn to not use your hands and help you control your ball flight.