Why You Keep Pulling the Golf Ball And 3 Easy Ways To Fix It

A pulled golf shot can feel confusing because it often feels solid.

The contact is not terrible. The ball jumps off the face. Sometimes it even flies the right distance. It just starts left of the target and stays there.

For a right-handed golfer, a pull is a shot that starts left and usually flies relatively straight. For a left-handed golfer, it starts right. The key is that the ball starts on the wrong line immediately.

That makes the clubface the first place to look.

What a pull really means

Ball flight gives you clues. Where the ball starts is mostly controlled by the clubface. If your ball starts left, the face was likely pointing left at impact.

The swing path matters, too, especially if the ball curves, but a straight pull usually means the face and path were both pointed left of the target at impact.

That does not mean you need a complete swing rebuild. Most pulls come from one of three simple issues.

Your alignment is aimed left.

Your shoulders are open.

Your clubface is closing too soon.

Let’s fix those in order.

Fix 1: Check your aim before you check your swing

This is the boring fix nobody wants to hear but it works.

Many golfers who pull the ball are aimed left without realizing it. Then they make a swing that actually matches their body lines. The ball goes where the setup told it to go.

Put an alignment stick or club on the ground pointed at your target. Then place a second stick parallel to it for your feet, hips and shoulders.

Do not aim your feet at the target. Your feet should be parallel left of the target line for a right-handed player, like railroad tracks.

Hit five balls this way. If the pull starts to disappear, your swing was probably not the main problem.

Fix 2: Square your shoulders

Your feet can look fine while your shoulders are still open. This is a huge pull pattern.

Open shoulders encourage the club to work across the ball. The face often follows. That combination sends the ball left quickly.

Here is an easy checkpoint. Once you set up, lay a club across your shoulders and see where it points. If it points left of your target line, you have found a likely cause.

To correct it, feel like your trail shoulder is slightly lower and slightly farther back at address. Do not overdo it. You are not trying to close yourself off. You are trying to get neutral.

Fix 3: Delay the face from slamming shut

Some pulls come from overactive hands. The player senses the face is open somewhere in the downswing and then flips it closed through impact.

The result is a face that points left at the worst possible moment.

Try this drill. Make half swings with a short iron and feel like the logo on your glove points more toward the target through impact. The goal is not to hold the face open forever. It is to keep the clubface from rolling over too early.

Start with waist-high to waist-high swings. When the ball starts on line, gradually make the swing longer.

A quick range test

Use three balls.

Ball 1: Check your alignment.

Ball 2: Check your shoulders.

Ball 3: Make a smooth half swing and keep the face stable.

If the third ball starts straighter, you have your answer.

A pull does not always mean your swing is broken. More often, it means your setup, shoulders or clubface got pointed left together.

Fix the direction first. Then worry about the rest.