Ditch Your Slice by Learning to Hook

I have a confession: I love being a hooker. Deep down, I bet you'd love to be one, too. I know this because I feel your pain. During my playing career, my ball flight went from a slight fade (when I was at my best) to a low skanker that couldn't resist the right rough (when a microphone became the sexiest thing I'd ever seen). But that's all in the past. Thanks to my instructor, Mike Abbott, I kicked the bad habits that caused those big benders to land somewhere to the right of Rush Limbaugh. By learning how to hook it, I now keep the ball in the fairway more often, and I hit it farther too. Here's how I did it. For once, this is a good time to follow my lead.

Abbott: "Curing a slice means first going to the other extreme: You adjust your grip and posture to quickly hit a big hook. Then you can gradually move to hitting it straight, because you've learned how to rotate your hands and arms to square the clubface."

Feherty: "To a recovering slicer like me, an ugly, screaming duck hook can be as lovely as watching Cameron Diaz bend over to get a ball out of the hole."

David Feherty is a GOLF MAGAZINE Contributing Writer and CBS Sports commentator.

Mike Abbott is director of golf at the Vaquero Club in Westlake, TX.