Pull
A pull is struck cleanly and flies straight. It just leaves on the wrong line, heading left of your aim for a right-hander with nothing bending it back.
A pull in golf is a shot that starts to the left of the target (for a right-handed golfer) and travels in a fairly straight line to the left. Without the right-to-left curve of a hook. The ball launches left and continues left, indicating that both the club path and the face angle are pointing left of the target. According to the D-plane model of ball flight, a pull results when the club path is out-to-in and the face is square to that path (pointing left of target but in the same direction as the path). The straight-left trajectory (no curve) confirms the face-to-path relationship is relatively square.
Pulls are closely related to the out-to-in club path that also produces slices — the difference is only in the face angle at impact. When an out-to-in path is paired with an open face (open relative to the path), the result is a pull-slice. When the same out-to-in path is paired with a square face (matching the path direction), the result is a pull. Many golfers who work on reducing their slice notice they begin pulling shots as a step toward improvement. This means the path is still out-to-in. But they have successfully closed the face relative to the path. This is progress even though the ball still misses left.
A pull that is consistent and straight (not curving) is typically easier to address than a pull-slice. This is because the out-to-in path is the remaining problem rather than both path and face. Path can often be addressed through transition work (lower-body-led downswing) without additional face-management changes.
For a quick pull-cause check. This means place a head cover just outside the ball on the target side and practice swings. This means if you hit the head cover, your path is out-to-in. The goal is to swing inside the head cover, which trains the in-to-out or neutral path that eliminates pulls.
Diagnose pulls precisely with a launch monitor: check your club path number (negative = out-to-in, which produces pulls) and your face angle relative to path. If both are negative by the same amount (e.g., path -5°, face -5°), you are pulling. If face is less negative than path (e.g., path -5°, face -2°), you are pull-fading. Knowing the exact data lets you work on the specific variable (path) rather than guessing.
Example
A straight shot that starts left of the flag and lands left of the green. This means dead straight but wrong direction. This means is a pull, not a hook.
How it shows up on video
A pull is visible as a shot starting and continuing left of the target with minimal curve. From a face-on camera angle, the body pattern that produces a pull is visible as the lead shoulder "throwing" outward and upward in the transition. This means the over-the-top move. This means which produces the out-to-in path. From down-the-line, the club travels outside the backswing plane in the downswing and arrives at the ball from outside the target line, crossing to the inside after impact.
Common mistakes
- Aiming right to compensate for pulls — accommodating the pull with aim adjustment reinforces the out-to-in path indefinitely. Fixing the transition sequencing is the correct solution.
- Confusing a pull with a pull-hook — a pull goes straight left; a pull-hook starts left and curves further left (or turns sharply left). The pull-hook indicates a closed face relative to an already out-to-in path, while a pull indicates the face is matching the path. Different combinations require different fixes.
- Thinking a pull is better than a slice and therefore acceptable — both pull and slice patterns involve an out-to-in path. The pull happens to produce a straighter ball flight (because the face matches the path) but the path itself is still incorrect and will become a slice if the face returns to open relative to the path under pressure.
- Working only on the face angle. At the same time, leaving the out-to-in path unchanged. This means maintaining a closed face to match an out-to-in path is a compensation that requires precise timing every shot. Fixing the path is more reliable than managing the face to match a poor path.
In SwingVantage Motion Lab
SwingVantage identifies pull patterns from ball flight direction (starting left, no curve or slight hook) combined with observable over-the-top shoulder movement in the transition from face-on video. Down-the-line video revealing the club traveling outside the backswing plane in the downswing provides the most direct evidence of the out-to-in path that produces pulls.
Related terms
- Out-to-InOut-to-in describes a clubhead cutting leftward across the target line as it meets the ball, for a right-hander. This means the over-the-top delivery underneath fades, pulls and slices.
- SliceA slice bleeds away to the right for a right-handed golfer, costing both distance and fairway. It is the most common miss in the game, and it comes from a face pointing right of the head's direction of travel.
- Club PathClub path is the horizontal direction the clubhead is moving through impact, relative to the target line, in degrees. Positive is in-to-out (a draw bias); negative is out-to-in (a fade or slice bias).
- Face-to-PathFace-to-path is the difference between face angle and club path at impact. It is the single number that determines how much, and which way, the ball curves.
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