I'm about as bad at passing the guard as I am escaping from rear mount. By "bad" I mean mostly that I'm not consistent and don't have a plan. I know a bunch of techniques, but I don't really have a plan for when I actually find myself in that situation.
With regard to passing the guard, the issue is a certain laziness. There's a certain amount of effort I need to make to make the guard passes I know work. But I always stop short of fully committing to the move. It reminds me--uncomfortably--of those guys like Roscoe back in my TKD/PKA days. Roscoe was a brown belt, an older guy, but with pretty good jabs and kicks. But he did not like getting hit. And it didn't take much to get him throwing those very same pretty good jabs and kicks from his heels if you caught him a time or two in the chops.
I won't come to the jiu-jitsu equivalent of that. But I do have to realize that there is a certain amount of risk that reward requires.
With regard to escaping rear mount, on the other hand, the issue is more technique. So here's a thought or two getting rid of the hook.
I think the drive to the shoulder of the side where the hook to be removed is--say, rolling to your right to remove the right hook--is to create a lever of the hooking leg, making the lower leg easier to bend at the knee.
If you're on your back and you try to remove a hook, it's just your arm strength against his leg strength. That's a battle you don't want to even bother fighting, let alone losing.
