Brain Game: Gettin' Yer Mind Right

This weekend, I watched one of my favorite films - Cool Hand Luke - in remembrance of the late, great Paul Newman. Today's Brain Game involves the film as well.

Your job is to transform the word COOL into the word HAND, and then HAND into LUKE, using as few steps as possible. Change one letter at a time, leaving the other letters in their original positions. We were able to do it in nine steps... can you do better?

C O O L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ H A N D _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _L U K E

HERE is one solution... if you find another, feel free to post it in the comments.

ONE ANSWER:

COOL
COOK
HOOK
HONK
HANK
HAND
LAND
LANE
LAKE
LUKE