Slicing
Slice no more with some help the pros! Find your golf slice cure with our three easy fixes, glove secrets and other expert advice.
Alignment Beats The Slice Body alignment is one of two key setup elements most frequently changed by amateur golfers (the other is ball position). Because players often associate the alignment of their upper body with the starting direction of the ball off the clubface, they tend to incorrectly alter their alignment for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is to compensate for a chronic pull slice. While the logic of aiming the torso further left to prevent hitting the ball to the right may appear sound at first, this faulty compensation actually causes more harm than good in the long term. |
Slice No More!Destroy the banana ball in 4 easy steps Beating the slice once and for all is a goal that can be accomplished by almost any golfer, provided the right approach is taken. In my four-step system, there are no quick fixes—just sound instruction that focuses on key slice-causing elements and methods for eliminating them from the golf swing. In step one, you'll learn to analyze your divots and figure out if your slice is the result of a bad path or a faulty clubface angle, or both. Step two will tell you how to determine what type of downswing you have and what powers it. In step three, the question of proper grip and how to match it to your downswing type is addressed, and in step four, you'll learn to match your position at the top with the right transitional move toward the ball and impact. |
Glove SecretsSlicing The first fundamental I teach every new student is how to properly hold the club because good golf swings start with good grips. Your hands are your only connection to the club, thus making them the primary mover of the shaft and controller of the clubface. If you hold the club incorrectly, you’re immediately at a disadvantage and more likely to make compensations in your swing. |
Two Wrongs Make A RightDon't fear flaws, use them to correct any type of ballflight No matter how fundamentally superior the swings of the world’s best players are to those belonging to the rest of us, there has never been, nor is it likely will there ever be, a golf swing without at least one flaw. |
Right Vs. Right On!Is your swing a slice swing or a solid swing? Here we go again. Yes, another “fix your slice” feature, which says a lot about the banana ball—it’s not going away. For some golfers, that left-to-right ballflight never seems to disappear, and for those new to the game, it represents the first true taste of golf-related frustration. While I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share of anti-slice tips, this story approaches fixing a slice in unique fashion. Position by position, I’ll compare the components of a solid swing to those typically associated with a slice, plus a corresponding fix. |
Tee It High To Cure Your Slice If you can’t hit your woods off the tee—or when you do hit them, the ball slices uncontrollably—chances are that your downswing is too steep. The reason this occurs is that the clubface can’t return to square when it comes down so vertically, and the open clubface creates a slice. |
Three Slice FIxes There’s only one thing that can cause a slice, and that’s a clubface that’s either open (or opening) at the point of contact. That being said, here are three tips to help you square up the clubface and rid your game of that slice forever! |
Mix And MatchFine-tune four key swing elements to eliminate slices and hooks Every golfer has suffered through it—getting worse while attempting to get better, ultimately tinkering unnecessarily and sending an “A” game directly to “F.” While it’s important to discover ways to fine-tune your swing, it’s critical that you do so with an eye toward keeping the key elements of your motion intact. Uninformed tinkering invariably unbalances your swing’s “matchups,” and it’s a big reason why most recreational players can never truly rid their games of slices and hooks. |
Slice: Rights, Boomers And FlaresDiscover which slice is yours, then leave it forever Golf Fact #1: There are millions of golfers who have never hit a hook, but there isn’t a single player alive who hasn’t at one time or another sliced the ball. Why? Think of it this way: In terms of golf survival, the mother of all musts is getting the ball into the air—it’s the first and by far the most important problem you must solve. And to get the ball airborne, many golfers feel the need to chop down on the ball with an open clubface and with a very steep approach. While this technique works well as in “Houston, we have liftoff,” the joy in the control room is short-lived because while steepness is your friend during liftoff, it’s your enemy during the rest of the flight, imparting too much sidespin on the golf ball. |
Stop Coming Over The TopTo fix golf's most common flaw, find out what's causing it It's a phrase heard on driving ranges, tee boxes and fairways nationwide. “I’m coming over the top.” It’s a lament as common as “I’m lifting my head” or “I’m swinging too fast.” And as hard as golfers try to correct this fault, most endure little success. |
Break The Ice The majority of my new students fight a slice. That is, they tend to leave the clubface open at impact. An open clubface will impart left-to-right sidespin on the ball regardless of the path on which your club travels through the hitting zone. If you struggle with a slice, you know how frustrating the game can be. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. |
