Thursday, November 12, 2009
Slice Control
Sometimes the best way to cure a slice is to embrace it
Labels: Faults And Fixes, Slicing
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| Close it, then grip it Proper Way |
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 A quick way to lessen a slice is to grip the club with a closed clubface. The key is to do this the right way by following these easy steps. |
 Hold the grip with your ungloved hand and rotate the clubface a few degrees closed before you make your grip with the gloved hand. |
 Now that the face is closed, take your grip with both hands. By following this sequence, you avoid twisting the hands before you make your grip. |
| Wrong Way | ||
 Watch what happens here and see if you’re guilty of it. In the above photo, I’ve made my normal grip with a squared clubface. |
 While still holding the club, I’ve begun to close the face, effectively weakening my grip and changing my hand positions. |
 Now, my clubface is closed, but check out how weak my gloved hand is. I’m probably still going to slice, even with a closed clubface. |
Move The Ball ForwardAs the club enters the impact zone, and because we swing at an angle (from beside and above the ball), the clubface is continually closing relative to the target. So, if you struggle with slicing too much and want to reduce it to a fade, consider moving the ball farther forward in your stance. This will help you take advantage of a clubface that isn’t as open as it is earlier in the downswing; hence it should slice less. Just remember, as you swing through the ball, allow your hands to release and let your ungloved hand cross over your gloved hand after you’ve made contact.
To Fade or not?Play The Fade
If your natural ballflight is left to right, try not to feel as though you need to manipulate your ballflight on dogleg holes that curve the opposite direction (from right to left). Even if you miss the fairway slightly to the right, take your medicine and move on. Trying to force a draw when you’re a natural slicer is a recipe for disaster.
Make A Full Turn To The Left
The last insight on hitting an effective fade is to remember that although the ball eventually will curve to the right, you still have to make an effort to rotate the body fully to the left. What’s that mean? Well, if you look at the ghosted sequence, you can see that turning to the left also means turning down and to the left. If you don’t turn down, you’ll come over the top of the ball. But if you do swing down, the lower body will rotate while your arms and hands drop to create an outside-in swing path to produce the desired fade. If you master this fundamental as well as the others in this article, that once-hated slice will turn into a go-to fade.
Derek Nannen, PGA, is the director of instruction at the Eagle Mountain Golf Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit www.eaglemtn.com.
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