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Slice No More

Say adiós to the banana ball once and for all!

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7. Front Loader Drill

To get some extra roll from your tee ball, it’s best to swing your club with a drawing action. To feel the proper hand motion needed to get the clubface working this way, try my “front loader” drill.

Set up with your clubhead past the ball and the face “closed,” then transition into your backswing. Don’t knock the ball off the tee! After you transition into your downswing, make sure your hands pass through the same “closed position” you had in step one.

Cards Face Up

Cards Face Down

8. Spread The Cards Drill

In order to combat your slice, you have to feel your clubface closing through impact. (Remember an open face at impact is what produces the dreaded banana ball.)

To feel your clubface closing, try this Las Vegas-inspired drill. First, imagine you’re standing at a dealer’s table holding an entire deck of playing cards. Start at address and “swing” to the top. Take a look at the deck of cards. They should be “face up.” If they’re face down, your “clubface” is shut; if the cards point too far behind you, your face is open—neither of which is good.

Cards Face Up

Hook The Cards

From there, I want you to make a swinging motion that travels around your body and to the left so the cards face down as if you’re going to spread them on an arc around the table (see photo at right).

Just imagining the card dealer’s table should help you build an arcing “swing.” Remember, as you swing your arm in an arcing motion to match the shape of the table, to turn the cards face down in a circular sweep!

This will help you draw the ball. Slicers, on the other hand, have either little rotation or rotation that occurs way too late in the swing. If you think, “turn the cards down early and with authority,” you’ll get your swing off to a good start and add some extra snap!

Once you’ve rehearsed this drill without a club, pick up your 6-iron and swing with the same feeling you had with just the cards in hand. As you hit through the impact zone, feel the club turn over. Your slice will soon be gone!

Jeff Ritter, PGA, is director of instruction at the ASU Karsten Golf Academy in Tempe, Ariz., and one of Golf Tips’ senior instruction editors. He’s the author of Golf by Design and the forthcoming book Your Kid Ate a Divot.

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