Five Tips to Fix Your Slice

Do you slice the golf ball when teeing it up? Do your approach shots find the right rough or strategically-placed bunker more often than not? Well, you are not alone. Nine out of ten golfers reading this are nodding, and lamenting the many strokes they’ve squandered over the years with that stubborn slice that just won’t go away. 

Here are Five Tips to (start to) Fix Your Slice:

Today’s teaching technology is helping PGA Professionals put the right set of clubs in the bags of golfers. See you local pro to get fit and ensure that you’re playing equipment that suits your body type and skill level.

If your grip is too weak, which means the hands are in no position to release or turn through impact, your clubface will be open at impact, pushing those shots to the right. With your trail hand on the club further away from your target, you leave room for rotation and a square clubface at impact. 

Picture it - when you aim further left than usual, you promote the very cutting golf swing that is the cause of your slice to begin with, actually exacerbating the problem. Perhaps you’ll find a few more shots in the fairway, but look at the route the ball took to get there and all that distance sacrificed. 

Set yourself with a square stance, and envision the swing going more toward that dreaded right side. Now trust the new stronger grip that you just applied and get that clubface rotating on the downswing, through impact and all the way to the end of the followthrough. Is that a draw you hit or just a straight golf shot? You can’t go wrong with either.

What would you say if I told you that you’re setting yourself up for success or failure before even starting your golf swing? Your golf ball’s position is as important as your grip, which many instructors claim is most vital. Simply put, if your ball is too far forward or too far back, you are predetermining your clubface position at impact. 

Consider the point between your feet where your clubface will be square to its target at impact. If the ball is too far forward of that spot, the clubface will have bottomed out too early and will be closed at impact - the opposite concept applies if the ball is too far back. The clubface will be open at impact because it will have made impact with the golf ball too early, before actually squaring to your target.

Oh, this is so much easier said than done. We’ve been preaching swing path, swing path, swing path for ages. It’s just not that easy. However, understanding the concept is step one.

Introduce your trail elbow to your trail side and keep them close. It’s when that trail elbow strays from the duo that the clubhead gets too far out and approaches the ball on the ‘oh so familiar’ out-to-in path.

Listen, setup issues are easier to hone than the swing. Secure the proper setup, and grasp the concepts of swing path and clubface. Then go see your local PGA Professional, and between him or her, and today’s amazing technology, you’ll start to see the results you always wanted.