Three Tips on Your Slice

Oct. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- 1. Cure your slice

I’ve learned a great many lessons from different sources, including students, top players and fellow instructors.

One such colleague is Peter Kostis, who years ago taught with me in the Golf Digest Schools. I saw Peter give this drill to golfers whose lower body and hands got ahead of the ball on the downswing — a problem common to many golfers, particularly those struggling to square the clubface.

As these students addressed the ball, Peter held two shafts in line with their clubshaft, as I’m doing above. He told them to feel as if their club’s shaft would contact the lower shaft before the upper shaft as they swung through. (He pulled the shafts away just before impact.)

Do this drill with your teacher or a friend. It encourages you to release the clubhead earlier in the downswing, which squares the clubface at impact and straightens the ball flight. Release your arms; don’t flip your wrists. You’ve overcooked it when you start hitting hooks and fat shots.

(Ping G15 Series)

2.Beat A Slice With Your Shoulders


A slice comes from only one condition: The clubface is open at impact, which puts cut spin on the ball. One of the most common causes of this open clubface is improper rotation of the upper body. On the downswing, the shoulders turn earlier and faster than the arms and club swing. As a result, the clubhead trails and comes down to the ball heel-first — creating a wide-open face and shots that curve right.

To solve this issue, work on two swing thoughts. First, feel that you’re keeping your back to the target at the top for an extra beat as you start your arms and hands down toward the ball. Second, make sure your shoulders don’t turn more than 90 degrees past their starting position — check them at the finish.

This is a great indication that your hands, arms and body are timed together and working in the correct sequence through the ball. As a bonus, you’re sure to make better contact and get more distance with less effort.

(Ping G15 Iron Set)

3.Close out your slice

Golfers who hit a weak slice have two basic problems: They cut across the ball with an out-to-in swing path, and they have an open clubface at impact. Knowing this, you can eliminate one of these problems — the open face — from the start, simply by turning the clubface closed before you take your grip.

To set the clubface in the same closed position every time, hold the club in front of your chest and visualize an imaginary clockface. Rotate the toe from 12 o’clock (square) to 11 o’clock (closed) from your perspective. Do not grip the club and then turn the toe to 11 o’clock, as you’re just rotating your hands and not closing the face.

Setting the clubface in a closed position before gripping the club ensures a closed face throughout the swing, producing more solid contact and a ball flight that goes left. Also, once your shots start consistently curving to the left, you’ll adjust to your new ball flight and stop swinging from out to in. You’ll figure out that you have to make a downswing from inside the target line to get the ball starting right and drawing to your target.

Once you’ve honed the proper swing path, you can return the clubface to the 12 o’clock position before taking your grip. If your slice ever comes back, you’ll know how to fix it.

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