Correcting a Golf Slice

By Lawrence Bredenkamp

Correcting a golf slice can be a very frustrating experience.

A golf slice is probably the most common problem that new golfers are faced with and the more they try to correct the golf slice the worse it becomes.

Golf is a game of opposites and this is foreign to most people. What do I mean by a game of opposites? In golf if you want to hit the ball high you need to hit down on it, if you want the ball to go left you need to hit it to the right.

When a person first plays the game he is likely to find that he is hitting a slice (some 71% of people have this problem) and in his efforts at correcting the golf slice he will try and do the natural thing, which is to hit it left. But in golf this is the wrong thing to do as he should be trying to hit it out to the right.

Let me explain:

There are only two things that cause a golf ball to slice. The first is the swing path of the club, which must be from outside to in, and the second is the clubface angle at impact.

The swing path is defined as "the direction the club head moves, through impact, in relation to the ball to target line".

Clubface angle is defined as "the angle of the leading edge of the club head, at impact, in relation to the ball to target line".

You can see this for yourself by drawing a line through the ball to the target (ball to target line) and placing your club behind the ball on the ball to target line. Now turn the clubface in a clockwise direction. Your clubface is now open.

Assume the side of the line on which you are standing is below the line and the other side is above the line. Take the club away in the following manner. Start your takeaway and downswing so that they are above the line but as they reach the line follow through below the line. Effectively cutting across the imaginary line. To get a slice this is how you would have to strike the ball through impact. So for correcting a golf slice you need to at least square up the clubface at impact. If you did this without changing your swing path your shot would change to a fade. If on the other hand you over corrected and closed your clubface at the point of impact the result would be an ugly pull shot.

There is nothing wrong with a fade and a lot of tour players use it as their preferred shot. When played correctly a fade lands softly without too much roll because of the spin being in the opposite direction to which the ball is going. This is a bit like backspin in tennis where the ball dies quite quickly.

Whilst a fade is a very useful shot to be able to play most golfers prefer to play a draw. There are a number of reasons for this but the main two are distance and control.

So in correcting a golf slice you need to know what is causing an out to in swing path and an open clubface through impact.

The open clubface is usually caused by a weak grip. To strengthen your grip try turning both your hands clockwise. Adjust until, on a slow motion practice swing, the club face comes back to square at impact. As stated before if you just do this your shot will turn into a very manageable fade.

To change the swing path from outside to in to inside to out try the following. Again do this in slow motion with your ball through target line in place.

Address the ball as normal and then raise the club about 18 inches above the ground. Start your backswing and return the club to the ball. This will force your hands to come inside. A sort of Back, under - Back, under drill. Repeat often until you are comfortable with it and then actually start striking the ball.

I hope that the above information has been of some help and that it will help you in correcting your golf slice.

As a qualified golf coach I get great pleasure in helping people improve their game. If an uncontrollable slice is one of your problems and you found this article helpful then you will find more help and a permanent solution on my website. But please remember that no amount of coaching or lessons will help you if you are not prepared to put in a little bit of practice.

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