What swing flaw would you like to eliminate from your golf game? If you’re like most golfers, you’d probably want to eliminate your slice. Slicing pumps up your scores and your golf handicap. Fact is – the game’s no fun when you slice.
Eliminating your slice is difficult. Some slicers try for years to eliminate this flaw unsuccessfully. Others try to play with a slice as best they can. That approach works. But it makes breaking 80 that much tougher. So ideally you want to cure or completely eliminate your slice.
Usually, slicers fall into one of two categories: If your ball starts to the left, then curves right, you’re a pull-slicer. If your ball starts right and bends farther right, you’re a push slicer. Despite their differences, both types stem from the same mistake: an open clubface at impact.
So how do you eliminate this problem? First, you determine what type of slicer you are. Then, you apply the right golf tips to fix the slice. Below are some hints that will help you determine what type of slicer you are and how to deep-six this swing flaw:
- Pull-slicer: Shoulders aimed left — This type of slicer is probably the most common out there. Seeing their balls start left then go right, these slicers aim their shoulders left to make up for the curved flight. But the more your try to compensate for your slice, the worse it gets. That’s because you’re steepening your swing. You’re this type of slicer if you find yourself chunk shots and taking deep divots.
The Fix: You can fix this type of slice by doing two things: First, learn how to square your clubface. To do that, turn your clubface into the ball a bit. It will feel odd, but this move helps. Second, aim your shoulders to the right of the target and position the ball back in your stance a bit. Making these moves helps you swing on the proper inside path with a square clubface. The result: longer, straighter shots.
- Push-slicer: Weight falls right — This type of slice is harder to play with than the first type. Your ball starts right from the start, then just keeps going right. More often than not you miss the fairway altogether. If you’re a push-slicer, you probably start the club away with a shut clubface. That’s a clubface where there’s no rotation into the ball. The sets up the deadly reverse pivot, with your body tilting left as you go back and then right as you come into the ball. You’re this type of slicer if you hardly ever take a divot with your irons and hit a lot of thin shots off the tee.
The Fix: You can fix this type of slice by using a more circular swing path instead of the straight back and straight through one you usually use. A good way to ingrain this swing path is to hit balls from a side-hill lie, with the ball slightly above your feet. (If you’re going to do this, though, make sure the side-hill lie isn’t too steep.) The hill’s angle forces you to swing around your body more on an inside–square-inside path, which is ideal. If fail to do this, you’ll drive your clubface into the ground. This exercise also encourages the proper face rotation through impact.
Another way you can cure your slice is by taking a normal address position. Then, swing the clubhead along an 8 o’clock-to-2 o’clock swing path through the impact zone, with the target set straight ahead at the 12 o’clock position. You can also use alignment rods positioned on the ground to guide you through the right swing path during practice.
Fixing our slice is mandatory if you’re going to break 80. It’s just too difficult to do that if you don’t. So determine what type of slicer you are first. Then apply the golf tips discussed above. Fix your slice and you’ll not only hit longer and straighter shots, you’ll also cut strokes from your scores and your golf handicap.
