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Posted 18 April 2009 - 12:58 PM
The Slice is the curse of the beginner. You keep losing balls in the woods and they become your 6 and 7's on your score card. So if you are having a problem with the ball going right on you most of the time, your first correction is to always aim down the very far left side of the fairway and just let it come back. Now you aim down the middle and end up in the right rough with no shot. Aim down the far left and end up on the far right fairway with a shot. Slowly as you straighten out your slice, adjust your aim more towards the middle of the fairway. I never want to actually aim down the middle. I want to aim down the right side and draw back, or aim down the left a fade back to middle. This gives me 2/3'rds of the fairway to hit, aiming down the middle, only gives he half to hit, or 50%. That was the Nicklaus concept and he won more majors doing it than anyone else.
Your Slice must go because it robs you of distance and accuracy.
Playing golf with a slice, an uncontrollable shot that curves left to right, is something many golfers think they have to live with and accept. This is not true--even if you've been a chronic slicer for years. In fact with a little time, dedication, and effort, you can learn to stop hitting stray, bending shots. Once you do, you'll start hitting the ball more consistently, have added distance, and achieve better control. Before long, the game will be more enjoyable. The following is a list of quick fixes to help you hit straighter, more consistent shots.
I would begin by learning how a slice happens, then learn to simply over correct it. Yes, learn how to hook the ball and even almost duck hook it, which is the opposite of a slice. Play the ball a little farther back in your stance. Bring the club not straight back, but inside and hit out to the right some instead of down the line. Learn to close the face at impact, drive the back of the left hand into the shot and then roll the wrists over throught impact. Once you begin to bend the ball left at will, you simply take it off little by little until you are now hitting it straigtht.
1. Think "Topspin" and "Thumbs Up"
Watching tennis can help your golf game. All good tennis players apply topspin to their shots by releasing or turning over their racket when they hit the ball. In golf, the move is similar only it's made with a club in your hand. Allowing for the release of the hands is critical to maximizing your potential and reducing slices. You see the baseball batters roll over at impact also. The next time you're practicing, take a club and swing it. As you pass the impact position, think of the right hand reaching out in front on the follow through with your thumps pointing upward. This shows that the wrists rolled properly and that the club was released. Now you are blocking the ball with the club face open, rolling the wrists, closes it.
2. Strengthen Your Grip
Chronic slicers have trouble getting their hands rotated through impact. Start by gripping the club in the fingers rather than the palm of your hand. At address, make sure you are able to see two or three knuckles of the left hand. This "strengthening" of the grip allows the hands to work actively. Squeeze a rubber ball and spring hand grips. Hang on tight with your left fingers on the club and let your right be snug but loose and it just rides along until it explodes into the ball at impact rolling over on top of the left.
3. Pull the Rope
Most slicers cut across the ball on the downswing--they take the club back to the outside on the backswing and cross their plane (imaginary line) to the inside on the downswing. This is what produces a slice. To understand the correct swing path or downswing motion, picture a rope attached to a tree above you. Now, imagine yourself pulling that rope straight down. Take that thought with you to the driving range and try to pull your club straight down when starting the downswing. This also forces the right elbow to stay close to your side--a key to not crossing the line. Doing this gives you the correct inside path and a better ability to swing out toward the target. You have to reverse this bringing the club now inside coming back and hitting more out to right center field, instead of cutting across the ball over into left field.
4. Start Back to the Inside
Imagine the line of your swing on the ground as it goes back and through toward the target. Place a range basket, or something else you don't want to break, on the ground a couple of feet behind the ball and slightly inside the intended target line. Using this drill forces you to swing from the inside out toward the target--the proper way! You have to regroove your swing plane into something new. This will not be easy because you have probably spent years gooving it into the wrong outside plane.
5. Shoulders Right to Hit Left
Most players aim farther and farther to the left to accommodate their slice. This only makes matters worse by opening the shoulders. Your swing plane tends to follow your shoulders. If they are open, your odds of cutting across the ball increase. Try just the opposite. Aim the shoulders as far to the right as possible at address. This forces the swing to stay on the proper path. Stand up to the ball with both toes parallel to down the middle of center field, then drop your right foot back a little going into a hook stance. Open your left toe up a little left which allows you to clear your left side better.
6. Swing around Your Spine
The best way to eliminate the typical slice, one that is caused by a reverse pivot or sway motion, is to swing around your spine and finish around and to the left. Use "x-ray vision," meaning to picture your spine staying in a near-perpendicular angle to the ground at all times during the swing. Now, just swing around the center of it! Make a tighter shoulder coil, feel that left arm get deeper under your chin and the turn becomes longer and tighter which adds power.
These tips work best if they're combined with each other. For instance, achieving the proper swing path won't stop you from hitting to the right if you don't use your hands properly as well.
You may be loafing into the ball or not completing the swing. After a good shoulder coil, fire, drive your legs and knees into the shot hard and let the hands just drop naturally using gravity, then when they are in the hitting position whip them through the ball.
Practice each strategy separately in the beginning and then combine them. You'll soon be saying goodbye to your slice--forever!
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