slice question

I've been taken lessons, chipping, putting, and driver. I've been working on it all. My question, i haven't been able to get rid of my slice from my driver, should i look into that new r9 driver? I've gone from low 100s to low 90s. But i still struggle with driver, trying to keep it in play. I put to much pressure on my 2nd shot, because i must recover from my driver. I play with a stiff shaft g10, any thought on looking towards the r9 for me?

Do you slice your other clubs?

If not, I'd bet it's swinging too hard. Hands can't catch up and face is open. Tone back the swing some and get a good tempo, you'll be surprised how far the ball goes. my swing thought with driver is 70%. Swing 70% of what i can and I still have a 100+ MPH swing that is smooth and controlled

couple things.

1.you could be swinging to hard.. trying to get the best 2nd shot available
2.most likley coming over the top hard in your swing so try to take the club back more inside in your backswing then feel like you push out to the right in your follow through.
3. you might not be getting your wrists through. thats what occurs when I slice my driver occasionaly. but im a natural drawing so its not often.

There are some pretty good tips in this thread:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24623

Also, try choking down 1 to 2 inches. You'll probably lose a little distance, but shorter on the fairway is better than longer in the pond.

Remember there are dozens of reasons people slice the ball, so we could give you tips all day, but without seeing your swing and your faults......it is unlikely we can actually pin point the problem.

You only need to know this. The cause of EVERY slice is this: the club face is open in relation to the swing plane.

There have been a couple great suggestions already on this post and I will give the main reasons most people slice the ball:

1.) Almost 100% - Coming over the top
Your first move from the top with the hands should be downward, not at all forward. I can almost guarantee you are doing this, but you can have this move and still play GREAT golf. It all depends on your alignment and club face through the ball. If you align your body for a cut or fade and come slightly over the top, but still roatate your wrists throught the shot properly....you will play a nice controlled cut (Holmes, Trevino, Stricker)

2.) 75% - Leaving clubface open through impact.
Even if you have a proper swing plane, but you leave your clubface open through impact and into the follow through, the ball will move left to right (depending on how much the face is open). REMEMBER THIS TIP: Halfway back your left hand should be like you are shaking hands with someone behind you and half through the follow through your right hand should be like you are shaking hands with someone in front of you. If you do this you are releasing properly and the clubface is closing.

3.) 75% - Body getting too far ahead of arms and club
This is what the first post was referring to. If you try and swing too hard you will through your body open too fast and your club just cannot catch up and the face is open at impact and the ball will go right every time. If you will slow the swing speed and make solid contact and give the club a chance to catch up......you will be very surprised how far the ball will go......even swinging easy.

Try a stronger grip.
Try a flatter left wrist at the top of the backswing.
Try feeling like your driving your right elbow into your right hip.

The list goes on.

Let's narrow the slice down. What kind of slice is it? Pull/Slice, Straigh/Slice, or Push/Slice? This will give you a better idea of what is happening.

Don't buy a new driver. I had a bad slice with my first driver (10.5 degree, regular flex) and thought I should replace it. So I bought 2 other drivers, one a stiff flex and even a 13* square-headed driver (which is supposed to help reduce the slice spin) but the slicing problem didn't go away. There's a fundamental issue (one or more) with your swing that is causing the problem. However, it's going to take some more research on your part (or from instructors) to find out what the issues are. I think my problem was letting my hips outrace my arms, which was a timing and tempo problem on the downswing. I believe that's similar to one possible slice-cause mentioned by bsettle below (the third one). The instructor noticed my hips-racing problem when I came to them about issues fading with my long hybrids. Probably better to start down with a shorter club where the slice first appears (woods, long-irons) and then see if you can find the swing issue or perhaps an instructor can also observe the problem better with a shorter club. I've been making progress minimizing the slice by watching a few specific Shawn Clement youtube videos, but the videos are not specifically anti-slice related, more about the swing fundamentals. Now I either pull the drive with the 10.5 degree driver or hit it straight, so I still have some work to do, but I am no longer slicing with the driver.

I will second the notion of swinging too hard since you say the Driver is giving you the trouble. I'm at a place where the 'easier' I swing, the farther my driver goes. Focus on soild contact. A hit on the sweet spot gives you a 1.5 muliplier on your ball speed. Swinging like hell and hitting it on the heel, toe, high, low or whatever will cost you a lot of distance. Also, when you try to swing 'hard' you can often grip it too hard slowing down your hands, or just getting the grip and hands to move faster, but actually slowing down the head of the club -

I've said this in a lot of my posts, but using a weighted driver to practice with and warm up with prior to a round has all but eliminated my slice off the tee. For me its all about tempo, which keeps me on plane and from coming over the top and trying to 'hit' the ball as hard as I can. there are few better feelings than swinging in a smooth controlled manner and just seeing the ball explode down the fairway - feels like a magic trick to me after all those months of swinging at it as hard as i could and seeing a 210 yard slice end up in trouble and 50 yards behind the rest of my group