Fix my slice

Ok, Ive got a problem with my golf swing. I slice the ball so hard, I cant even play narrow fairways anymore. My dads tried to teach me a few things, but Im left-handed, so none of them have helped. Any suggestions? Something I should practice?

ok.. i'll take a stab at this one. Dont practice anything. Heresy, I know. But hear me out. I started out as a big sliceer. then I finally figured out how to draw the ball on the range, but still would often end up reverting to slicing when I actually was playing, especially when the fairways got tight. I finally got a system that seemed to help me in that situation. First of all, and most importantly, if I was fading, or slicing, I would accept that ball flight as 'my shot', not try to fight it, allow for it, and pick a target way left (way right in your case), out in the distance. Usually it was a tree, or something else real big. Then I would approach the ball starting from a few paces behind it, after looking at the target I picked, blocking everything else in the world out, walking up briskly, with this target held in mind, "walk around it" as they say (in your case that would be counter clockwise) so that I ended up walking in towards the ball at a ninety degree angle to that target line I established. This all happened very quickly.. Then I would ** quickly ** hit a hard slice, right at that target I picked. I did it all quickly, before the target evaporated in my mind. Since I gave myself plenty of fairway, this method usually relaxed me so the cut wasn't tremendously bad.

Ok, to this approach (you could call it my "routine) I added 3 thoughts to control the severity of the fade.. but only used them if it still was too harsh. Otherwise i would be satisfied with a hard cut as "my shot" -- hey it worked for Fred Couples for several decades just fine. Here they are: Thought 1.. turn away **fully** and complete the backswing (most beginners are afraid to turn away completely, esp on tight holes.. this ends up causing a slice). Thought 2.. keep the head behind the ball at impact (moving the head forward before the hit also causes a slice) Thought 3... remember to hit it real hard, that is *smash it* at that target you picked These thoughts would usually serve to stabilize the hard fade. Sometimes (often) I would find that my shots started straightening out while playin when doing the above procedure. In that case I just establish the new target accordingly. It might take a few holes to start to feel something reliable emerging. I usually would try to keep the fade as opposed to changing to a draw mid round. A firm left hand grip and thinking "hard cut" would usually insure that. But if I started drawing and felt like that was my new shape, I wouldn't fight it too hard either. Even though now my normal shot is a draw, I don't believe in forcing a pattern.. they both (draws/ fades) work just fine, and you can play scratch golf with either one.. so why struggle with trying to control that (esp. when you're starting out, or you don't play that much). here's an interesting bit of info on the topic.. do you know the ball flight Jason Zuback preferred in all his years dominating the Long Drive circuit? Hint: its wasn't a draw. So if you're a fader than fade away..youre in great company.. Nicklaus, Hogan, Couples, Lyle.. The one other bit of wisdom I can impart is this. Golf is filled with things that make us tense, that we have to overcome. Sometimes we never do, unfortunately. For a beginner that kind of fear causing tension usually results in a slice. The two fear biggies for begginners I think are the fear of turning away fully, and the other is the fear of turning through fully. And I think the underlying fear is getting everything (body, clubhead, hands, etc.) too far away from the ball. But you have to do that in order to *swing*. So there you have it. Its all about different kinds of fears. Hope something was helpful. -- Jerry

What is your ball flight like? A big banana slice, small fade off to the left etc.?



I recommend trying to fix it, not trying to live with it, but that's up to you. A small tip: Put in the correct handicap to your profile. Knowing a players handicap makes it easier to find the right approach. If you don't know it, just make an educated guess. If you shoot in the 100s, put 36.

The biggest thing that fixed my slice was reducing the grip pressure on my left hand (I'm a righty).

I had a bad slice when I first got back into golfing. Took a few years break from the game to concentrate on other stuff, but I'm back now and loving it more than ever. When I got my new clubs and hit the course for the first time my slice looked like horseshoe, I could've threw a boomerang straighter than I could hit a golf ball. But now it's getting back to the satisfactory medium for my personal liking. I've never took lessons or played with anyone that's a really really good golfer, I just tried to do the most research on slice swings that I could. The two biggest things that helped my slice was this: 1-Loosen up your left hand grip(your right since you're a lefty) and 2- Rotate your hands just a little to the right(The left since you're a lefty). Usually with a slice you're contacting the ball with an open face, thus putting the wrong spin and creating turbulence as it soars the the air causing it to fly the wrong way. So you're probably not getting your hands/wrists around in time to close the face. Try hitting the range when you get a chance. Take 1/4 swings then 1/2 swings then 3/4 swings etc... Pay attention to the swings individually, If you feel as if you made mistake then go back to the former. You also have to decide whether it's your driver, irons, woods, etc that's slicing the worst. Once you figure your swing out your game will improve dramatically. And a wise player once told me: When you know your clubs you know your game. Hope this and the other info on here helps! Alot of good players on here and alot of great tips!!

It's possible in your follow-through you are coming up too shallow and to the right (as a lefty), a path that makes it tough to close the clubface. Turning too shallow in the follow-through will counter the arms turning of the hands and club-face, which keeps the club slightly more open through impact.

Check your swingpath on your follow through, preferably on video. Ideally your arms should be turning more down the target line, and you should see the club head coming up through your right shoulder. I was having push-cut and fading problems recently and from video analysis my instructor found my follow-through was too shallow. Swinging more down the line and following through steeper helped me to minimize the unintentional fade and push-cut.

I've been struggling with a slice in recent weeks, I think I sorted it out at the range yesterday. I'd gone to a stronger grip (Top hand turned in more). Yesterday I went back to a more neutral grip but I separated the index finger on my bottom hand (My right hand, your left) so that it became like a hook around the grip which seemed to help a lot. I went back to the nice draw I prefer to hit.

I also went back to basics and hit punch, and small pitch shots before eventually moving back up to full shots. Most importantly though, I spent a while just checking my alignment (Feet, hips and shoulders) to see that I was square. Turned out my hips were about 20-30˚ open.

When in doubt go back to the basics of grip, alignment, then pitch, punch and full.

Good luck.

It's hard to diagnose the problem fully without seeing your swing. The only piece of advice I would give is don't go for the 'quick fix' advice that people will give you. The quick fix will fail you within a few weeks and you'll be stuck looking for another. After you've tried 3 or 4 quick fixes on top of each other, your frustration level will peak. Take the suggestions above, and work on getting the club inside. If you can't seem to figure out what's going on that's keeping you from doing that, post a video. There are a lot of good players on here that can help you get this in check.