Be gone, bad slice!

[schigara]

Hey guys. I found this site a few days ago and just registered today. I have been playing about five years and shooting in the low to mid nineties for the past year. All the while, I have been playing with and compensating for a bad slice.

I have never had any formal training. All of my training has been from friends who are decent players and video instruction from the internet.

Last night, I found a video on golf.com that not only said the usual, "a slice is caused by either an open club face and/or an out to in swing path" but the person also went into detail about how and why the face is open and, most importantly, how to know and feel where the clubface is in the back swing and fore swing. It seems very simple now and I can't believe I didn't realize it until seeing this. What he said was, "with a neutral grip and club face at address, your glove logo should point at the target and should point toward the sky at the top of the backswing."

After hearing this, I got up from the pc, grabbed the driver and took a back swing and noted the cupping in my front wrist. The back of my front hand was cupped and pointed at my face at the top of my back swing. I feel so stupid now because I knew the front hand controlled the club face but it just never sunk in to manage the angle of that wrist.

With this knowledge, I went to the range today and even though the heat index was 105, I got a large bucket to ensure that I could duplicate any positive results many times over. Well, after 3 hits, I started to actually feel my front wrist and started driving straight. In the past I have managed to achieve 230-250 yard balloon slices and occasionally would hit one straight to 270-280 yards. I was hitting them all straight and or with a bit of a draw because I have been compensating for my slice by using a closed face and a draw stance and swing.

I went through the entire big bucket hitting straight or draws and carrying 250+ with not even swinging hard! I went back and got another big bucket and started playing around with it. I picked a target just past the 250 marker and experimented hitting small fades and draws and then got fancy and began trying more pronounced fades and draws!. It was all of a sudden, easy. I couldn't believe my own eyes. I was sweating profusely and drank 4 poweraids but was having so much fun, I couldn't stop until I finished the second bucket.

I have had a pretty good short game for a while and have been able to post a 40 and a 42 on a 9 hole course and am going tomorrow to see what driving in the fairway can do for my score on that course.

Is it just me or have others realized the cure for their slice in this way?

David from Memphis

[daveh]

Congrats and good luck on the course.

Thanks for sharing that. Got a link to the vid?

[schigara]

Thanks, daveh

http://www.golf.com/golf/video/artic...618858,00.html

  daveh said:

Congrats and good luck on the course.

[Dr. Slice]

ill have to try that out.

[schigara]

Well I didn't get to play today. It was way to hot and I wasn't able to get to the course early. We are going to get to the course at 7am tomorrow when the temp should still be a chilly 82F. Hopefully I will still have the same swing as I had at the range. I'll report back around noon.

[senorchipotle]

  schigara said:

Well I didn't get to play today. It was way to hot and I wasn't able to get to the course early. We are going to get to the course at 7am tomorrow when the temp should still be a chilly 82F. Hopefully I will still have the same swing as I had at the range. I'll report back around noon.

hey, i walked 18 in 95 degree texas heat yesterday. no excuses.

[schigara]

  senorchipotle said:

hey, i walked 18 in 95 degree texas heat yesterday. no excuses.

You are a better man than I. I can handle the cold much easier than heat. I'm out on the course when it's 35 by myself but 95 is where I draw the heat stroke line.

[buddycris75]

  senorchipotle said:

hey, i walked 18 in 95 degree texas heat yesterday. no excuses.

tougher than i am. i played 18 in that heat yesterday and was worn out! and i rode a cart..........

[Zeph]

A golf shot is pretty easy to analyze. Ball goes right, clubface is open. It is true that an outside to inside swing will contribute to opening the clubface, but the swing path itself is not the culprit. The open clubface is the only thing that can make the ball go right. I've seen many slice fixes, most are talking about swing path and over the top. That's all good, but once you've learned the hands to open the clubface, just fixing the swing path may not fix the problem. You have to learn how to keep the clubface square. Opening it in the backswing or downswing with the wrists is what most struggle with.

A swing over the top with a square clubface will produce a fade.

[squaddie]

shigara, I'm glad your slice-fix was easy, with the right tip. My slice-fix took months to discover, since there were multiple issues with my swing contributing to the over-the-top motion (the slice was just one symptom). My problems were mostly in the downswing that was occurring with my longer clubs:

* rushing the downswing
* racing the turn of my hips too far ahead of my shoulder turn
* swaying left in the downswing
* thrusting my right-hip forward

Man my swing was a mess. It was difficult for my instructors to locate the problem since everything was getting out of wack so quickly in the downswing.

[schigara]

Just got back from playing 9 holes. It worked pretty well. Didn't help my score much though since my putting was horrible. I shot a 45 and hit 5 out of 7 fairways. I missed the first fairway because I duck hooked it. I kept my swing speed low and maintained a nice tempo. I was only driving around the 240 range but I'd rather be short and in the fairway.

The second fairway I missed was a draw on a tight fairway that went a bit too far left. The ball ended up being 175 from the hole with a group of trees blocking the shot. The pin was front left of the green. I pulled out the 6 iron and set up for a draw and hit it. It took off right of the trees and drew all the way back and landed on the left front corner of the green within 9 feet of the pin. Ofcourse, I missed the birdie and the par putt!

I gave up 6 shots to all the 3 putting I did! It never fails. I get some things working well and then something else falls apart.

[McGolf-Doggie]

And here another piece of instruction says 30 degrees cupped is ideal for a driver. Talk about seemingly confusing or conflicting advice.

http://www.golftoday.co.uk/proshop/tuition/lesson8.htm

vs.

http://www.golf.com/golf/video/artic...618858,00.html

I'm probably more inclined to go with Tim Mahoney of Troon Golf.

Either way, it's something I'll experiment with since my push and slice has crept back, and it's costing me bazillions of strokes with the driver.

I ended the day intentionally aiming well left to get it to go toward the flag.

What's going on with me is a smorgasbord of Push, Giant Fade, Slice, or Pull, with very few in the fairway right now. I've tried to tuck my right elbow in, experiment with grip, and with inside out swingpath, but nothing seems to be working.

The takeaway and backswing/wrist cup vs. flat isn't sometihing I've checked into much yet. That's next plus a check up with the Pro.

[skates]

This is some of the best advice i have ever gotten. Played 18 today, shot pretty well, worked very well on the irons and pretty good for the driver. Had a couple of sliced shots but overall it really worked
thanks for sharing

[patz0r]

Glad I came across this thread. I have been struggling with some occasional slicing again after almost eliminating it from my swing. I just checked my backswing and noticed that my left wrist was extrememly cupped at the top of my swing. I think I am having trouble consistently un-cupping it by the time I get to impact which leads to inconsistent results. I will try keeping my left wrist more flat on the backswing next time I hit some balls.

[Williamevanl]

I'm glad things are coming together for you schigara but be on the lookout. The strangest thing about the golf swing is that it can be here one day and gone the next.

I've had a similar experience with my swing where everything comes together especially with shaping shots but its elusive. In february I went out on a year round golf course as soon as the snow melted and just hit ball after ball on a par three. I was able to hit fades,draws hooks and slices to a 165 yard par three on demand and almost everything was finding the green. It all seemed too easy. Days later I couldn't even get on with a straight shot.

Golf is streaky for the longest time especially in the beginning. It seems as soon as you wrinkle out one flaw another creeps in to take its place.

[schigara]

Very true. The best round of 18 I ever shot was an 81 and I thought wow, I finally have a handle on this game. Everything was working fairly well that day. The next weekend, I shot a 109 at the same course.

  Williamevanl said:

I'm glad things are coming together for you schigara but be on the lookout. The strangest thing about the golf swing is that it can be here one day and gone the next.

[alf174]

Good thread, I also realized I was cupping my left wrist slightly.

[rothkin]

Congrats on fixing your slice and having immediate success with your new technique. The swing your describing is exactly like Dustin Johnson's (except he has a very strong grip) who can hit the ball a mile. during a clinic he used this technique to hit his driver 324 carry.