Why to people put up with a slice?

[Dub]

If taking lessons is all it would take to fix a problem we would all be on tour!! Your not a scratch golfer so what is the problem? Not enough lessons.

Me...a scratch golfer.........that's pretty funny. No...I'm just your average bogey golfer who really enjoys the game. I suppose my limitations are largely due to my bad knees.

I'm also not going to hold the entire course hostage while I cut ball after ball into the right woods....for an entire round. The other thing that was frustrating about this round was that I had my young son along. He's just getting into the game and I'm trying to engrain efficient habits and the importance of maintaining the pace of play. Even with him taking his time and hitting the occasional whiff and re-tee....these guys were bogging him down. I should have simply advanced to the next hole.

[Dr_Fu_Manchu]

Honestly, I have just been hitting my 3wood off the tee lately..Until I can afford a lesson to help correct my Slice with my Driver.

Oddly enough, my driver, which can get away from me time to time, is better than my 3 wood. My 3 wood hasn't seen daylight in a year because I slice the hell out of it. As a result it hurts my game because there are times I could use the distance but have to pull out a 2 hybrid instead.

Why is that people think the 3 wood is easier to hit? It certainly isn't the case for me.

[Cussin hacker]

Me...a scratch golfer.........that's pretty funny. No...I'm just your average bogey golfer who really enjoys the game. I suppose my limitations are largely due to my bad knees.

Slow players do get on my nerves. Of course they should have let you played through.

[Fat Slice]

Virtually any pro can fix a slice with virtually any student in one or two lessons with ease.

I don't think so.

[mrserv0n18]

Took me over a year of hard practice to learn to drive properly and I still slice a few times around and have had over 10 lessons, so its not as easy to fix as you seem to remember. I go to the range 3-4 times a week and golf twice a week, its my #1 hobby and im still a bogey golfer

[iWALK18]

I understand what the poster is saying. If someone is consistently playing with a massive slice, the game is not as fun as it could be. Some small study and or thought about the swing would allow anyone to at least get closer to straight, and it does seem like the game is more enjoyable when you can take a more direct line at your target than the 45* banana ball takes.

[Titleistgolf16]

A slice is not always easy to fix. I slice the ball with my 3 wood on a short par 4 we have a my home course. Its not easy to fix but I know I have it so I aim left and the slice put it in the fairway most of the time. iWalk18 is agree that the game is more fun when you hit it straight. They should have let you through though.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Why don't slicers just fix their slice?
Why don't fat people just lose weight?
Why don't smokers just quit smoking?

All equally clueless statements. Once a habit is ingrained, it can be incredibly hard to change. This is true for all areas of life (not just golf.) Can they be changed? Yes, but people that act as though it is as easy as flipping a light switch (even though for a handful of people it does come that easy) simply don't know what they are talking about.

[iWALK18]

Why don't slicers just fix their slice?

We aren't saying "Just step up and decide to miraculously hit the ball straight".

Nobody is saying its automatic. BUT, to play for years with an uncontrollable, distance sucking, enjoyment wrecking slice seems pretty counter intuitive to those of us who have been through the relatively painless and rewarding process of eliminating it. And we're not talking about the occasional slice shot, we're talking about consistently aiming into the woods on the left and bending it all the way back into the woods on the right. And the excuse that its a "habit" is ridiculous. You can choose to swing a different way. Continuing to compensate for and still commit an egregious swing flaw is a choice. And anyone can choose to change. If you don't believe that then you do not give yourself enough credit. And it doesn't take a lifestyle change like weight loss or quitting smoking. Those things are both significantly more difficult to fix.

[Dub]

We aren't saying "Just step up and decide to miraculously hit the ball straight".

Perfectly stated. You just captured what I was trying to get accross. I could see the frustration that one of the guys in the 4some displayed... he'd set up very carefully and take a couple of practice swings...step forward to the ball and swing....hard right it went...every time. Often he'd stomp his foot and slap his club on the ground....obviouly pained by the event. Maybe he had some ailment that prevented him from getting through the ball. I can certainly understand that. It just struck me at the time that they couldn't be satisfied with their results. Happy to be golfing....sure....but getting frustrated searching among the roots of the "Far Right Woods" on every freaking hole.....no joy there. I was not trying to make fun of anyone or to ridiculously suggest that my game is better.....simply that with a small amount of work, many, if not most hackers could find more fairways...if they wanted to. The second point was why "fix" a slice with a driver but yet slice your other clubs, too. Keep in mind that this is coming from a guy who used to game a grossly offset driver and fairway woods. I tried to buy my way out of it until a buddy took me off to the side during a crappy round (my teachable moment) and pointed out to me how difficult I was making it on myself. He suggested a few things to try at the range afterwards. I tried but didn't trust. This was one week prior to our leagues monthly tournament. I went to a local pro the next day....no prior knowledge of the guy....I just showed up and said, "I need help....I really need help......I suck and I'm tired of it......help me stop slicing". We walked out to the range and he watched me warm up with my 7 iron and then hit some drives. He walked up and smiled. "Let's get things started off by showing you how to hit a hook". I laughed out loud...me hitting hooks was about the most improbable event imaginable. Guess what....in minutes I was hitting ridiculously hooking balls with reckless abandon. He offered a few more pointers and backed away to smoke another cigarette. I hit my first ever controlled draw with my driver and looked back at him grinning...smoking....said, "Feels pretty good, doesn't it?". I kept at it, pounding my way through another two buckets of balls. He cheked in with me over the next 90 mins....I suppose when he wanted a smoke break away from the clubhouse. I put in another range session later in the week and then played in the monthly league tourney, which was based on your hcp. The draws I was hitting on the range didn't hold up under the pressure of my tourney round....I was antsy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs......but a nice controlled fade hung around the entire day. I shocked the guys in my group and the other groups that saw us. I won outright by a large margin. It was the most gratifying golfing accomplishment I've had. I went back to the pro the next afternoon (Bradford Creek Golf Club, Greenville, NC) to show him my trophy and shake his hand.....only to be told he no longer worked there and they didn't know where to find him. I left feeling very odd.....nervous....what if I lost it..... I sure would like to check in with that wizard once more.....for a tune up lesson....only I'm scared he may say between drawing on that ever-present cigarette...."Fella what you need to do is take two weeks off.....and then quit altogether".

[Chas]

Someone who doesn't play or practice often and takes few if any lessons is unlikely to cure a slice, not on the course anyway. But what I find surprising is the golfer who seems to enjoy the game and plays fairly often, yet has such a consistent slice that he compensates by aiming well to the left. Such a person has clearly given up on the unequal struggle and has just accepted his golfing fate.

I've played a few times with someone like this. He's quite athletic and hits the ball fairly crisply and consistently in length, but his divots always tell the same story - as his regular partner likes to point out to his annoyance. He's a whizz at short dog-leg rights but otherwise he struggles. Seems a shame not to invest the time to correct it, the guy has a lot of potential. He says he'll do it some day - if I were him I'd be highly motivated.

[dansensel]

Someone who doesn't play or practice often and takes few if any lessons is unlikely to cure a slice, not on the course anyway. But what I find surprising is the golfer who seems to enjoy the game and plays fairly often, yet has such a consistent slice that he compensates by aiming well to the left. Such a person has clearly given up on the unequal struggle and has just accepted his golfing fate.

I practice often, I play often, I have had multiple lessons. I cannot stop slicing. It is mostly mental, and yes it is a habit. I have lost weight, I have quit smoking. Both have been easier for me than losing the slice. the sad thing is that if I could cure the slice by gaining 30 pounds and smoking pack a day, I would be hitting a ton of fairways.

[shortstop20]

Generalising a little are we here? For some it may be that easy, but it is not for most. Taking a lesson is one thing, but no instructor is the same as the other and no player is the same. To cure a slice you need to make the change, not only let the instructor point it out.

Tiger's miss is not a slice. When you hear them say, "He lost it out to the right" they mean he blocked it out to the right. As in it went off to the right but in a straight line, that is the better player's miss. Much harder to fix than a slice which is nothing more than an open clubface at impact.

[meenman]

I would kill to have a slice right now.

I just hook it hard left now and it wont go away.

[Cussin hacker]

Ok Dub I see your point, But your still saying nearly everyone can fix a slice with lessons and practice. Thats just not the case. I fixed my slice, at least 95% of it, years ago with a lot of range time by myself. I don't expect everyone to be able to do that though. Some of the slicers here may be exellent at spelling and grammer, but you could teach me to death and it ain't ever going to happen.

[Fat Slice]

We aren't saying "Just step up and decide to miraculously hit the ball straight".

(OP): Virtually any pro can fix a slice with virtually any student in one or two lessons with ease.

[HytrewQasdfg]

I practice often, I play often, I have had multiple lessons. I cannot stop slicing. It is mostly mental, and yes it is a habit. I have lost weight, I have quit smoking. Both have been easier for me than losing the slice. the sad thing is that if I could cure the slice by gaining 30 pounds and smoking pack a day, I would be hitting a ton of fairways.

Which was my point. You can't just look at someone on the course slicing and say "Why don't they take some lessons and cure their slice?" Maybe they have taken lessons and been unable to cure their slice. You don't know.

What is easy for some people is hard for other. When I was a child (8), I sat down at a cousins's drum set and started playing (literally playing along to a record.) For me playing the drums was as natural and easy as walking. My cousin never quite mastered the drums despite taking a ton of lessons. People are different. You can't assume that because lessons helped you and your friends cure your slice that they would cure everyone's slice.

[dansensel]

nothing more than an open clubface at impact.

Just an open clubface caused by multiple variables in the swing, some of which take considerable effort to correct.