Slice is killing me!

[jamo]

  spmurph said:

Unfortunately, simply swinging "as far right as you can" will not guarantee a straight shot. You still have to get the club face square/closed in relation to the path you are swinging on.

Shanks knows that. He is assuming that the OP is hitting a pull slice, where the club is closed and the swing is out to in. Thus by making his swing in to out the face will already be closed and I guess Shanks is assuming the face will be square or open and with an in to out swing path it will result in a straight or push draw. Or something along those lines.

IMO too many assumptions being made. The OP says he has a push slice, if he does he either has the face a little open and an OTT swing or the face is really open and he is coming in to out. No way to know without video.

[saevel25]

Push slice is interesting, which can still be caused by an over the top swing if he didn't cut it as much and the clubface is so open that the angle is open to the target line. In such it will start right of the target line and cut right. The real test would be set the clubface closed at impact a bit more. Then take your swing, if the ball goes to a pull slice or a straight pull than you have an over the top swing. If it starts out a bit right and draws then you have a push slice.

[Shanks A Million]

  jamo said:

Shanks knows that. He is assuming that the OP is hitting a pull slice, where the club is closed and the swing is out to in. Thus by making his swing in to out the face will already be closed and I guess Shanks is assuming the face will be square or open and with an in to out swing path it will result in a straight or push draw. Or something along those lines.

Exactly. When have we seen someone come in here and complain of a slice that wasn't over the top? A push slice is rare. It's like someone going into a food forum and saying they eat nothing but foie gras, truffles, and caviar daily. There are a few people who might actually do it, but it's so rare that it should be cast aside as an anomaly.

Most slicers have a square or shut face, and face is so rarely a problem anyway. A true push slice would require the hands to be maybe 6-10° open. How many people do you know that could hold a club face that open? It's almost unheard of. The reason so few people can cure their slice is because they've been taught wrong. The face is not the problem, the path is. 99 times out of 100, if a slicer tries to hit the ball dead right, it actually goes straight. Most of the push slicers will be short women or elderly men with little athletic ability. Their flatter plane and often weaker wrists makes it just a bit more possible that they can push slice it.

[Pheasant Run]

First thing without seeing your swing, I can pretty much guarantee that your shaft is too stiff. A regular flex shaft helps with a slice. We all don’t have the extra cash to just go out and buy a new driver so I can tell you a couple of things that might help. First, align the body. Shoulders, hips, feet, make sure they are all parallel. Next, really work on taking the club head back as an extension of your chest. Throwing your hands back to quickly really makes one come “over the top” and that leads to really bad things. You hear the announcers on TV say “His swing was really compact there. He stayed connected all the way through.” These things are important for every club but critical with the driver. Lastly, make sure your hands are working in concert with each other. Too many times I see amateurs’ hands working against themselves leading to WICKED slices. Good luck and don’t be afraid to see a local PGA Professional for a lesson to help with what is a major amateur weakness.

[iacas]

Actually, if I had a thousand dollars to wager and could only pick one thing, I'd guess your weight is too far back at impact.

Second would be that your hands never get the depth they need to come from the inside.

[Shanks A Million]

  iacas said:

Actually, if I had a thousand dollars to wager and could only pick one thing, I'd guess your weight is too far back at impact.

Yes, the above post about shaft stiffness was a little strange. A 15 year old kid probably doesn't worry as much about having a shaft that's too stiff, especially with modern OEM shafts. Weight back, over the top, trying to lift the ball,

much more likely. I would say younger and more athletic people are more likely to slice the ball, as it's more natural.

[Ringer]

  wrx_junki said:

Keep your head behind the ball.

Very common problem, but also make sure the left hip gets AHEAD of the ball.

[enis750]

  delav said:

See, you've got the recipe all wrong. You need twenty percent luck, ten percent skill, five percent concentrated power of will. Fifteen percent pleasure, fifty percent pain, and one hundred percent reason to remember the name!

Fort Minor is soo good - Shinoda is god

nice quote!

[mobosecomin]

just a note on the push slice swing . im just over my slicing a few months and before i got it right i had a problem .i was swinging in to out and not over the top but still push slicing. i found out after it comes from holding off the release because if a over the top swinger releases properly its a missive hook.so the habbit of holding off builds up because its the only way of having a chance of hitting anything decent.

if its this thats holding you back you need to try some release drills and practice it comes eventually.

the real end of the slice for me was reading a digest article few months ago about slicing and it said drop the right shoulder down instead of popping it out and forward on the downswing(keeps you on the inside plane). this worked immediatly but was very inconsistant so i followed it up with some other drills and im hitting it great now.

the drills are as follows

30 balls concentrating on droping the right shoulder from the top of the back swing(best to use and iron because you might hit fat and exaggerate the drop.. dont worry about the fat ones)

20 balls keeping the right elbow close to you body (dont worry about miss hits)

then i proceed to to swing with the swing thought .. at the top weight on the back foot and then rotate hips open letting everything fall into place.. hey presto slice gone .. i find the most important part of this is the rotate hips open first before you make any arm or shoulder movements.your shoulder and arms will move naturaly when you do this and into a good position.

from range i have made me saying the word rotate in my head triger my hips rotating and my downswing starting .

this really works im after telling a few local guys about it and they are starting to get rid of their slice too. timing is probably the only thing holding them back but it comes after a few weeks im living proof

i dont think their is any secret or magic in this method but high handicapers should be told early and often to rotate open first from the lower body and then drop the right shoulder and arms into the shot. if you combine this with the swing though of weight back before rotating the hips good weight transfer comes naturally because you cant rotate your hips with you weight on you back foot.

thats my piece i wish i was as good at explaining it as i would be to demonstrate it.so if someone could describe what im on about here better or maybe some proper drills that would be great