Chronic Slicer....needs advice

[NOVAGOLFER87]

Sorry no photos of my swing yet, will work on that later. I just joined the goup this evening and this is my first post so please pardon any faux pas.

I have a terrible slice that can carry my drives 60+ yards to the right. It is not uncommon for my tee shots to start over the adjoining fairway (to the left) and end up in the rough to the right on mine. It is even evident down to my 8 and 9 irons. I have found a few things that i can do to staighten my drives out but they are all the "wrong" thing to do and i dont want to build bad habits into my swing.

I know that i open my club face at the top of my backswing and then try to correct through my downswing; generally resulting in an erratic swing path and a short shot that breaks hard to the right about 75% through its flight. Any tips for keeping my clubface square through my backswing?

[threejack]

i used to be a terrible slicer. my problem was i was hitting at the ball. my slice is gone and i now hit the ball better, further, higher than I've ever hit it because i found out how to use my shoulders. honestly try leaning over a little more at the waist, firm up your wrists and arms just a little and try to imagine your arms hands and club face all turning around your center axis concentrically. your wrists and hands should feel like they're doing nothing. just use those shoulders and make sure you turn them through. the hands will follow. it will also increase your club head speed. imagine a pencil with a boom coming out from it. if you spin the pencil in between your thumb and index the outer end of that boom would be traveling a lot faster to keep up with the rate the pencil is spinning. this concept really helped my swing... its kind of like effortless power.

[NOVAGOLFER87]

Thanks Three Jack. I have noticed that i tend to get better results (both straighter and longer) when do something similar to what you are describing. I will try to completely ignore my hands and arms after reaching the top of my backswing, and then try to hit the ball by swinging the club with my hips and core. I was not mentally focusing on my shoulders which might be why i get poor accuracy when swinging that way, I always seem to remember to swing that way about 4/5 of the way through the bucket of balls though!

[threejack]

ya man see if it helps. it has made me so much better in the last month. when i swing i honestly ignore everything but my shoulders. everything else seems to fall into place naturally from my baseball background but definitely try and just rotating around your sternum for a few swings. it'll become natural and then you can really crank it

[NOVAGOLFER87]

That makes total sense. I'll give it a try this evening.

[broombroom]

A slice is caused by swinging on an out to in path across your target line.  This can be caused by a few things mainly stemmed from bad basics.  You should make sure that your grip is not too weak, your vs should point at a 1 oclock position.  You also want to make sure that your alignment is correct if you have an open stance you are setting up for a slice.  If they are all good then the best drill to fix your out to in swing is to set a head cover in front of the ball by about an inch.  Hit the balll without hitting the headcover this will force you to swing on an in to in path or even an in to out swing path. you may be taking the club away too steeply, on an outside take away or most likely coming over the top with your shoulder because you are starting your downswing with your upper body rather than your lower body.

[rustyredcab]

Watch yourself on video. You need not share it with anyone. Get a down the line shot and see if you are getting to a good position at the top of your backswing. Then carefully watch your first move in the downswing. Likely it is outside -- or "over the top" of the swing line. Do a swing on video where you do everything very slowly. You'll see where things are not where you want.

What we feel we are doing is usually not what we are actually doing. You will save a lot of time with a simple video.

As said earlier -- make sure your setup and grip are correct. If they are off, you'll just add errors on errors trying to make the ball fly straight.

As for path drills, put a water battle about two feet behind the ball on the target line. In order to avoid the bottle, the club must come inside the bottle. Go ahead and hit some hooks to get the feeling. Learn to feel that inside to outside swing. Do it is slow motion for a while.

As a beginner, you may feel that you need that big full backswing like Bubba Watson. You do not. Learn what feels like a 3/4 swing (video may show you it is close to a full swing). Everything gets a little easier with a 3/4 backswing. Trust me, you will not lose distance because you you hit the ball better. Length comes more from good contact than from swing speed for most of us.

[NOVAGOLFER87]

Thanks Guys. RustyRedCab you are spot on with the 3/4 backswing. That is one of the things i have been doing, especially with my driver, to control some slice. I have a 5 week old baby boy at home who needed some daddy time this evening so i didn't get to hit any balls, but i hope to tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again everyone, i am really taken with the forum. Lots of great advice!

[rustyredcab]

Originally Posted by NOVAGOLFER87

... I have a 5 week old baby boy at home...

Then you should have a video camera close to you at all times! Turn it on yourself for a few swings and you'll see what is going on. Then take another hour of video of the boy doing the amazing things that 5-week olds do all the time.

[threejack]

these guys are correct with the club head path and for me i came over the top because i tried hitting the ball with my arms and hands. when you take those out of it and really focus on using your torso and shoulders its nearly impossible to come over the top. it also compresses the ball so much more. look at pros swings on youtube and look at how there shoulders turn.