Help with slice please!

[JSinker37]

Hello everyone, I am new to this site and am hoping to find some tips to straightening out my drives. I golfed a few times about ten years ago just for fun with some friends and got away from the game as soon as I started. Last year, myself and a friend, got back into golfing and we hit the links 35-40 times. It didn't take long to remember what a slice looked like... A big slice at that. I found myself taking multiple penalty strokes per round due to lost balls that went extreme right of the target line. About halfway through the season, I took some golf lessons with a local golf pro, and was hoping to get some tips on how to at least lessen the slice. After the five lessons, I left with a lot of very helpful knowledge, however, there really wasn't much done to help the slice. I just went out yesterday for the first time this year and sliced worse than ever. I mainly only slice the driver and have some occasional slices with irons, hybrids, and fairways. I currently have a Callaway Diablo Octane 10.5 degree driver with a regular flex project x shaft in my bag. My swing speed on a launch monitor averages 98-103 and if I really push it, about 105-109. I have tried several different balls designed to reduce side spin hoping to take a couple yards off the left to right with no luck. I've tried a stronger grip, closing the face, slowing the down swing, pausing in the backswing, you name it. If any of the changes helped, it was only temporary. I did notice that the height of my drives tower over most of the people I golf with. I typically score high 90's low 100's and the best game I ever shot was a 94. I do really hope to straighten out my slice, it would most likely take 5-10 strokes off of my score. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[dave s]

HI, and welcome.  Seems a slice plagues most of the golf world.  Try google seach and type 'fix my slice' and I'll be you'll find a thousand videos.

Most common reasons for a slice, club face open at impact.  You might be cutting across the ball from outside to inside during your swing.  Lots of vids out there with drills on how to reduce or eliminate slice.

dave

[chgocoach]

Where do you live ??

[sofingaw]

I'm not sure if you are familiar with the ball flight laws, specifically meaning, how the angle of the clubface and path of the clubhead effect the flight of a ball.

Not to start from the beginning, or repeat what you have heard already, But:

If you are slicing the ball, your clubhead path is out-to-in, or over the top (OTT) as many call it. Meaning that the clubhead starts outside the ball as it enters the impact zone, and cuts across inward towards your body.

Also, the clubface is open, relative to the (OTT) path at impact.

This means that every shot that you hit which slices, you are failing to:

1) Close the clubface at impact

2) Perform an Inside to out swingpath

Your question is "How can I do these things?"

I am not a great player, and not an expert.And I have been historically prone to the right side banana ball, but I am very very excited to have recently cured myself of my slice, with the help of this site and a shitload of range balls, and I will tell you what has helped me, because I am so excited.

Here is what I did:

1) Copied the Hogan driver swing, most especially the grip as closely as I possibly could. The grip is described in detail in his book 'Five Lessons'. The grip is the key, IMO. It is essentially a pretty strong grip with both the left and right hands. I use a 3-4 knuckle grip with my left hand (I'm a righty), and I cover my left thumb with my right hand, with my right thumb slightly over to the left side of the shaft, and my left thumb on the right side of the shaft .

The bolded part was absolutely key for me. Totally vital. I'll explain:

I was dong this on the range, and would only hit a slice if I completely neglected the clubhead/swingpath and also swung too fast.

I was striping straight drives otherwise. SO HAPPY, I was!

Went and played with a buddy who golfs 3x a year, and has never practiced at all.

In between this successful range session and the round with my buddy, I read a tidbit somewhere, probably in a thread on this site, that said that Ben Hogan changed the grip described in 'Five Lessons' ever so slightly, and although the hand positions remained the same, he put his left thumb more toward, or on top of the middle of the shaft. DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!

I did this while playing with my buddy because I was SURE this had to have been an improvement to Hogan's grip. It may have been for him! But it DAMN SURE wasn't for me. Every single drive was a banana ball, wildly OB to the right.

I haven't been that upset on a golf course in a long time. My buddy, (who rarely plays, never practices!) beat my by 17 strokes.

I was frustrated, to say the least.

SO I go to the range, and decide I'm not leaving until I have this straightened out.

I probably hit 250 balls. Luckily, after some thought, I remembered the old grip with the left thumb on the right side of the shaft (stronger position)

What do you know, (mostly) all straight now!! Back to how it was before I tried to get cute with it!

To test it, I put my thumb on top of the shaft... A DEL MONTE F-ING BANANA to the right, HARD.

Put my thumb back on the right... striped em'.

So.. That was part 1)

2) Inside to out swingpath.

This one may be trickier to get the feel for. You, and many other slicers probably very well understand conceptually that you are coming over the top. What you may not know is how that FEELS. And more importantly, how the correct, inside to out swingpath FEELS.

This is important, and will take some range time. I don't have the for sure feel for you and for your body and mind. But what works for me is to take the clubhead back just a hair inside of what I perceive to be 'straight back'. Then, on the downswing, my personal feel is that I am pushing the shaft forward with my right hand some, and feeling like I'm trying to 'put my right elbow into my right pocket'

I don't know if the 'right elbow to right pocket' description will feel correct to you. But it works for me.

The point is, to (while maintaining that grip), try different feels that involve the clubhead feeling inside the ball at impact.

That in itself may work. Maybe visualize hitting the inside part of the ball, instead of the back of it.

I don't know. But find YOUR inside to out swingpath FEEL. And maintain that grip.

Hopefully this helps.

Oh, and if you swing too fast.. sometimes you will still slice one, even doing all that. But MOSTLY you won't. Nice controlled swings with good tempo to start with. Build speed as you build confidence.

I said all that to say this: GOOD LUCK FIXING THAT SLICE. IT'S AN AMAZING FEELING!!!

[sofingaw]

I know I wrote a novel there, but I think another key takeaway from my experience is that: Something as minuscule as 1/4" of thumb position in my grip was directly responsible for 50 yards of slice. Even if nothing I told you above works... It may be a baby thing that is wrong. So take your time, think it through, try different things, and you will figure it out!

[JSinker37]

Thanks. I played baseball for 15 years and have been told it could be a cause for an out to in swing.

[JSinker37]

Chgocoach... I'm from PA

[JSinker37]

Thanks for the input sofingaw, If the snow doesn't hit us im gonna take it to the range this weekend and give it a shot.

[sofingaw]

Good luck! Find the grip, and the inside feel that work, and start striping them!