My first post - sort of a long one...
You know I've been putting in some serious effort to fix my slice - recently from tips I've picked up from reading this forum. I figured that if I could create the most perfect swing, I'd cure it. I corrected my stance so it wasn't open, strengthned my left hand grip, got my left arm straight, tucked my elbows in, stayed in the shot longer, concentrated on tempo, shortened my swing, slid my hips forward.. and over my heel etc etc. Not all at once of course, but worked on one of two of these over and over and over at the range for a few months.
In the end, I had a nice looking swing (apparently) but still a bit of a slice that got worse as I became tired, worn out or irritated... which made it worse again.
Then, after another average round and then a few pints, my mate and i decided to hit a few balls on the range again. I was hitting every one of them pure and straight. I had no doubt whatsoever that it would go straight when standing over the ball, even while talking at the same time... about how amazed I was that it was positively going to go straight. The answer here for me was that my body and especially arms were completely relaxed.
The next day I took this to the course (without the beer) and was absolutely amazed at the difference. I didn't think about anything in my swing at all and just concentrated on relaxing everything... it predominantly went straight. When occassionally it didn't I could tell it was caused by tension... maybe from the 2 foot birdie put I just missed, or something else in the game. I used to get really irritated with myself, particularly after a slice... which produced bigger slices and more irritation.
Now, the game is so much more enjoyable for me as well - I have an extra reason to remain calm and not let bad shots affect my next one - its all about being relaxed. Ironically, once I really got into this mindset, I noticed that I'd finish my shots in an even more balanced and controlled posture than when I was actually consciously trying. I'm not saying that there aren't a bunch of technical things that are causing your slice and I'm sure that working on the things I mentioned above helped tremendously, but sometimes thinking too much about these things can be the cause of the slice itself. Maybe have a few (just a few) beers and hit the range and see what happens.
I think what I'm referring to is what most people refer to as tempo, which I've read a lot about here. When I tried it though, that swing thought just didn't work for me. Now, I'm really excited about the progress I'm making and the feel I now have.
Dave
