Many golfers know the pain of watching their ball veer into the rough time after time. Slicing ranks among the most frequent issues golfers face on the course. The good news? You can conquer it with proper adjustments and dedicated practice.
What is a golf slice? A slice happens when your ball curves dramatically leftward for left-handed players or rightward for right-handed players. An open clubface upon impact leads to this outward spin. The difference between club path and face determines how severe the slice becomes. Grip issues, poor alignment, and flawed swing paths often combine to create this problem.
Fixing these mistakes can transform your game completely and provide a golf slice fix.
Strengthen Your Grip
Your grip heavily influences shot direction. A weak grip allows the clubface to open during your swing, which results in slicing irons or drivers. A stronger grip helps with maintaining a square clubface at impact, giving you more control over ball flight.
Check your grip by looking at your hands as you address the ball. You should see two or three knuckles on your lead hand. If not, adjust by rotating your lead hand outwards slightly. This small change can instantly improve ball flight off the clubface and help you stop slicing your driver.
Keep a medium grip pressure too. Gripping too tightly increases arm and shoulder tension, making club control through the swing harder.
Align Yourself Correctly
Many golfers intentionally aim off-centre, thinking it will make up for their golf slice. This only encourages an over-the-top swing, worsening the issue.
Aim your feet, shoulders, and hips parallel to the target. Use alignment sticks at the driving range to train your body into the correct position. When you set up square to the target, your body will naturally swing the club on a better swing path.
Improve Your Swing Path
Coming over the top ranks as the most common golf slice swing path mistake. This means your club approaches the ball from outside the target line, creating that outward spin.
If this is an area you are struggling with, try out the alignment rod drill. Place a rod on the ground just behind the ball, pointing in a straight line backwards. From here, lift up the end of the rod by the ball until the rod is around 45 degrees, and then push the rod downwards to stick it into the ground. This cantilevered rod will ensure you swing the club under the rod on the downswing. This promotes the correct inside path and helps eliminate the over-the-top motion causing a golf slice.
Close The Clubface Earlier
Most players wait too long to close the face. By the time they reach the ball, the face remains open.
Practice closing the face by making half swings with your right hand only for right-handers. Focus on rotating your forearm so the clubface is down and flat at impact. The split grip drill also works well. It forces you to feel correct forearm rotation and helps train your hands to release the club properly, which will also help stop a golf slice.
Find Your Ball Position
Ball placement in your stance affects what causes a golf slice too. Placing the ball too far back encourages a steep downswing, which can also lead to an open clubface at impact.
Position the ball just inside your front foot for drivers. This allows you to swing up on the ball, helping you square the clubface and launch the ball straight, which again helps correct a golf slice.
Down at the range, try setting up with the tee slightly forward of your normal position and practice hitting drives from there. If slicing is an improvement area for you, this may cause an immediate improvement in ball flight as you begin hitting up on the ball instead of coming down steeply.
Relax Your Grip
Too much tension in your hands, arms, and shoulders can throw off your entire swing. A relaxed grip gives you better feel and allows natural club release through impact. Think about trying to draw a large circle with a pencil, you wouldn’t tense up your arm and choke the pencil, you want a solid grip and a smooth motion.
Pay attention to how hard you hold the club when practicing. Your grip pressure should feel like a 4 or 5 out of 10. This light touch helps you swing more freely and reduce slicing.
Practice Releasing the Club
A poor release leaves the clubface open at impact, sending the ball curving off to the right. Work on your release to stop slicing the golf ball.
Another drill you can try to rectify this issue is placing a towel under your lead armpit and swinging while keeping it tucked there. This encourages proper arm rotation and should help you keep the clubface square through impact. It’s a simple drill, yet incredibly effective for eliminating slicing and easy to add to your routine at the range.
Keep Practicing Consistently
Consistent proper practice is the cornerstone of every great athlete, but you need to work on each individual aspect of the swing. Hitting balls is fun, but be sure to set aside time at each session to work on your grip, alignment, and swing path drills.
Progress takes time, but dedication certainly pays off. Focus on one aspect of your swing at a time and master it before moving on. Golf rewards repetition and muscle memory building.
Use alignment rods, implement the drills discussed above, and stay focused on being consistent. Over time, you will stop slicing and start hitting straighter, longer shots.
