Sports Realm

You’re lucky if you’re a golfer and you haven’t heard of the word “slice”. Or perhaps, you’re just new to the game and you haven’t been around long enough to know what a slice is.

A slice is when a shot moves aggressively from the left to the right. Don’t confuse it with a fade. A fade is when the ball moves softly from left to right. For example, you hit the ball to the center of the fairway and it moves to the right, but the ball remains on the fairway. A slice, on the other hand, is when the ball starts well at the center of the fairway, but starts moving to the right – fast. The next thing you know, your ball is headed straight for the woods, or worse, to a window of a house.

If you want to get rid of that wicked slice, you have to bear in mind that two things usually cause this to happen. The first is your grip, the second is the club face and impact. Once you get this things fixed, you won’t be seeing that slice again anytime soon.

One, getting the grip right. Pay close attention to how you handle your golf club. If you don’t have one right now, you may take a pen or a pencil. If you notice your thumb and index finger, you will see that the middle portion of these two fingers is forming an inverted V. While holding a pen or pencil, position that inverted V to aim to your right shoulder. Make sure it doesn’t point to the chin or left shoulder.

Second, is the club face and impact. When your club face is very open, you’re most likely to hit a slice. For the right-handed golfer, your club’s heel and toe would probably be pointing at 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock position. In this instance, the severe slice is caused as the heel beats the toe to the impact. To rectify that occurrence, a short practice exercise has been developed for you to take notice of your club face.

The Drill:

The drill is made for you to practice your golf swings for around 10-15 minutes before teeing off. What you’re going to do is to take a 7 or 8 iron and make some really small swings with it. Small swings mean three quarter length swings wherein your left hand will not reach parallel to the ground. What we want to achieve here is the awareness of what your club face is doing, and for you to feel the toe of the club passing the heel. Your goal is to realize how much rotation the club face has to have to get it to a square position. Once you have this done, you will begin to notice that ball traveling more to the left than to the right.

Once you get 10 in a row of swings traveling to the left using a 7 or 8 iron, you can then move on the longer clubs like a 5 or 6 iron. With these irons, you can start making longer swings. If you start hitting slices again, go back to the 7 or 8 iron, and try to achieve the 10 in a row again before moving up.

Using this drill will help you see how a ball can move differently from the way it usually does. This lifts some of the mystery of the game and it builds up your confidence by giving you some control of your shots. Practice your grip at the home or even at the office, and make sure to give time to the drills. You’ll surely be on your way to getting rid of the wicked slice.

The #1 Golf Instruction Podcast, Go Golf Tips is co-hosted by Matthew Seppanen. Click on the link and listen to an audio about the best advice to fix your slice. Visit Go Golf Tips to find out more information and start playing better golf now!