The slice is every amateur golfer’s nightmare. This dreaded shot can cost you lots of strokes on the golf course from lost golf balls to even hazards. Additionally, if your fix comes from over the top, it can cost you distance when trying to play a pull slice. This is why at Golf AI, we’re coming up with an exciting new shot feedback page that will provide you with a personalized set of drills and tips to help with your swing flaws, shot flaws, or both!
Why do you slice?
The root of the slice is the club head. With an open face that does not rotate through during impact, the ball is bound to aim right and continue farther on that path. To eliminate that shot, many golfers tend to swing over the top in order to create more of a square face at impact. This action can cause lots of problems such as a pull, or a ball that works from way left back to the center. This is where most slicers struggle with inconsistencies in the form of a two way miss and a lack of distance.
Address Position
One of the most important parts at address is the grip. How one grips the golf club can have a major effect on what their hands do throughout the golf swing. A common flaw in slicers is an excessively weak grip that does not allow them to rotate their wrists through the shot. Strengthening your grip to get it more neutral will allow you to have a constant rotation that will eliminate the open face at contact.
Backswing
The initial take away can also put your hands in a bad position if done poorly. You can be addressed perfectly neutral and still conduct your take away in a way that opens the club face and causes a slice. This action is commonly associated with excessive wrist action during the first couple feet of the backswing. Making sure to rotate your backswing more with your shoulders will keep your hands quiet and your club face square. A good measure of this is to take your club back the first couple feet until it’s parallel to the ground. Observe your club face and try to have the line that the bottom of the face makes, match the angle your spine makes.
Downswing
As mentioned above, the common slicer tends to have a slightly over the top downswing to accommodate for their slice. While coming from the inside may feel like you will lose one out to the right, this action coupled with some of the other tips given above will start to help you rotate your wrists to straighten out the shot, as opposed to altering your swing plane to fix the miss.
Conclusion
Identifying why you slice is important so you can work on the specific parts of your swing that will fix the issue. In this article, we went through some of the reasons that might help you understand why you slice, as well as key parts of the golf swing that you can work on to fix this issue. If you have any questions or you want to let us know how some of these tips worked for you, be sure to leave them below in the comments and we will answer them. Keep it in play and be sure to look out for the next blog!
