What can I do to correct my slice?

Question

I seem to slice the most with my driver, I hit my irons fairly straight, what can I do to become more accurate with my driver?

Answer 1

Some things to check:

-Grip: (I'm assuming you know how to grip a club correctly.) Be sure that you grip is not too "weak". Take your regular grip right now....Are your left knuckles pointed more toward the target, rather than facing the sky? Check your right hand as well: you should NOT be able to see into your right palm when gripping the club. Pros say that, when gripping the club, you should be able to see the first two knuckles on your right hand. A weak grip causes the clubhead to open at impact, creating a slice.

-Stance: Are you opening your stance and facing left of the target line? That always seems like it will help a slice when it actually just makes the problem worse....that's how pros set up to hit a fade. Again, this opens up the clubface since your shoulders will tend to open up quicker on your downswing. Be sure that your feet are square to the target line....or, you could even close your stance by dropping your right foot back about 3 inches or so.

-Downswing: Be sure that on your downswing, you are not "coming over the top". It was hard for me to believe at first, but as your driver approaches the ball during the downswing, the clubhead should actually be coming from the inside. It's hard to explain, but one of the best mental tips is this: Put a ball down in front of you right now, as if you were going to hit it. Imagine that the ball is divided into 4 quadrants (upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right.). When hitting driver (or any other club for that matter), you want to imagine that you are contacting the LOWER RIGHT quadrant of that ball. See how you are now swinging from the inside, as oppose to the outside?

Other important things: be sure to make a full follow through. Check ball position and be sure it is toward the front of your stance, opposite your left armpit....

Of course, some of these things may not need to be "fixed" with your irons, because of the fact that they are so lofted. But when swinging a 9.5 degree driver, these little swing deficiencies really stand out. Good luck...

Answer 2

To fix a slice is no easy task. There are a number of different things that you can try, some may work, some may not. The reason that the ball is slicing is because you are coming through with what is called an outside-in swing. You come across the ball from right to left or outside to inside which puts a slice spin on the ball. To fix the swing might be a little much to handle. Some tricks that could help hit it a little straighter without a major swing overhaul would be to close your stance. This means bringing your front foot forward so that it is closer to the ball than your back foot. This will act as a block from being able to bring the club head so much outside in. The other possibility that might help would be to buy an offset driver. Good luck and have fun.

Answer 3

What causes a slice(a ball that has a curving flight to the right)?
It is left to right spin on the ball; produced when the ball is struck with an open club face.The effect of side spin is reduced or almost eliminated by the effect of back spin, produced by loft on the club face. Since the driver has the least loft the ball has less back spin when struck with the driver, than when struck with the irons: but the swing fault which causes or leaves the clubface open, is basically still present.
The position of the hands on the grip of the club has the greatest influence on the club face.This ,therefore, is the first thing to check.Take a lesson with a fully qualified golf pro or 2nd best, look at an instructional video,or read the relevant pages in virtually any golf book. Make sure that the left hand tends to be in the strong position i.e. 3 knuckles of the hand showing, the thumb right of centre: always in relation to a "square" club face when "addressing" the ball.
Grip pressure as light as possible whilst maintaining control of the club.
Slow down the unwinding of the shoulders in the downswing.The arms are also slowing down at the moment of impact. A good "release" through the ball with the club head should be produced by lower arm rotation meaning that at waist high after impact the forearms should be close together.
Practise these points using, at the most, 75% of normal power until the slice is reduced or elliminated.

Answer 4

You are getting some quality answers.

I agree with take a couple of lessons. Get your swing videotaped along with the fix.

The outside in swing is the most prevalent reason for a slice. With the irons your swing plane becomes more steep as you use higher lofted, shorter in length irons. The steeper the swing plane the less the opportunity for an outside-in downswing. That is why you tend not to slice the shorter the club.

I'd offer a tip but instead will restate get some lessons. If you have the budget, find some school in say Scottsdale and take the significant other on a 3 or 4 day vacation.

Answer 5

Take a couple of lessons from a good teaching pro. The game will become easier and the enjoyment greater.You are most likely swinging from the outside in, cutting across the ball and sending it into a slice. You may also be trying to get too much distance from the drives and the fairway woods and so you are over swinging. You never over swing a fairway wood unless you are trying to reach a par 5 in two shots. What you are doing is setting up for the next shot to the green.

Answer 6

Check your back swing. You are going inside and coming outside on your down swing, thus a slice. Try bringing the club back on the outside on purpopse. Also, roll your top hand over more toward the right hand if you are right handed. This will prevent you from tuning the club to the right on the down swing.

Answer 7

what i did was move my front foot back and tee the ball lower good luck

Answer 8

Use a sharper knife?

Answer 9

get lessons...