Golf Tips - Getting Rid of Your Slice

The only thing more annoying than a hook in golf is a slice. Having a slice is very frustrating, I've speant many hours at the driving range trying to get rid of mine, and with some great success. Every once in awhile it comes out again, but after you've tamed it once, you'll have a better understanding of your own swing and some of the steps you need to take to get rid of it.

The reason golfers slice is that their clubface is open at impact with the ball. That's it. That is the reason a ball slices. The clubface is open which causes a clockwise rotation (for righties) which makes the ball "slice" away from the original target path. Knowing this, you need to look at the causes of why the clubface is open in order to work on fixing it.

My biggest problem was definitely an out-to-in swing. Having played a fair amount of baseball in the past, I am used to pulling my hands around my body when swinging. This is an undesirable motion in a golf downswing. What would happen is that once my downswing started, my hands would move too far away from body, and in some circumstances would lead with my hands. When this happened my natural instinct was to my hands closer, towards my body, and to overcompensate by opening the clubface.

This went on and on and on. I would try to open my stance and aim more to the right (I'm lefty) however this would only worsen the slice. Finally I read a tip that said one possible cure was to concentrate on keeping my arms and elbows close to my body on my downswing. They even used the "hat drill" where you try to take your swing with a hat tucked under your back arm. If the hat fell out on your downswing your arms were too far away from your body. Once I started practicing I was amazed at how far away my arms were from my body. After hitting many balls at the driving range, I was able to overcome the slice.

The thing to remember about a golf slice is that it is caused by an open clubface at impact. If you only have a slight fade, then your downswing is probably pretty tight. However, the more severe your slice, the more you are most likely swinging with an out-to-in downswing.

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