Fix Your Slice Forever

Great video on how to fix your slice. If you prefer transcript below:

Transcript:

So, let's talk about a couple of common causes, what people struggle with when they're slicing

the ball too much.

The thing that I see in a lot of my teaching, are the players have way too open a club face

at the top of their swing.

And what I mean by that is, when you're at the top of the swing, the toe of the club

is pointing straight down at the ground, and when I bring that back down to impact without

manipulation, you can see how open that face is.

So, we've got to get that club face, to start with, where it's more square, where we're

at a 45-degree angle here.

So, without manipulation from here, I bring that club down, and it's dead square.

So, what causes that club to get so open?

Normally, it's the grip.

And a lot of you out there, your left hand on the club is in too weak of a position.

And what I mean by that is, a lot of you get it too much into the palm of your hand, and

when you look down, you really can't see any knuckles here on your left hand.

And when you take that club back, it's easy for that hand to rotate, and now that club

is wide open.

So, from there, way too much manipulation is required to get that club to square, and

as a result, a lot of times, you don't get it to square and you're going to get that

slice.

So, with the grip, let's start with that.

We want to see that grip, we want to have it run diagonally from our left forefinger,

right to under our heel pad there.

And then, I'm going to close my hand on top of the club so the V formed by my forefinger

and thumb is pointing pretty much to my right shoulder.

We then put our right hand on there, and we want that V by the right thumb and forefinger

to also point to the right shoulder.

So, now our hands are going to work in unison together.

Now let's talk about, how do we keep that club square?

What I see a lot of you out there do is, you roll the face open, and that's where you get

really in trouble with a weak grip, and that rolling gets the club face too open.

So, I want you to get feeling, if we can get this left wrist flatter.

A lot of you out there get the wrist cupped, and when you do, you can see that directly

affects the club face, and the club now is wide open.

What happens from here is, subconsciously, you're working like crazy to square it up.

That club comes from the outside, and as you come back to the inside with an open face,

you've got the dreaded slice.

So, the first thing that you should check out there is, how are you gripping the club,

and do you have that face square at the top?

So, here's the way to check this out.

Make sure your grip is pretty similar to what I just showed you, as far as putting the hands

on there.

I want you then, when you set up, I want you to take the club and put the shaft on the

tip of your right shoulder, about the edge of the grip on the tip of your right shoulder.

Your right arm's going to be directly under the club at 90 degrees.

This left arm is going to be 45 degrees, and my left hand is flat.

From here, when I turn 90 degrees and just lift my arms up, that club will be in great

shape.

So, from this angle, right arm's underneath, left arm's 45, left hand's flat, I turn, lift

the club up, and you can see that this club head and the back of my left hand is on the

same plane, and that's dead square.

It's going to feel awful in the beginning when you do this.

You're not going to feel powerful.

You're to feel like, "There's no way I can hit it!"

But, you've got to trust me here.

In a couple of weeks, it's going to feel a lot better because when the club face is like

this, your inclination won't be to get out here and work so hard to square it up.

You're going to find that you're able to come down here, which is not only correcting your

open face, but it's also correcting your path.

So, with a slice, we have both path and face issues.

So, get our grip here.

I want you to do this drill a couple of times to feel what that left hand feels like.

It's going to feel awful in the beginning.

You're going to feel like this, kind of how Dustin Johnson looks at the top of his swing.

But, we would rather have more of that than this because this is going to cause a big

slice and lack of power.

So, my advice to you, when we start out doing this, let's get our left hand feeling flatter,

and I just want you to hit little shots, with the path feeling like it's going in to out.

So, in this position here, I'm feeling like the back of my left hand is actually turning

down to the ground, the opposite of what the motion is when you're slicing and hitting

them off to the right.

It would be like that.

So, watch this.

I'm going to hit a little shot.

My feeling here is, my knuckles, the back of my hand are turning down into the ground,

which is squaring the club face up.

So, you could see, that ball started a little bit to the right and drew back.

The opposite of that, just so I can show you what I see most with my students, is they'll

get up, that face will be open, and then they're working like crazy to square it back up.

And it'll look like this.

So, it gets open, they try to square it up, and that golf ball has gone off to the right.

The combination of the open face and the path going left, that causes the dreaded slice.

So, let's talk again here.

It's going to feel uncomfortable, but stick with it because, in a week or so, you're going

to say, "Wow, these are pretty solid shots!"

So, I'm going to have my left hand a little stronger on the club.

I know this feeling.

The back of my left hand now is flat, versus cupped.

You can see this cupped area here.

We don't want that.

We want it flat.

And as we come down, you can see that club face is dead square there.

My feeling is, is I'm going to turn my knuckles to the ground, which is really, it's going

to be an awkward feeling for you, but it's actually squaring the face up.

And that path now, because I have the club face square, your subconscious brain is going

to let you come this way.

So, another shot with that thought in mind.

That ball starting just a little bit right, with a little draw.

So now, if you get a chance, I want you to hit balls with the ball above your feet.

It's going to give you the sensation that you can control the path, the way it needs

to be, to get out of that slice.

So, I'm going to show you that in a second.

Okay.

So, here we are.

We've got a shot here where the ball is above our feet.

This is going to help us with the path issue of slicing.

Remember, we have face angle, what's the angle of our face at impact, and what's the path

doing?

We've touched upon and hopefully corrected the face problem.

Check our grip, and when we get to the top, let's get that left hand flat so the club

face is square.

I see many people with way too open a club face.

It creates a lot of problems.

So now, we have our flat left wrist.

I want you to make some exaggerated practice swings.

We know that this is the way people are swinging when they slice it, so let's create this kind

of path.

So, really start, actually, even with your back to the target, where we're going to hit

it, and swing, feeling this left wrist flat and releasing the club up the hill, letting

the arms fold, just like this, so the exact opposite motion that you have when you slice.

So then, when you get up here and hit it, just have the thought, we're going to get

our left wrist flat, we're going to swing up the hill, and let that club release.

And that ball should start a little right and draw, just like that one did.

So, try these things.

I'm almost certain they're going to help you with your slice.

So, let's review for a second, the most common miss in the game, the slice.

I want you to check your club face at the top of your swing.

That plays a huge role in fixing the slice.

So, remember, we're going to check our grip.

Make sure it's not too much in the palm.

We want it more in the fingers.

Close your hand on top of the grip so the Vs of both your left and right hand are pointing

to your right shoulder.

Remember the backswing drill.

This is really going to help you get the correct feel, what it should feel like when you're

trying to do this on the range and on the golf course.

We're going to set up, we're going to take our club, put it on the tip of your right

shoulder where the grip, you can see, where the grip and the shaft are meeting.

It's right on the tip of my shoulder there.

Your right arm is going to be 90 degrees under the shaft.

Your left arm is at 45 degrees.

Most importantly, this left hand is going to be flat.

We don't want it cupped.

That's going to create an open club face.

So, here's our left hand, nice and flat, we turn 90 degrees and lift our arms up.

That club face is pretty much right where we want it during our swing.

So, you can see that the club face and my left wrist match, and they're right on plane.

So, that takes care of the club face problem.

Now, to take care of the path problem, we want to start out with some smaller shots

because the minute you go full speed, you're going to do what you know, and that club's

going to start going out to the outside.

And even if it does and your club face is square, you should notice a different flight.

You should notice a more penetrating shot to the left.

But, to straighten that out, we want to make sure our path is better.

So, take some smaller swings, controlling the path with now our flat left hand, and

remember, when we're coming into impact, we want to feel like our knuckles are pointing

down to the ground.

So, these little swings should produce a nice little draw like that.

And then, the last one, to combine all these feels, is hit some balls with the ball above

your feet.

That's going to help you with your path, combined with, now, your square left hand and club

face, is going to get rid of that slice.