How to Fix a Golf Slice

Fore Right!!!

We’ve all been there—that sickening feeling as you watch your golf ball fly miles right of your intended target. If you are lucky, you might have a shot for your next; if you’re unlucky, you’re grabbing another golf ball from your bag.

Is there a more frustrating shot in golf than a slice?

It doesn’t matter if you are right-handed, left-handed, a good player, or a beginner; the slice shot can be an absolute scorecard wrecker.

There is good news for golfers. Slices can be fixed, and we are here to provide some valuable tips to help you straighten out your shots. We’ll do so by covering the following points:

• What Is A Slice?
• Be Brilliant At The Basics
• Professional Remedies
• Can Custom Golf Clubs Help?

What Is A Slice?

The dreaded slice is a shot that starts on or to the left of your intended target and then veers violently to the right (if you are a right-handed golfer). Golfers can also suffer from a push slice, which, for the right-handed golfer, is a shot that starts right of the target and then veers violently further to the right.

The slice shot is often attributed to a golfer swinging ‘over the top’ in their downswing, which causes the club head to travel out-to-in through impact.

With a sliced shot, the ball is likely to have more spin, producing a higher ball flight that deprives the shot of any real distance.

Before you book yourself in for golf lessons in an effort to cure your slice, there are some basic fundamentals you can assess yourself without even having to swing the golf club.

Be Brilliant At The Basics

Golfers who suffer from a recurring slice often look within their swings in the hope of finding a cure, but the reality is their slice is likely to originate from poor fundamentals.

Our fundamentals are crucial to how we ultimately swing the golf club, and if they are poor, we have to make compensations in the swing to create a successful shot. Before you get lost in all sorts of swing theory, start by checking over the following fundamentals because your answer to straighter golf shots may lie here:

• Grip
• Alignment
• Ball Position

Grip

Our grip is our only physical connection with the golf club, so getting this right is incredibly important.

Golfers who consistently struggle with a slice will tend to have what is known as a weak grip. For a right-handed golfer, this could mean they have only one knuckle showing on their left hand when they look down at their grip at address. Alternatively, the vee formed between your right thumb and right forefinger could be sitting too much on top of the grip at address and pointing up towards your chin or, in its most extreme form, towards your left shoulder.

The weak grip will likely encourage the clubface to open up in the swing and through impact, resulting in slice shots.

A good grip should see at least two knuckles visible on the left hand and the vee formed between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand pointing up towards your right shoulder (for a right-handed golfer).

When you take your grip, rest the club more in your fingers. Golfers who slice tend to grip the club more in the palm of their hands.

Lastly, make sure your grip pressure is light. Gripping too tightly prevents the hands from working properly in the swing, leading to poor clubface control.

Alignment

We all fall into bad habits in our golf swings, whether we like it or not, and poor alignment is one of those bad habits many golfers fall into.

When a golfer slices, one of the things they will look to do is to alter their stance in a vain attempt to straighten the ball flight out.

For a right-handed golfer they sometimes think the slice is caused by aiming too far left of their target, so they do the opposite and close their stance, aiming further right of their target.

The reality is that you need to aim correctly if you want to hit the ball straight. Aiming too far left or right causes compensations in the swing to correct the poor alignment and can make your slice even worse.

When you practice, make sure you use a couple of alignment sticks. Pick out a target and set the alignment sticks square to it. That means one stick along the line of where you will stand and another close to the golf ball.

This classic ‘train tracks’ setup will get you into a good habit of aligning yourself correctly to your target every time.

If you go to any professional tournament and watch players on the practice ground, nearly all of them will use either alignment sticks or a golf club on the ground to help them ensure they are lined up correctly for their chosen target.

Ball Position

Ball position is an important and sometimes overlooked area. If the ball is too far back in our stance, we tend to get steep in the downswing. Having the ball too far forward makes it difficult to get behind the ball and compress it properly at impact.

For golf drivers, if you are a right-handed golfer, ensure the ball is positioned in line with the instep of your lead foot (left foot) at address. As you get into your golf wedges, the ball is positioned more towards the middle of your stance.

You can use an alignment stick or a golf club to check where the ball is positioned in your stance.

Professional Remedies

If you feel that your fundamentals are correct or if you don’t feel comfortable checking them correctly, it is time to employ the services of a qualified PGA professional.

If you haven’t visited a PGA professional before and are a golf club member, check with your club’s professional about getting a lesson booked. Alternatively, check other golf clubs and driving ranges around your local area. Most clubs and driving ranges will have a website that will provide a bio of any teaching staff available and how much they will charge for a lesson.

Some teaching professionals will use technology like launch monitors to diagnose the root cause of your slice, but before they do that, they can assess whether your slice is caused by poor fundamentals, as we discussed above.

Knowing where the slice originates from, the PGA-qualified professional will create a series of tailored drills to help you during practice and on the golf course.

You can also book a series of lessons with the professional if you want to work on other aspects of your game in time.

Can Custom Golf Clubs Help?

If you book a custom fitting session, we can discuss many options to help straighten out your slice shots.

First, using the GC Quad launch monitor will give us valuable data on how you deliver the club into the back of the ball. We’ll be able to monitor things like:

• Swing path
• Angle of attack
• Clubface’s position at impact
• Spin rates

With golf drivers, one option might be to look at the current range of high moment of inertia (MOI) models such as the TaylorMade Qi10 Max, Cobra Darkspeed Max, or Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max.

These golf drivers are designed with optimal internal weighting to reduce head twisting and are less likely to be open at impact. Another bonus is that the driver face is designed to provide consistent ball speeds across the face, meaning that a strike out the heel will see similar ball speeds to a centre strike.

Some drivers, fairway metals, and hybrids will also feature external weighting systems where heavier weights can be positioned in the heel section of the club head, allowing the toe to close quicker, leading to straighter shots.

PXG’s 0311 Gen 6 driver and fairway woods or Mizuno’s ST-G 440 model are great examples of where heavier weights can be positioned more in the heel section.

Nearly all golf drivers and many fairway woods and hybrids have adjustable hosels, meaning an experienced fitter can alter the loft and lie angle to help straighten out shots.

Shafts

Selecting the right golf shaft can also tighten shot dispersion. Many shaft manufacturers, such as Graphite Design, Mitsubishi Chemicals, and Fujikura, offer a wide range of shafts with different weights and flexes, making fitting the perfect shaft for any golfer easier.

Taking it a step further, the new Fujikura Ventus range features VeloCore + technology, designed specifically to stabilise the shaft as much as possible to create better ball striking and prevent the club head from twisting as much through impact.

During a custom-fitting session, we can also establish the correct shaft length, which can help straighten shots and make it easier to find the sweetspot more consistently.

Lie Angle and Grip

Having the correct lie angle can help straighten out shots. For a right-handed player, if your clubs are too flat, shots are more likely to leak out to the right.

If your grips are too thick, your hands may not be able to square the clubface up through impact, and shots may leak out to the right.

A significant benefit of custom-fitted golf clubs and the fitting process is ensuring that your clubs have the correct lie angle and that your grips are the correct thickness.

As with the golf swing, any compensation you make because of poorly-fitted golf clubs will result in erratic shots, which could mean you see a big slice on the course that’ll erode your confidence.

It’s safe to assume that the slice is a shot that annoys every golfer, regardless of their playing abilities.

Checking your fundamentals can go a long way toward preventing a slice, and most bad shots stem from poor fundamentals. The best players in the game always check things like their grip, alignment, and ball position first before delving into specific positions in the swing to fix a problem.

Employing a qualified professional can help you diagnose the root cause of your slice and help you get on the right track to banishing it from your game.

Being professionally fitted for your golf equipment can also help you reduce your slices and get more shots in play.

Working with a professional fitter and a launch monitor will provide the necessary insight into how you deliver the club head at impact and the effect that has on the golf ball.

If you are looking to change your golf equipment, being custom-fitted will help you uncover answers and golf clubs that will genuinely improve your performance on the golf course.

To fully understand the difference custom golf clubs can make to your game, you can book a custom-fitting session with one of our experienced fitters at Nine By Nine Golf. Your session can be tailored to exactly what you need, whether a new driver giving you more distance and straightening your slice or a complete overhaul of every club in your bag.

You can book your custom-fit session through the Nine by Nine website, where you can also view our full range of fully customisable clubs from the best manufacturers in the business.