Golf Tips on Driving

#1 How to Fix A Golf Slice

How to fix a golf slice is the first of a series of golf tips on driving. All golfers have slice problems at some time in their golfing life, even Tiger Woods, because the rotational movement of the golf swing is unnatural to human physiology, and a slice is a natural result unless you have developed good swing mechanics that enable you to control your clubface at impact.

It should be noted that the following golf tips on driving and how to fix a golf slice are offered for right-handed golfers. Left-handers should reverse the sides as normal.

A Clockwise Spin on the Ball

When you hit the ball, your stance should be pointing straight to the target and your clubface square to a line between the ball and that target. If the clubface is open when it strikes the ball, with the toe further back than the heel from the direction of travel, then it will impart a clockwise spin to the ball that causes the slice. That's because there is more air pressure on the side of a spinning ball that is moving in the direction of travel - the left side with a clockwise spin - and so the ball is gradually pushed right.

A fundamental cure can only be achieved by improving your swing mechanics and stance, but the following golf tips on driving are intended to help you fix a golf slice using some temporary adjustments until you can get your swing sorted out properly. It is not just when driving that you can slice of course, but given that your ball can land 60 - 70 feet right of target with just a 2 degree angle of your clubface from square over a 300 yard drive, you don't want to be slicing when driving.

Tips on How to Fix a Golf Slice

First you should try to identify everything about your drive or your swing that is causing your clubface to be open at the point of strike, and then try to determine which relates to you. Here are some golf tips on driving that relate specifically to how to fix a golf slice by adjusting your swing, grip or stance.

1. Strengthen your grip: if you strengthen your grip by moving it a few degrees clockwise, your clubface will straighten up quicker. You may have to make a few adjustments to get it right.

2. Hold Back Your Chest: If your chest rotates too quickly, so that it crosses the ball before you hit it, then so your club head will lag behind and not be straight on impact, slicing the ball.

3. Fully Rotate Your Shoulders: Most golf tips on driving will stress the importance of getting your shoulders right back on your swing, and this is particularly important when trying to fix a golf slice. A failure to rotate your shoulders correctly on your backswing can result in your shoulders leading your body through the swing which pulls your club head out of alignment, slicing the ball.

4. Take a Step Back: Another potential quick cure that may fix a golf slice is to take up your normal stance and then take step back. By doing this, your club head will have a bit longer before it hits the ball and so more time to close, or straighten up to the ball.

5. Adjust Your Stance Left: As an emergency remedial action on-course, when all else fails, adjust your stance with your feet in line with a point slightly to the left of target, but drive straight to the target. This may straighten the club head before you hit the ball but could also make your slice worse, so you should try the above four golf tips on driving first.

6. Never Aim Left of Target: Some people compensate for slicing the ball to the right by aiming to the left. You should never do this because you will not affect your slice, and will lose any accuracy you may still have had. Not only that, but you will be losing a lot of distance on your drive: possibly 40 yards or more because you are in effect playing an extreme fade shot.

Playing a Fade

Good golfers can fade the ball at will, which utilizes the ball mechanics of the slice in a controlled fashion with a lot less curve on the ball. They do this either by deliberately holding back on the club so that it is open at strike, or aiming their feet and shoulders left and keeping the clubface aimed at the target.

Finally...

Many beginners slice the ball because they rush their swing and try to hit the ball far too hard. They don't give the club enough time to straighten up before whacking the ball, and away it goes like banana, often ending up on the adjoining fairway. A slower controlled swing will offer better results, and the ultimate advice on how to fix a golf slice is to work on your swing.

All golf tips on driving will emphasize the importance of swing mechanics and taking control of this essentially unnatural rotational movement for a human being. If you learn how to control your swing, and how to give your golf club time to close and to become absolutely square to the ball and the target at the moment of impact, then that's how to fix a golf slice, with the other tips above your golf driving game should be on or back on target in no time.

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