The dreaded slice in golf: the scourge of many an amateur (and pro) golfer. The good news is it’s usually a relatively easy fix – we’re going to show you how to fix a slice in golf for good.
A golf slice is a shot in golf in which the ball curves in flight, typically from left to right (for a right-handed player).
While some experienced players may use the slice in golf intentionally, for most of us it’s an unwanted mishit and something we want to fix.
The slice is perhaps the most common and most frustrating shot in golf. There’s nothing worse than seeing the ball curving off into the thick rough or hazard to the right of the fairway.
Not only does it leave a golfer in an awkward spot it often makes a golfer lose distance with the spin and rightward curve moving the ball away from the intended target. And let’s be honest no one likes finding their golf ball 20 yards behind their playing partners!
In this article, we’ll share how to fix a slice in golf with a few of our expert tips.
In this post, I’m going to explain what causes a slice and explain how to fix a slice in golf.
We’ll look at:
- What Causes A Golf Slice
- The 3 Elements To Adjust: How To Fix A Slice In Golf
Ready? Let’s jump in.
Here’s What causes an Unwanted slice in golf
There is usually a fairly standard reason as to why any golfer slices the golf ball.
The majority of unwanted slices are due to the golfer swinging at the ball from outside to in with an open clubface.
This means that the clubface is moving from right to left as a golfer makes contact with the ball which, combined with the open clubface, puts a side spin on the golf ball.
This sends the ball flying off into the rough with that horrible, high-curving flight to the right that no player likes to see.
How To Fix A Slice In Golf: 3 Prompts To Implement
1. Check Your Alignment
As we now know what is causing a slice we can start to fix the problem.
The first step is probably the simplest one but often the most overlooked. A lot of the time golfers will get bogged down trying to make complicated swing changes when often the simplest fix can be done before you even swing the club.
Many players will unintentionally aim to the left or right of the target. If you are slicing the ball frequently, you may find that you are actually aligned to the left of the target.
This is very natural as after seeing the ball fly off to the right every time you’ll want to aim further and further left to get the ball coming back to the target.
Unfortunately, this is only making the problem worse as you are accentuating that out-to-in movement that I spoke about before, leading to a bigger and bigger slice.
Fortunately, there is a very simple drill that can fix the problem.
Ideally, for this drill you would have alignment sticks but if not a couple of golf clubs will do fine.
Take one alignment stick and place it a couple of yards in front of you, pointing directly at your target.
Then take a second stick and line it up with the first where you’ll be addressing the golf ball. Line your feet up with the second stick and take a few shots.
This may feel odd at first, especially if you’ve been aiming way off to the left, but stick with it until it feels natural. This means that you are lined up perfectly with your target.
You may also feel frustrated that the ball is now flying even further off to the right.
Don’t worry, this is just the first basic step that we’ll build on. The next few tips will help correct what is causing the slice in the first place.
2. Correcting the club path
The next step to fixing a slice in golf is to correct the out-to-in club path.
To start hitting the ball straight you need to have a neutral swing path when you come to hit the ball. This will help eliminate the side spin that is causing the slice and allow you to hit longer, straighter drives.
Once again there are a couple of easy drills you can do to correct your swing path and stop slicing the golf ball.
Firstly, our friend the alignment stick will be coming out to help us again.
For this drill take your alignment stick and push it into the ground about a yard or so to the back and right of the golf ball.
Now take your set up, remembering to align properly with the target and take a swing.
If you have an out-to-in swing path, you’ll clip the alignment stick on the way down, causing you to miss the golf ball.
This drill is all about repetition. Keep making your swing and really focus on avoiding the alignment stick, the only way you’ll correct the swing fault is to miss the stick so keep practising.
After some practice you should be able to make your downswing without clipping the alignment stick on the way down, this means you have successfully corrected yourself to a neutral swing path.
To really test out your improvement you can place two tee pegs in the ground a bit more that a clubhead’s width wide on either side of the golf ball.
If you can swing through the tee pegs that means your club head is in a great position at impact and you should start to see a lovely straight ball flight.
That horrible slice should start to become a thing of the past, but to finish up there is one final step that will help to fully fix your slice.
3. The clubface: Check Your Grip
As I mentioned earlier, there are two key components that cause a slice: the swing path and the clubface.
A slice is caused by having the face open at impact – so to stop slicing the ball, you’ll need to have the face square at impact, or slightly closed if want to hit a draw.
The most common cause of an open clubface is having a grip that is too weak.
There is a simple check to see if you have an overly weak grip:
When you hold the golf club you should be able to clearly see the first two knuckles on your top hand. The right hand for a right-handed golfer and the reverse for a lefthander.
If your knuckles are too far off to the side and you cannot see them clearly then this is a sign that your grip is too weak. This leads to an open clubface at impact, causing a slice.
To correct this, try to get your knuckles more on top of the golf club so that you can see them clearly at the address.
Make sure you take a few practice swings on the driving range first, it will most likely feel very odd for anyone with a weak grip.
Stick with it though as it will give you a stronger grip, with more control over the clubface and will allow you to bring the clubhead back to square at impact, fixing your slice so you hit more fairways and greens.
Key takeaways for How To Fix A Golf Slice
The slice is a very frustrating shot to hit and is probably the most common error among golfers.
It can be incredibly frustrating to constantly hit a slice but as I’ve shown above there are a few simple things you can do to fix a slice.
Once you’ve got your alignment correct, swing path back to neutral and clubface square at impact using the drills I went through you should find yourself hitting longer and straighter shots.
If you still find that your slice is not fully corrected, one thing to look at would be your equipment.
Most modern drivers are adjustable, meaning you can set them to a draw or fade bias. That can help your game a lot on it’s own.
If after going through the corrections in this article you still find that you have too much of a left-to-right shot shape, try putting your driver in the draw setting.
This will close the clubface giving you extra help in fixing your slice.
Though it should be remembered that this is only an option with your driver or maybe your fairway woods.
This means that to fix a slice properly, including with your irons and wedges, you’ll need to correct the underlying issues with your swing to see the full results and improve your score.
It’s a shame that there are no quick fixes but if you can work hard on the drills I discussed you should see great results and find that you can fix a slice for good.
