Finally…Three Slice Fixes That Actually Work

By Jack Moorehouse

Slicing is among golf’s top swing faults. In fact, it’s probably the biggest fault in the game, bigger even than hooking—another major swing error—or topping. For example, more players who take my golf lessons slice the ball than hook or top it. Unfortunately, a big slice gets you into trouble, hurting your golf handicap.

If you’re among the thousands of frustrated players who slice, don’t despair. There’s hope. You can correct your slice by making a few simple adjustments to your swing. After that, it’s just a matter of practice and you’ll be slice-free.

Slicing comes from hitting the ball with an open clubface, as opposed to hooking in which you hit the ball with a closed clubface. There are several ways to correct a slice. Below we look at three of them.

Get A Grip
One reason players slice is their grip. The way a player grips his or her club at address determines the swing’s shape, and more importantly, the clubface’s position at impact. That in turn determines ballflight, as I’ve pointed out in my golf tips. If you slice the ball, you may have a “weak” grip at address—that is, your hands are placed too far to the left of the shaft.

A correct grip rotates the hands more to the right (for right-handers). To strengthen the grip, position the thumb of your left hand to the right of the shaft’s center. Two or three knuckles on your left hand should be showing. The right hand rotates to the right to match the left hand’s re-positioning. One way to determine how much to rotate your hands is to turn them to the right until you start hooking, then back off on the grip until you’re hitting the ball the way your want.

Lighten Up
Many golfers—in an effort to hit real bombs—tighten up on their grip before swinging. Tightening up on your hands (and arms) at address inhibits the clubface’s natural rotation during the swing. Hence, you finish with an open clubface at impact. Instead of a deep drive down the middle, you slice the shot to the right, landing you in the rough or maybe out of bounds.

Obviously, you need to “lighten up” your grip. Relaxing your grip pressure encourages a freer, more natural rotation of the clubface. Thus, you have more of a chance of having a square clubface at impact instead of an open one. How do you determine sufficient pressure? Imagine a scale running from zero to 10, where 10 is the tightest your grip could be and zero the lightest it could be and still hold onto the club. The ideal grip pressure would be a three. That number provides just enough pressure to hold onto the club firmly but not enough to inhibit the clubface’s natural rotation prior to impact.

Flatten Your Plane
Another swing error that causes a slice is approaching the ball on too vertical a plane during the swing. A flatter swing plane promotes a more natural rotation of the clubface, squaring it at impact and generating the preferred right-to-left ball flight.

To learn the feel of a flatter swing plane, try swinging with the club moving at a knee- high level, as if your were swinging a baseball bat. Swinging the club like a bat helps you feel the flatter, more rounded swing plane you need to allow the toe of the clubhead past the heel. After a few baseball swings, try hitting a ball with the same feel. Your ball flight will be straighter, maybe even a little right to left.

These tips will help you cure your slice. Try them on the practice range, then when you’ve ingrained them in your swing, take them to the course. While there’s nothing wrong with hitting a power fade, like Jack Nicklaus, slicing only gets you in trouble, which does nothing for your score or your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.