The slice is one of the most common issues we see with high handicap golfers and can often come with some demoralizing results. For someone who produces a slice it can often be difficult to get any kind of real distance on the golf ball, and as the clubs get longer and the swings faster, the ball will tend to go more and more offline. Fixing the problem can often be difficult to imagine for your average slicer of the golf ball, but it is achievable. First we must understand why a slice occurs.
There are two main factors that combine to dictate the starting direction and the curvature of the golf ball, they are Face angle and Club Path. The club face alignment is simply where the face of the golf club points at impact. The club path can generally be considered the direction that the club is traveling through impact. The larger these two are apart the more curvature will be on the golf ball. The ball will always curve from where the path is directed, towards where the face is providing contact is made with the center of the club face. If we look at the images below you will notice that in the first image the path of the club is moving to the left (out to in for right handed golfers). Because the face of the club is pointing to the right of the path direction, the ball will curve right as a result.
The opposite can be said for the next image. You will see below the face angle is pointing left of the club path and as a result the ball will curve left. These are the results we want to achieve in order to turn our slice into a draw.
The fix
In order to turn a slice into a draw we have to get the club moving more in to out and also get the club face to point left of the path. One of the most popular drills that we will use at the golf school is using an alignment stick and a foam swimming noodle as you can see below.
The alignment stick and noodle are place approximately 2 feet in front of the golfer, roughly along the same line as the shaft angle and placed in the ground just inside the ball to target line. For most slicers of the golf ball they will generally either strike the foam noodle or else swing underneath it. This is how we can begin to identify that the club path is out to in. To get someone into more of a draw shape swing we simply ask the golfer to try and swing above the foam noodle, but allow the club face to point left or release as naturally as possible. Starting off with small swings the goal is to get some sort of right to left curvature on the ball. Once comfortable with small swings the golfer can slowly build up to a full swing, and turn their slice into a draw.
