However, by using alignment rods, you will know for certain where you are aligned even if your brain says, 'this just doesn’t feel right.' No wonder it's so hard to align properly! Golf is one of the hardest sports to aim since as you look down at the ball, facing forward, while actually aiming at a target 90 degrees to your left. The use of alignment rods, or at least a golf club shaft, will help you get a true bearing. Many slicers, myself included, feel as though you're aiming straight, but in reality, you are aligned far too left in order to compensate for the expected slice. My first suggestion is to focus on your alignment. Using alignment rods to help correct golf slice I’m not an instructor but I have been around the game for 30 years. That said, I was able to finally get that persistent slice out of my game and here is what worked for me.

My friends said, “open your stance”, “close your stance”, “weaken your grip”, strengthen your grip” (you get the idea).Įven if one of those suggestions worked, I never knew it because the other sequences were out of synch. The yardage I lost was about as frustrating as the slice itself. If the fairway was narrow, I was always in the woods. They never want you to play better than them, they want your bet money.īut in all seriousness, I've dealt with a slice for years, aiming far left knowing the boomerang ball would end up on the far right-hand side of the fairway. While they intend well, the other problem is listening to your golf buddies.Īlthough they may want you to play better golf, they never want you to play better than them, they want your bet money! This will cause you to be more frustrated than when you began since you'll feel the article that was supposed to fix the problem only made it worse.

In regards to the information you read and the feedback you're given, if you don't follow the instructions to a T, you will be reinforcing the old bad swing sequence.

You need real feedback at the driving range to actually correct your swing. In order to know if you are truly executing the swing fixes suggested in the what you've read, it's important that you get true feedback at the driving range, either by a qualified golf instructor or by a training aid like our own patented golf swing aid, for instance (a not so subtle plug, I know!). Merely a part of solving the issue with random slices. While reading articles written by instructors is a good option, it's not the entirety of a solution. They've read countless articles on the best fixes, but when those suggestions didn’t work right away, they ended up listening to their golf buddies who all pitched in giving, in their opinion, the solution to fix a slice. Then, to help assure you square the club head before striking the ball, you should feel that your left knuckles are turning toward the ground, not moving upward toward the sky.In my time, I've met quite a few golfers that, while they've golfed for years, still have trouble with randomly slicing the ball. To achieve more power at impact, golf instructor Jim McLean says when your right arm moves in front of your right hip, the palm of your right hand should be square to the target and your left leg should be fully straight. If you rotate your hips correctly, the front of your body will face the target on your follow through, rather than your side. On the downswing, he advises right-handed golfers to focus on “turning the right hip toward the ball.” This will cause the left hip to rotate properly. Nicklaus says proper downswing hip movement is set up by a full hip rotation on the backswing. Sliding the hips laterally toward the target, rather than rotating the hips, is a key cause of many shots that are pushed to the right, according to Jack Nicklaus. Haney’s former pupil, Tiger Woods, begins his downswing by letting his arms drop naturally, giving them “a little head start” before turning his shoulders. However you begin the downswing, Haney says, it’s important that your weight shifts from your back to your front foot during this sequence, to generate maximum power. Slicers should keep their shoulders back while beginning the downswing, allowing the hands and arms to lower the club head, thereby keeping the club face square on impact.

Golf instructor Hank Haney says golfers who tend to slice should begin the downswing by rotating their arms first, to extend the club in front of their body, then should rotate their hips. This move begins the forward weight shift that’s necessary to create good club head speed. PGA teaching pro Rick Smith says the transition actually begins a fraction of a second before the club reaches the top of the backswing, when a player’s hip and trunk should move slightly toward the target.

Golf downswing sequence