Fix A Slice

Let me ask you a question before beginning. If you turn your head, shoulders and upper body ahead of the ball prior to impact - which way will the ball fly?

Well, if you are turning to the left ( for righties), shouldn’t the ball go left? Logical, however, it is erroneous. You will hit either a big push or slice the crap out of it. Why is that?

Fact is, if the head and upper body move ahead of the ball prematurely, the arms and the club will lag too far behind. The clubface will be unable to square up to the target line at impact. The clubface will in fact be “open” at impact (facing to the right). Unless your fairway is 150 yards wide, you will be in the jungle, the Lake of Shiny Golf Balls or bark it off the roof of someone’s condo.

This move, often called ”coming over the top”, afflicts about 80% of golfers. You at least can take comfort from the fact that even Tiger can park them into the right tree line when he’s got the big dog stuck behind him. If he didn’t have such a phenomenal short game, he wouldn’t break 79 on those days.

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What also sets Tiger apart is the fact that he can summon thousands of dollars worth of teaching and technical wizardry to bring him back on the freeway and away from the offramp.

The only golfer I have ever seen who had virtually no left or right in his game was Moe Norman. I had the unique experience of shagging balls for Moe at a couple of exhibitions when both of us were a good deal younger. Honestly, I don’t think I moved more than a couple of steps to retrieve ball after ball.

He was about as pure as I have ever seen. Like Moe used to say, only he and Ben Hogan ever played from the same divot marks in the afternoon round from where they hit it in the morning. Hyperbole? Not really, and only if the wind shifted direction in the afternoon.

Moe’s swing is a bit egocentric, but an extraordinary example of self-discovery. The big bits of Moe’s swing can be replicated, but few have even come close to mastering it. What few people realize is Moe was unbelievably strong in the hands, forearms and chest. That club was smoking through impact. Mere mortals experience a considerable drop off in distance in their attempts to repeat his action.

Excuse that digression. Let me return to explaining to you one of the biggest reasons for your slice. Actually, it is not because you are a real pathetic golfer. What do you think it is? ... the outside/in, the poor turn, the inside/out or the improper wrist cock?

The culprit in 90% of cases is your alignment.

Hit it straight and far, go here learn how.

I won’t go into how to remedy alignment in this article because I have a whole post devoted to solving this problem. Let me warn you not to gloss over this observation. Touring pros almost obsessively work on getting this right on a daily basis. If you get twisted about, your swing has to make adjustments to get the club back on line. When it is moving at 100 plus miles/hour, the odds are against you.