Proper setup is the first thing to achieve when finding out how to fix a slice. This starts with correctly gripping the club. Have a slightly “strong” grip, rotating your lead wrist clockwise with your thumb resting on the back side of the club shaft. For more on the grip, see our post “The Grip”.
A wide stance helps balance and allows you to have as much swing speed as possible. While when hitting irons the ball will be in the middle of your stance, it should be farther forward in your stance when hitting driver. A good starting point would be to have the ball lined up with the heel of your lead foot. See our post “Driver Setup” for more tips on addressing the ball with the driver.
Mark Crossfield covers the grip and ball position in the excellent video below. Let’s get stuck in as Mark likes to say.
Now that we know we have the proper setup, we can move on to how our swing is determining how the clubhead path and clubface angle and the relationship between the two, at impact, create the ball flight pattern.
Please note as we discuss the grip on the club, the following discussion will be aimed at a right handed golfer. Reverse for left handed golfers.
The biggest obstacle in the way of high handicap golfers improving their game is the inability to stop slicing the ball. A slice, a ball fight path that bends to the far right for right-handers and to the far left for left-handers, inhibits you from consistently hitting your target while shaving valuable distance from your shots. Although a slice can occur with any club, it is usually more pronounced with a driver due to the distance you hit it, the larger club face, lower loft, and the longer path the club head has to travel. Many amateurs try to compensate for their slice by aiming farther left when the best course of action is to eliminate the slice all together.
A number of factors can cause you to slice the ball, including your grip being too weak, the club face being too open at impact, and an “outside to in” swing. The first thing to check, and what we will be discussing in this post, is your grip.
First, let’s discuss the different ways in which your hands can interact in gripping the club. The three main golf grips, beginning with the most popular, are the overlapping, interlocking, and baseball grips. Tom Ringer explains the differences of each in the video below. I personally use and recommend the interlocking grip as I like how it keeps my arms and hands in unison.
Most high handicap golfers have too weak of a grip on the club. When we talk about weak or strong grip, we are not talking about the pressure used to grip the club, but rather the position of your hands, specifically your left hand. Most golfers who slice the ball hold the club in the palm of their hands when you should rather hold the club in your fingers with light pressure. To grip the club with a strong grip, begin by placing the heel pad of your left hand, the meaty part of your hand below your pinky, on top of the shaft, and wrap your fingers around the shaft as shown in the photo below. Your thumb will then rest along the right side of the shaft, not down the shaft as many golfers do. Your right hand then covers your left thumb with your left thumb resting in the crease in the palm of your right rand. Your right thumb then rests on the left side of the shaft, not straight down the shaft. For another explanation of this concept, please see LPGA instructor Kristin Sunderhaft’s great post “Improving your grip will improve your game”.
One final thought on your grip. Watch a PGA Tour event on TV and see when the pros grip the club. They grip the club while holding the club in the air, not after addressing the ball with the club on the ground. The benefit of gripping the club while holding it in the air is that it promotes gripping the club in your fingers and not your palms. Check out the video below as Matt Hilton explains.
We’ve covered three important concepts regarding the grip – the types of grips allowing interaction of your hands, how to have a strong grip, and when to grip the club. The grip is one of the easier parts of your game to correct. You can also practice your grip almost anywhere. If you’re looking for how to fix a slice, start by improving your grip.
This post is a followup to a post I wrote entitled Master Your Straight Golf Shot where I advise against purposely shaping your shot with a draw (right to left for righties) or a fade (left to right for righties) and encourage you to hit a straight shot. I watched a YouTube video tonight from Joseph Mayo (@TrackmanMaestro) and Grant Waite (@grantwaite) of Waite Mayo Golf. The video was made for a beginner or high handicap golfer audience and discusses grip, stance and weight shift.
In the segment on stance, they discuss the common problem of slicing the ball which many beginner and high handicap golfers have and how these golfers are told to hit the ball straight. Joseph and Grant argue against hitting the ball straight, citing it’s nearly impossible, and even pro golfers could not do it consistently if they tried. Rather than trying to teach high handicap golfers something even pros cannot do, they recommend hitting a predictable curve. A predictable curve is either a draw or a fade. Since many golfers have a problem with slicing, learning to hit a draw would not only give you a predictable ball flight path but would also correct the slice.
I encourage everyone to watch the video. Joseph and Grant provide great tips on a level everyone can understand. I know it has changed the way I think how high handicap golfers should setup and hit the ball.
