SLICE!! FORE!!! LOST BALL!!

If this is something you see on a regular basis then this read is for you. We will take a look at what creates that nasty slice spin that causes your scores to skyrocket and your emotions to boil.

What creates a nasty slice is the path to face relationship. The path is the direction that the club is moving through the impact zone. This can be in-to-out, out-to-in or down-the-line. The face in relation to that path can be open, closed or square. For a slice the face will be open in relation to the path and the greater that difference the greater the curve. See chart below.

So how do we start fixing the slice. If you are like most players you have a club path that is out-to-in with a face that is point to the right. This is the dreaded over the top move that we here so much about. This is shown in top right of diagram above.

The first thing we need to do is get your path moving more to the right and have a face pointing left. This will create a draw. Below are a couple of drills to help create this feeling.

Draw Spin Pitch

The draw spin chip will work on developing the hand path relationship in small slower swing. This is where I would start.

First you will want to set up your station as seen below. Place a target 5 yards directly in front of your ball that would be on your target line. I have a pool noodle on an alignment stick. You will also want to place either a club or alignment stick outside your golf ball point to the right (to the left for left handers). This will give you the visual of where you want your hands and club to travel. Lastly I would place another alignment stick between your golf ball and feet. You can see the light green alignment string I have down.

For your body you will want to align square to the alignment stick between your body and ball. The key is to make sure your feet hips and shoulders are all square.

For the backswing we need to get the hands and club moving along the alignment stick and closer to our right hip (left hip for the left handers). Notice how my hips hasn’t turned much as I want to really feel my hands close to my right hip. My shoulders have turned around 15-20 degrees to where they are aligned to the right of my target.

For my arm swing the key is the trail arm. We want the trail arm to start to rotate as if I were getting ready to face my palm to the sky. Be careful when we do this as we don’t want the hands to move out away from the body and club back behind us. We want the hands to move in around us as well along with the club. From this position we will be able to swing the club more to the right.

Now that we are set up in our backswing position it is easier to make the in-to-out swing motion with the hands and club. In the downswing we want to focus on the hands and club head traveling down the alignment stick that is point to the right (left for left handers). The key for this is the alignment of the shoulders. We want to keep the shoulders from rotating to the left and keep they facing to the right or square to our target. If you are unfamiliar with swinging in-to-out I would focus on the shoulders be aligned to the right to start and as you get more comfortable you can work on them be aligned towards your target.

A good comparison would be to imaging your are hitting a top hand spin shot with your trail hand in tennis. You want the racquet moving through the ball to the right.

As you notice in my post impact position my shoulders still haven’t turned left and they are still pretty square to my target of the noddle. My club head is traveling to the right of the noodle as well as the ball. At this point I begin to feel my right start to turn over and face the ground. This is where I feel this starting to happen. For some of you, you may need to feel this earlier in the downswing. You will have to play around with it until you get the result you want.

At this point in the swing the shoulders and hips will be turning left but we don’t want them to be fully open. If I were to point a laser straight out from my belt buckle and my sternum they would be pointing to the right of the noodle. My club head has turned left and my arms are extended and also pointing to the right of my target. If you struggle with the follow through and chicken winging the club rehearse it without a ball to start focusing on the positions first. Adding a small balloon or impact ball between your forearms can help with this also.

You just learned the “Draw Pitch Shot” drill. The biggest takeaway is to practice slowly and focus on the positions and movements first. Don’t worry about the contact or the direction the ball is going to start. Set up a camera down the line (like the pictures shown above) and make sure you see the keys described above with the shoulders, hands and club head. When you watch the video if you aren’t doing it correctly then you are going to fast and need to slow down. Keep slowing down until you reach a speed where you see yourself doing it correctly. For some of you this may mean moving at a snails pace and that is okay. Once you get more comfortable with the movements then you can start to add some speed.

No Follow-Through Drill

The no follow-through drill is one my favorites as it shows people how their shoulders influencing their swing direction and release. It also will help students feel a better backswing position. The key with this drill as with any drill is to make sure you do it at a speed that you can do it correctly.

The setup is very similar to the “Draw Spin Pitch” drill. The only difference is here is I have a 7 iron instead of a wedge but you can start with a wedge and work you way up to a longer club as you get more comfortable with the drill. You can see that I have the alignment stick to the outside of my ball again pointing to the right to give me a visual of the direction I want my hands and club swinging. The key here just like the “Draw Spin Pitch” drill is that I am aligned to my target with my feet, hips and shoulders.

This don’t look like a backswing but this step is really important as it sets me up to back a better turn into by backswing which allows me to get the club in a better position. While staying in my posture and making sure to keep my forward waist bend as I lift the club up in front my head. Make sure to get it at head height and to have the hands in front of the head.

The second part of the backswing is rotating from the previous position to the right or left if you are a left handed golfer. The keys here are to have your lead shoulder (left for right handed golfer) rotate under your chin and to maintain your posture while keeping your head at the same height. Using a video camera to record here would be great feedback. When you reach your full rotation you want to make sure you that you have the club and your hands far away from your body and head.

The downswing may be difficult to start as your trained movements of coming over the top try to take over. The way to get past this is to move really slow and to keep your shoulders aligned to the right. The first couple of attempts you may even miss the ball and that is okay. We are more focused on developing a new movement pattern than the result of the shot. As you can see from the picture below my shoulders are matching the angle of the alignment stick on the ground and my club path is matching that of my shoulders.

Post impact is going to be a difficult part for many as the movements will feel very unnatural. What we are wanting to do here is keep the torso facing where the ball was on the ground and keeping our shoulders still pointing right. As you can see I have not rotated left yet but my club is past impact and the ball is going right. For the release of the club it is very important that we don’t cup the left wrist trying to close the face, instead we want to right hand to cover the left hand. A good drill to practice this is to place both hands flat together in front of you with your thumbs pointing up. Keeping them together rotate the right hand on top and the left hand on the bottom (opposite for left handed golfer). Make sure to just rotate the hands. The forearms may rotate a little but we don’t want the elbows or above to rotate or move. This is the same movement we want for the release of the club.

What we notice about the follow-through is that there really isn’t one. My body is still facing the ground and I have not rotate left. My club however has still released as my arms have folded up over my lead shoulder as if I were going to throw a bag over my left shoulder. Many of you will find that your body wants to rotate left and a small amount after impact is okay. We can see for me that my chest has turned maybe 15 degrees but overall is still facing to the right. If you find yourself still rotating left make sure to slow down and correct each and every swing by rotating back to where you ball was on the ground.

• Focus on the movement pattern and not the immediate result of the shot

• Use video feedback

• Practice the movements at a snails pace until it becomes more comfortable, then you can slowly speed up the process.

Giving these drills an honest effort means doing them regularly for months because we have to remember that your current movement pattern has been ingrained for years with thousands of reps. If we want to retrain a new movement pattern it is going to take some time and repetitions.

If you need any help with these drills or any parts of your game please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. I would be happy to help.

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Dillon Baker

www.dillonbakergolf.com