Slicing

Tee It High To Cure Your Slice

If you can’t hit your woods off the tee–or when you do hit them, the ball slices uncontrollably–chances are that your downswing is too steep. The reason this occurs is that the clubface can’t return to square when it comes down so vertically, and the open clubface creates a slice.

To fix this problem, perform what I call the tall tee drill. Take a fairway wood or small-sized driver. Tee the ball so that the entire surface sits above the face of the club (you may need the longer 2 3__ã4-inch tees to accomplish this). In order to hit this ball solidly, you’ll need to make a more sweeping downswing. Your goal should be to hit the top of the tee and the golf ball simultaneously. This will produce better contact, and because the shallower downswing will allow the clubface to more easily achieve a squared position, you’ll hit straighter shots. You’ll know if your downswing is too steep if you pop the ball straight up in the air or miss it completely.

When you go on the course, tee the ball only slightly higher than normal until you’re comfortable hitting from the taller tee.

Rob Stock is an assistant golf professional at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va. Stock also is a certified golf fitness trainer.

Three Slice FIxes

There’s only one thing that can cause a slice, and that’s a clubface that’s either open (or opening) at the point of contact. That being said, here are three tips to help you square up the clubface and rid your game of that slice forever!

Get A Stronger Grip. The clubface tends to return to the ball open when the hands are placed on the club in a weak position–that is, turned too far to the left. A correct grip has the hands rotated more to the right. To strengthen your grip, rotate your left hand so that your thumb is positioned to the right of center (two to three knuckles should be visible). The right hand also should be rotated to the right, matching the angle of the left hand. To experiment, turn your hands to the right until the ball begins to hook, then back off a little for optimal positioning.

Ease Up! Excessive pressure in your hands and arms inhibits the natural rotation of the clubface through the hitting area. Soften the pressure in your hands, wrists, arms and shoulders to encourage a more natural, effortless face rotation. If you imagined a scale running from zero to 10, where 10 was the tightest you could possibly squeeze the club and zero was the club slipping out of your hands, then the ideal pressure for most shots would be a 3.

Flatten Your Plane. Most slicers approach the ball on too vertical a plane, another error that facilitates an open clubface at the point of contact. A flatter swing shape will promote a natural squaring of the clubface and create the preferred right-to-left ballflight. To sense the feeling of swinging on a flatter plane, make some practice swings with the clubhead moving back and through at knee-high level. Swinging the club in this elevated position will help you feel the more rounded swing shape needed to allow the toe of your clubhead to rotate past the heel. After a few of these baseball swings, try one off the ground with the same feel. Your ensuing ballflight should be much straighter and, perhaps, curve slightly to the left.

PGA professional Jeff Ritter is the Director of Instruction at the ASU Karsten Golf Academy in Tempe, Ariz.

Mix And Match

Every golfer has suffered through it–getting worse while attempting to get better, ultimately tinkering unnecessarily and sending an A game directly to F. While it’s important to discover ways to fine-tune your swing, it’s critical that you do so with an eye toward keeping the key elements of your motion intact. Uninformed tinkering invariably unbalances your swing’s matchups, and it’s a big reason why most recreational players can never truly rid their games of slices and hooks.

This article will provide you with a way to construct a better overall swing and then keep it free from swing viruses. The key to this method is becoming aware of your swing matchups–the blueprint that will allow you to assess the advisability of each swing change under consideration. To build a sound swing and then keep it healthy and devoid of errors, you should know how to construct your own personalized matchup string.

The Law Of The Strings states that the golf swing is comprised of several elements that, when joined, form a string. The Law also states that if you change one of the partners in the string, you must change the others to prevent your swing from becoming unbalanced. The key elements of your string are clubface position, ball position, front foot flare, hip action and release pattern. The most dominant element of the string is clubface position at the top of the backswing. As such, an open-face player has one kind of string, the square-face player another and the closed-face player still another.

3 Strings
_Ê
1 Open-Face Player. The open-face player has the following matching elements: an open clubface, forward ball position, a de-flared front foot, a good deal of lateral hip action and a handsy release keyed by an extended right arm at impact.

2 Square-Face Player. The square-face player requires a medium ball position, a flared front foot, modest lateral hip action and a blended arms/hands/body release pattern with a slight bend in the back elbow at impact.

3 Closed-Face Player. The shut-face player begins the string with a closed clubface, a back ball location, a front foot that’s flared-plus, minimal lateral hip action and a body release featuring a moderately bent trail elbow at impact.

Clubface Position
The position of the clubface at impact is what controls shot direction, but since it’s difficult to see clubface position at the point of impact, clubface position at the top of the swing is used to classify players. In the absence of any downswing compensations, a closed face at the top will produce a draw while an open face will create a fade. If the face is too closed, you get a hook; too open, a slice.

An open face at the top has the toe of the club pointing toward the ground. The toe of a closed clubface points toward the sky. To determine your face position, use a video camera or, better still, consult your teaching pro.

Ball Position
The range of ball position for any club is from the middle of the stance to the tip of the front shoulder. Basically, the farther forward the ball position, the more to the left the ball will initially start. This explains why an open-face player needs to play the ball forward, so the ball will start left of target, then fade back. A closed-face player needs the ball back toward the midline of the stance in order to allow for the draw.

Mismatching ball position and clubface position is seriously dangerous business. A fader of the ball will face a long day of high slices to the right if he or she plays the ball too far back in the stance. A square-face player with this same ball position will hit mostly pushes. Conversely, a draw player (closed face) will hit low hooks with the ball played too far forward while the square-face player, who’s otherwise perfectly matched up, will pull the shot.

Foot Flair
Turning out your front foot (flaring) delays the formation of the left wall that triggers the release, a good match for an overly shut face where delay is beneficial. Deflaring your front foot makes the release occur sooner and is helpful to the open-face player whose fade has turned to a slice. Foot flare ranges from deflared (foot perpendicular to target line) to max flared (45 degrees to target line).

Foot flare/clubface mismatches are common. The most damaging of these are matching a deflared foot and a closed-face position (severe hooks), an overly flared foot and open-clubface position (push slices), and a square-face position with extremeness in foot flair either way (pulls and pushes).

Hip Action
The more your hips move laterally before they turn, the more time the clubface has to rotate through impact. Thus, a lot of lateral hip action provides an open clubface the time it needs to square up. To prevent overclosing of the shut clubface, the matchup is hips that rotate early with minimal lateral motion.

Common hip action/clubface mismatches are overly active hips paired with a closed clubface (fore left!) and minimal lateral hip action with an open face (fore right!).

Release Pattern
The angles of power created during the backswing must be released at impact in sync with the rest of the elements in your matchup string, most notably your clubface position. An open clubface requires a more hands/arms release where the right elbow straightens to push the face square. A shut face demands a body release where the hands/arms are very quiet and the right elbow bend is retained to hold off the rotation of the clubhead. Mismatch these in any combination and you’ll produce the opposite trajectory and ballflight you’d expect from your typical motion.

What these matchups add up to is a simple credo I teach all of my students: If you want to change your swing, you must change your string. In other words, you can’t simply alter the individual components of your motion–it’s an all-or-none endeavor.

The best way to get matched up is to choose your string, then experiment with each element of that string to find the exact ball position, foot flare, hip action, etc., that fits your body type, strength and flexibility. If you’re committed to improving, experimenting with different foot flares and ball positions can be a lot of fun. String elements are powerful, and slight changes in each can create very different ballflight patterns. Strategically charting the results from changing different string elements will put you more in touch with your game and greatly increase your knowledge and command of the physical dynamics of the swing.

PGA professional T.J. Tomasi is the Director of Instruction at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield, Conn.

Slice: Rights, Boomers And Flares

Golf Fact #1: There are millions of golfers who have never hit a hook, but there isn’t a single player alive who hasn’t at one time or another sliced the ball. Why? Think of it this way: In terms of golf survival, the mother of all musts is getting the ball into the air–it’s the first and by far the most important problem you must solve. And to get the ball airborne, many golfers feel the need to chop down on the ball with an open clubface and with a very steep approach. While this technique works well as in Houston, we have liftoff, the joy in the control room is short-lived because while steepness is your friend during liftoff, it’s your enemy during the rest of the flight, imparting too much sidespin on the golf ball.

So here’s the great paradox in golf: Imbedded in the cure of its most primordial problem (getting the ball airborne) is the virus that causes the slice (an open clubface). Accomplish the one and you’re automatically infected by the other. Now, the second great paradox: You’re aware of all this, but nonetheless can’t stop slicing. The reason why the slice is such a pesky foe is that there are three unique kinds of slices (plus their offspring), and the generic cures offered in most instruction articles don’t work because they’re written for The Slice, not the slice you have at a particular moment.

Since 90 percent of new golfers aim to the right, 90 percent of new golfers are forced to overspin the shoulders to pull the ball back to the target. Aim far enough to the right and the shoulders spin so violently that the clubface becomes trapped behind the body, causing it to remain open at impact. Thus, the ball shoots to the right of the target, then cuts even farther right–the Mini Right-To-Right. If the shoulders spin faster, the Mini turns into an Adult Right-To-Right with even worse consequences.

With the ball flying so far right, you adjust by opening your stance and aiming to the left of the target. Now, the ball starts way left and slices back toward the target–the Baby Boomer. Aiming more to the left to accommodate your Baby Boomer works until, in an effort to hit it too hard with the right side, you actually square the clubface to the path with an aggressive over-the-top move of the shoulders. The result is a pull way left of target. (In the family of slices, the pull is the first cousin to the slice.) To correct the pull, you introduce a chicken-winged left arm to open the face at impact. This results in an even bigger slice that finishes to the right of the target (the Adult Boomer). To fix this, you aim (open up) even more left and employ more chicken wing. This causes the mother of all Boomerangs, the Sonic Boomer, a ball that starts way left and exits right, melting your scores as it nestles somewhere near Topeka.

Sick of this score-wrecker, you listen to the advice of your playing buddies that you’re aiming way left, so you aim in the general direction of the target, but still employ your old friend the chicken wing. Aided by the open face at impact, the ball starts in the general direction of the target and then spins to the right–welcome to the Flare. Hit enough Flares and you’ll subconsciously open your stance to start it more left, causing a reintroduction of the Baby Boomer. And so the cycle goes.

I’ve seen thousands of golfers endure this endless loop of faux fixes and slice progressions. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. We’re about to embark on a Slice Eradication Program (S.E.P.) that I’m sure will help you get your ball flying more toward your targets. The S.E.P. involves: 1) recognizing that there’s more than one way to slice a golf ball; 2) identifying what slice you’re currently producing (see above); 3) learning the key anti-slice matchups; and finally, 4) grooving a no-slice swing.

Learn Anti-Slice Matchups
Before we attack ways to correct the type of slice with which you’re currently infected, it’s important to become aware of six Anti-Slice Matchups. These matchups are key to removing damaging sidespin from your ballflight regardless of the type of slice you typically produce. They’re the hallmarks of a consistently straight shot pattern.

1. Target And Clubface
Aim your clubface correctly so it’s pointing where you want the ball to start. Select an intermediate target, then use the vertical aiming lines that are a part of every club to get your clubface pointed in the right direction.
2. Body And Target Line
Arrange your body correctly, paying particular attention to your shoulders. In the swing, the arms follow the shoulders; if your shoulders are too open or closed at address, you’ll cut across the ball at impact.
3. Spine Angle And Shoulder Tilt
Since the shoulders work perpendicularly to the spine, how your spine is angled at address holds the key to what kind of slicer you are. If your spine is too upright, your shoulders will swing on too level a plane, trapping the club behind you so you have to come over the top and produce the Boomerang or, if you exaggerate enough, the Right-To-Right. If your posture is too bent over, the club will swing on too steep a plane, often causing the Flare.
4. Ball Position and Shoulder Position
A ball that’s played too far forward causes the shoulders to open; too far back creates closed shoulders. Use the ball position that will allow you to align your shoulders parallel left to your target line–it will vary according to your body build.
5. Grip And Clubface Position
The positioning of the hands on the grip must allow for either a flat or slightly bowed left wrist–stay away from the slice-causing cupped wrist. A neutral grip typically creates a flat left wrist (square face), a strong grip augments a bowed left wrist (shut face) and a weak grip too often creates a cupped left wrist (open face).
6. Foot Flare And Release
The front foot should be adjusted by experimenting with less flare. The amount of flare of the front foot controls the release of the clubface–the less flare, the sooner the front leg straightens, causing an earlier release by squaring the face more aggressively.

Groove A No-Slice Swing
The following anti-slice fixes apply only to the specific slice type for which they’re meant to cure. This illustrates the importance of recognizing the type of slice your swing typically produces–whether it’s the Flare, Right-To-Right or Boomerang. Once you define your slice, the journey is half over as the following fixes are quick and take just a few practice hours to ingrain.

Fixing The Right-To-Right
Curing the slice demands a counterintuitive approach. Basically, the cure isn’t what you think it should be. You have to do the opposite of what you think because the slice is a fooler–feel and real are different._Ê

To fix the Right-To-Right, your task is to start the ball left of target and let it fade back to target. Once that’s done, experiment deflaring your front foot until the ball begins to draw away from the target. Then, adjust your aim/alignment until the ball flies directly at the target as follows:

1. Aim slightly left of the target and align your body parallel left to the clubface line.
2. Move the ball forward in your stance one ball width.
3. Incline your spine more than you’re used to by bending more from your hip joints (not your shoulders).
4. Increase the flare of your back foot to promote more backswing turn.
5. Hinge your wrists correctly (see the In-Line Hinging Drill).
6. From the top of the swing, bring the club down before it moves around (see the Down-Then-Around Drill).

In-Line Hinging Drill
Stand with your left arm and shaft extended in front of you in a straight line. Now, hook the shaft with the fingers of your right hand and pull directly toward your head, just as you’d cock the hammer of a pistol. This is hinging or in-line set. Any cupping opens the face. Again, you want a square or slightly bowed left wrist at the top of your swing.

Down-Then-Around Drill
Get to the top of your swing and stop. The first move is to drop the arms down to waist high without turning your upper body. Do this, then stop. Slowly bring the clubface to the ball with your body turn. This will give you the feel of first the club comes down, then it comes around. Get into your address position again and stop halfway back in your takeaway. Pump your arms to the top, then back down to halfway. Do this twice. On the third pump, hit the ball. Once the ball starts drawing away from the target, adjust the ball position and aim/alignment until the ball flies directly at the target.

Fixing The Boomerang
Your task is to start the ball well right of target then, by making the following changes, spin the ball back toward the target.

1. Aim your clubface to the right of the target–a lot for the Sonic Boomer, a little for the Baby Boomer.
2. Align your hips and feet parallel left of the clubface and with your shoulders slightly closed.
3. Move the ball back in your stance two ball widths. This will generate closed shoulders.
4. Increase your spine incline by bending more from the hips than usual with your rear end out and up, as if you were sitting on a tall bar stool.
5. Keep your hands on your toe line during the takeaway. To help you accomplish this and guard against an inside takeaway, pick a spot about 24 inches away behind your ball on the target line. Tap this spot with your clubhead hard enough to leave a mark. Now, take you clubhead over the mark during your takeaway. This guards against bringing back the club too far to the inside.
6. On the downswing, approach the ball from inside the target line (see the Inside Path Drill).

Inside Path Drill
Set up an arc of balls. The concept here is that you swing over the first ball and hit the second ball, then let the clubhead pass over the last ball on the arc. (It won’t actually pass over the last ball, but it should feel as if it does.) Swinging along this line grooves an inside approach to the ball.

7. With these adjustments, your ball will fly to the right. Your task is to spin the ball back to the target by imparting right-to-left sidespin. Adjust the amount of spin by the amount you release your forearms (see Forearm Release Drill). After you can successfully spin the ball from right to left, cut back on the level of forearm rotation and adjust your aim and alignment until the clubface points at the target and the body is aligned parallel left.

Forearm Release Drill
Make at least three practice swings, letting your forearms cross over so you finish with the butt end of the shaft pointing at the target line. Hit some half-shots and check your finish, making sure the butt end of the shaft points along the target line.

Fixing The Flare
Of all the different slice fixes, the Flare is the easiest to correct. You simply need to add more forearm rotation and link the turn with the movement of your body.

1. Aim your clubface slightly left of the target along with your hips and feet.
2. Deflare your front foot to encourage an earlier release of the clubhead.
3. Move the ball back in your stance about a ball width to guard against open shoulders.
4. Release your forearms through impact (see the Forearm Release Drill).
5. Be sure to rotate your body in sync with the rotation of your forearms. If you stop your body, you’ll pull the ball to the left.
6. Once the ball starts left of target and stays there on a regular basis, adjust your aim until the ball flies directly at the target.

These steps may sound complicated, but in reality, they’re a natural progression of moves to combat the series of mistakes repeated, lost and repeated again during the Vicious Slice Cycle. If you’re serious about ridding your game of the banana ball once and for all, follow the above-mentioned steps. There are other quick cures out there, but rarely do they fix the true root of the slice problem. The Slice Eradication Program, however, will produce tangible, lasting improvement.

PGA professional Dr. T.J. Tomasi is regarded as one of the top 100 teachers in America, and is one of the most widely published authorities on the golf swing. He currently instructs at Pistol Creek Golf Club located just outside Hartford, Conn.

Stop Coming Over The Top

Editor’s Note: Story updated May 10, 2017 — It’s a phrase heard on driving ranges, tee boxes and fairways nationwide. I’m coming over the top. It’s a lament as common as I’m lifting my head or I’m swinging too fast. And as hard as golfers try to correct this fault, most endure little success. The slice sticks around and continues to wreak havoc on the scorecard, head and heart. As a golfer you deserve better!

Golfers who come over the top do so because they have no other option. In other words, coming over the top is a necessary compensation for an earlier problem. In fact, if a player was to actually come down on the inside or on-plane, he or she would be worse off. The key to fixing the problem of coming over the top is to first understand why it happens. Once a player understands what created the need to execute an over-the-top move, he or she can fix the problem at its root, resulting in a downswing that’s from the inside or on-plane.

4 most common backswing errors that result in coming over the top in the downswing are:
1. Taking the club away too flat or under the swing plane
2. Stranding the majority of weight on the left (forward) leg at the top of the backswing
3. Creating a narrow swing arc
4. Leaving the clubface open at the top

Flat Takeaway

Taking away the club too flat is the most common of the backswing flaws. This flaw can cause a vicious cycle. The more a player is aware that he or she is over the top, the more he or she is likely to take the club away to the inside.

Learning to take the club back correctly on-plane begins with learning the proper setup posture. When most players set up, the first thing they do is look down at the ball by bending at the neck and shoulders, in effect, not bending at the hips. When a player fails to tilt from the hips, his or her natural takeaway plane will be to the inside or too flat—more like a baseball swing than a golf swing.

The proper posture begins by tilting from the hips while keeping the shoulders back and the chin up. This posture is the one that best allows you to take the club back properly, with the clubhead lining up with the hands at the waist-high position and the shaft hinging skyward in line with the left forearm. These moves set the club on-plane and in front of the body and in perfect position to come back down on-plane or even slightly to the inside.

A second flaw that causes an inside takeaway is rotating the arms faster than the upper body. When this happens, the player’s arms get trapped behind the body, and the only way to get them back in front and strike the ball squarely is to come over the top.

Your forearm rotation should match your shoulder rotation. When these two rotations are linked, the arms will remain in front of the body, effectively leaving room to bring the club down on-plane.

Reverse Pivot

The next most common error that leads to an over-the-top move is having too much weight on the left (forward) leg at the top of the backswing (left). A player’s natural reaction to this misallocation of weight is to fall backward in the downswing. Weight always goes where it hasn’t been—in other words, if the majority of your weight is on your forward leg at the top of the backswing, you’ll naturally transfer it into your back leg on the way back down. Bad news, because if you transition into your back leg at the beginning of the downswing, the club will be centrifugally thrown out and over the top. If you transition into your forward leg at the beginning of the downswing, however, the club will be centrifugally pulled from the inside.

What causes a reverse pivot? The most typical flaw is lower-body sway. When the lower body slides away from the target on the backswing, the upper body falls toward the target. The cure to ending the reverse weight shift is to learn to resist with the lower body and coil with the upper body. The lower body should be the foundation for the upper body during the backswing. Tiger Woods commonly talks about the importance of maintaining pressure on the inside of his right leg by slightly forward-pressing his right knee toward the target as he takes back the club. By doing so, he keeps his hips from sliding, yet allows his right leg to accept the rearward transition of weight.

Narrow Arc

The third most common reason for coming over the top is narrowing the swing arc. A good way to think of swing arc is the distance between the butt of your golf club to the right side of your head at the top of the backswing. If and when the swing arc narrows, the room needed to drop down the club on-plane in the downswing disappears. The typical reaction to this lack of swinging room is to throw the club out and over the top.

The most influential component of swing arc is the position of the right arm throughout the backswing. A player with a narrow swing arc tends to fold the right arm too early or keep it unnaturally pinned to the right side all the way to the top. Both flaws pull the club in too close to the body. The player with this flaw will feel the need to free the club by throwing it way over the top and away from the body.

As you take the club to the top, focus on pressing your right palm against the your left thumb (for right-handed golfers). This maintenance of pressure effectively pushes the butt of the club farther away from the head while also straightening the left arm and leveraging the golf club. If you can maintain that pressure to the completion of the backswing, you’ll create all the room you’ll need to naturally pull the club down on-plane.

Open Face

The fourth most common reason why a player comes over the top is an open clubface. When the clubface is left open at the top of the backswing, the natural reaction is to swing to the left (over the top) to get the clubface square at impact.

An open clubface at the top can typically be traced back to a weak grip at address. Weak, as it’s used here, refers to the actual strength of your grip, not the positioning of your hands on the handle. If you grip the club with your palms, you have a weak grip, and the club will tend to fan open in the takeaway.

In a stronger grip, the club runs more through the fingers. The left thumb pad sits more on top of the grip, while the lifeline of the right palm sits on top of the left thumb. This grip will allow you to set the shaft on-plane in the takeaway, set your wrists properly and keep the clubface from fanning open.

If any of the errors described here exist, attack them by using the advice provided. This approach will produce cures that result in long-lasting, positive results.

The Todd Sones Impact Golf Center is located at White Deer Run Golf Club in Vernon Hills, Ill., (847) 549-9678, www.toddsones.com.

Break The Ice

The majority of my new students fight a slice. That is, they tend to leave the clubface open at impact. An open clubface will impart left-to-right sidespin on the ball regardless of the path on which your club travels through the hitting zone. If you struggle with a slice, you know how frustrating the game can be. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way.

The following drill–actually, simply the image of it–has greatly helped my slicing students. It has taught them to square up the clubface at impact and finally lose that left-to-right arc once and for all. Here’s how it works.

Arrange a block of ice cubes two or three inches in front of the golf ball on the intended target line. Address the ball with a 6- or 7-iron. Then, have a friend kick away the ball and begin your swing.

From the top of your swing, focus on hitting past the spot where you normally play the ball and strike the ice cube block with the toe end of the club. Golfers who slice the ball will tend to simply push the clubface into the ice and lead with the heel end of the club first. This is an open clubface, and will lead to a glancing blow and most likely a slice. Rather, feel the toe digging into the ice and breaking it. This sensation will lead to a better squaring of the face at impact and a straighter shot pattern.

You don’t need the ice to gain benefit from this drill. Simply imagine the sight and sound of the toe of the club cutting into and breaking apart the block. Use this image while hitting a golf ball. It’s amazing to see the look on my students’ faces after they perform this drill and truly feel the dynamics of a square clubface at impact and the sensation of compression.

Professional golf instructor Barry Goldstein is the director of golf at Polar Shot Golf Center in Johnson City, N.Y. He also instructs at the Coral Springs Golf Range in Coral Springs, Fla.

Battle Of The Bend!

The great thing about bending your ball in a consistent direction is that it makes navigating the golf course a heckuva lot easier. One example is simply being able to take advantage of the entire width of the fairway. A common fairway might span 30 yards or so in width and many golfers might be inclined to aim down the middle. Knowing that nearly every shot will have some bend, the player who opts for a straight line direction essentially will be reducing their landing area to only 15 yards. In contrast, a consistent fader of the golf ball understands the best play is to aim down the left-hand side. In the unlikely occurrence of a straight shot, the ball still lands in the left side of the fairway. A perfect fade lands in the middle, and even too much slice now settles to rest in the short grass down the right side. If you can play a predicable curve, you can surely have more fun playing any course.

In golf, there are really two kinds of players: those who bend the ball predominantly to the left and those who bend it to the right. Either is fine, as long as the pattern is reasonable and repeatable, and the ball consistently lands in play. Unfortunately, though, many golfers have inconsistent and unreasonable shot patterns, leading to lots of lost balls and rocket-high scores. Why? Because we try too often to hit the ball perfectly straight, which, frankly, is much more difficult than it is to hit consistent fades and draws.

In striking a golf shot, the components of swingpath, clubface, angle of attack, solidness of contact and speed all work together to produce a given ballflight. As it relates to curvature, we look mostly at the combination of clubface and swingpath and how they relate. To hit a ball perfectly straight, both the clubface and swingpath must be looking in the exact same direction at the moment of impact. Any difference in path and face, and the ball will exhibit curvature. When dealing with a game comprised of such complex movements as golf, this occurrence rarely happens and isn’t even worth trying to repeat. So what we’re left with is being able to produce a nice, predictable bend (aka a fade or draw), which, when executed properly, is a great way to efficiently manage your game from tee to green.

For this story, we’re going to assume that you slicers out there are sick and tired of that banana ball and would love to get rid of it. If you’re in the hooking category, we’re also going to assume that you’d like to change things up and feel what it’s like to be able to hit a nice, reliable fade. What I’m hoping is that you’ll learn so much, you’ll be able to do both whenever you want or, at the very least, get all of those wildly curving shots back within reason.

Let’s get started, shall we?

SLICE SLAYERS: TEE IT HIGHER

To cure a slice, a great place to start is setting the intention to shift your angle of attack. In general, most slicers are hitting down on the ball too much, in conjunction with a swingpath that travels too much to the left (swingpath left/clubface open to path). To hit a high, bombing draw, you have to think of striking more “up and out.” This means delivering an ascending attack with a swingpath that travels more to the right (swingpath right/clubface closed to path).

You’ve heard the mantra, “Tee it high and let it fly,” right? That’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. Tee the ball higher, so at least two-thirds of the ball rests above the crown of your driver. It may look strangely high at first, but that’s a good thing. The visual will hopefully force you to swing up and out, not down and left like so many slicers do. And, by the way, if you’re not comfortable with the high tee height at first, try using some Ghost Tape (ghosttape.com) on the crown as you’re getting used to hitting up and not down on the golf ball. Kiss that slice goodbye!

SLIDE OVER

The concept of swingpath is huge in this story, as the path of the swing is the main influencer in which way your golf ball bends. If your ball is slicing, the swingpath is traveling more to the left than where the clubface is pointing at impact. To flip your flight, you have to shift the swingpath. In this case, that means creating a swingpath that travels more to the right of the clubface at impact. A big key is learning to properly use your hips. The more lateral your hips move in the downswing, the more the swingpath will be inclined to swing to the right.

To set the stage, address the ball and then shift your hips well toward the target. You’ll feel a little more weight on your front foot as your hands push a little forward. For chronic slicers, setting the hips a touch closed is helpful, as well.

ROUND: IT OUT

Producing a reasonable position at the top of the backswing is critical in facilitating a proper downswing path into the golf ball. To get a little more right-to-left curve on your shots, swing your left arm more across your chest, so that the forearm is lined up with or slightly below the back shoulder. I’m doing this in the photo below. In the black-and-white photo, my hands are much higher, which will steepen my swing, making it more difficult to swing up and out to the right.

A more rounded swing arc demands that your body moves in a circular fashion. To facilitate this, allow for a free release of your hips to create the best combination of position and power. In addition, take note of the shot of my lower-body action (above far right photo). See how my trail leg has slightly extended or lengthened from its original position. The knees are always changing positions in an efficient golf swing. As the hips rotate back, allowing the back leg to lengthen supports the lower-body turn. As the back leg extends, the front knee exhibits a little more bend, as well. A lot of golfers have been taught to brace the back leg. Most players don’t have the flexibility to do this and still produce a reasonable arc to the swing, however. Look at a great ballstriker of the past such as Sam Snead, and you’ll see plenty of this leg action.

TRACKMAN SAYS SO…

For a long time, we had things mixed up. Noted golf instructors, club pros and even some of us in the Golf Tips Top-40 Instructors are guilty at some point in their career of teaching that the clubface is what generates spin and the swingpath is the direction the ball flies.

Trackman data has revolutionized what we thought we knew. New data has revealed that it’s the clubface that predominantly dictates the initial direction the ball flies and the swingpath is what mostly influences spin.

Knowing this is very exciting because it means golf instructors are better equipped to help their students fix their swing problems more effectively. For instance, if you slice the ball, you may have been told that closing the face will fix the problem. While that’s partly true, it doesn’t really fix the problem you likely have, which is a swingpath that’s too outside-to-inside. Trackman data can help golf instructors see problems in the golf swing faster and more efficiently than ever before.

PUSH THE ISSSUE

Golf is a counterintuitive game, meaning a lot of the things you would assume to be logical and correct are usually just the opposite. For example, let’s say your ball continually curves toward all the trouble on the right-hand side of the course–trees, bunkers, out-of-bounds, the ocean, whatever. In seeing a ball curve to the right, your instinct becomes swinging more away from the trouble, in this case, to the left. Being that golf is a counterintuitive game and swingpath is a key determinant related to curvature, your intent on creating more of a leftward path actually makes your golf ball slice even harder toward all of the things you’re trying to avoid. Crazy, huh?

The secret? Embracing the nature of the game and trusting the idea that, if everything your instincts tell you to do is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

So what do I want you to do? I want you to swing in the direction your ball is missing. To do this, start by setting the proper intention through vision and look down the right side of the fairway. This little tip is a big help in breaking those left-swinging instincts. As you transition into the downswing, approach the ball from an inside path that really feels like you’re trying to drive or push the ball into the trouble to the right. As long as the clubface is just a little closed to the swingpath, your ball will easily draw away from the danger, landing safely in play. Trust it!

BALLFLIGHT BOOSTER

To really pump one out there with a little right-to-left curve, it helps to catch the ball on the “money” spot for this flight. Although you’d assume your best hit will come from a center strike, you’ll actually create the best combination of distance and curvature just above the club’s center line and a fraction toward the toe. Even though it may reduce your ball speed a tiny bit, hitting the ball here will add loft and reduce spin for a longer tee shot.

HOOK KILLER: FEEL LIKE FREDDIE

GET LEFT!

When trying to cure a hook, you have to do everything you can to start influencing your swingpath more to the left. A great way to do this is to model great faders of the golf ball. Here, I’m trying to model Fred Couples at address (who, by the way, could bash a fade farther than just about anyone in his prime, so don’t think that hitting a fade means hitting it shorter than a draw; that’s not necessarily true). Anyway, my feet and shoulders are aimed well to the left, making it much more plausible for my club to swing in that direction. This is a key component in getting my ball to bend opposite of its current flight pattern. Finally, when aligning the clubface for a fade, don’t assume that the clubface needs to be set open relative to the target at address. An open clubface at address and, subsequently, at impact, will lead to pushed tee shots. So even though you’re trying to cut it, align the clubface slightly left of your target. The trick is making sure your swingpath is slightly more left of the clubface at impact to produce a left-to-right ballflight.

INCH IT UP!

Another great way to facilitate a leftward swingpath is to consider the role of ball position. Imagine your swing as a tilted arc that travels from in-to-in, meaning any point behind the golf ball is inside the target line, and any point in front of the ball is, again, inside the target line. A ball positioned well back in the arc (toward the right foot) would encourage a swingpath too much from in-to-out, lending itself to a hooking ballflight. Conversely, a ball positioned more forward, at or even beyond the left heel, encourages just the opposite. Inch your ball up and you’ll have one more tool for breaking your right-to-left bend and promoting a fade. And don’t forget to tee it higher, as well!

LATE IS GREAT

Curvature is all about swingpath relative to clubface. If the face is closed to the path, the ball will hook, and if the face is open to the path, the ball will fade or slice. Since you’re now setting up to swing the path to the left, it’s imperative the clubface finds the ball a little open to the swingpath. A great way to encourage this is to be aware of the position of the clubface into the transition. Your clubface moves in conjunction with the swing arc. A clubface that turns down early or out of sequence is in danger of delivering the face left of the path at impact leading to a leftward curve. To hit the fade, feel as if the face is “late” or behind its natural rate of movement. Here, the toe of the club will feel as if it’s tilted back, lagging behind the heel as you go in for the hit. As long as the face is delivered open or right of the swingpath, you can say sayonara to that hook.

TURN + BURN

Another great way to get that club swinging left is to get your body actively turning in that direction. To fade it, you have to encourage both the upper and lower halves of your body to open up and turn to the left. Notice this image from up the target line. Both my chest and hips are rotated well left of the target at impact. Where are you at impact? If you hook it too much, I guarantee you aren’t here. Turning left makes the path go left. Get the path left of the clubface and watch your ball fade its way back to your target.

CINCH YOUR CIRCLE

Think of your swing as being comprised of a series of circles. The “outer circle” represents the arc of the clubhead and the “inner circle” is represented by the path or arc of the club’s handle. Most people get fixated on the outer circle and ignore the inner circle, when, in fact, the inner circle is what influences the outer circle! Golfers who traditionally hook get the clubpath swinging too much “in-to-out” because the hands and handle (inner circle) separate and run away from the body through impact. In the black-and-white photo, I’m demonstrating what that looks like. It’s not that it’s a horrible position, per se, but if you’re trying to fade the ball or stop hooking it, this separation between the hands and the body isn’t what you want.

To keep your path swinging more around your body, think of cinching or tightening up your “inner circle.” Notice here how the grip end stays close to my left leg as my arms, hips and torso influence the path of the club back around to the left. This is what you want to see and feel to produce a fade.

MAKE THE TURN

Playing better golf is more than just learning the proper mechanics of the golf swing. The Make The Turn initiative incorporates the golf swing, mental game, fitness and nutrition into the mix to help you not only play better, but live better, as well. Check out the website, sign up and watch the videos. They’re some of the best instruction videos I’ve seen.
–Ryan Noll

Jeff Ritter, PGA, is the CEO/Founder of MTT Performance. The program operates out of Poppy Hills GC in Pebble Beach, California. Learn more at www.mttperformance.com.