One of the most frustrating things on the golf course is slicing your Driver. Especially when it seems like you try everything to stop the curve … but nothing works. Why is it that sometimes … regardless of how much you try to stop your slice … that it seems to happen again and again?

To finally fix it from constantly recurring … you must first understand what causes a slice.

Now, if you go by everything you hear from other Golfers – you will hear that a slice is caused by these reasons: an outside to in swing path; an over the top swing plane; an early release of the golf club; blah; blah; blah; blah.

But those theories don’t go deep enough to truly fix the slice. Actually, those are incomplete swing theories that will do little to fix your slice … as well as just giving you more to think about in your swing.

What makes the ball curve to the right (for a right handed Golfer)? It’s simple sidespin that is causing the golf ball to curve. It’s the golf ball spinning to the right (after it hits your golf club) that is causing the golf ball to turn to the right.

Let’s look at it based on an actual shot you may hit: you use your Driver and hit a shot. The ball initially starts fairly straight, but as it gets to 100, 150, or 200 yards out … it starts to turn to the right. Why is this? Why does it start fairly straight and then curve?

Because once you first hit the golf ball, it will start in the direction your golf club is moving. And as the golf ball is moving very fast through the air … it will continue to move in that direction. However, as the golf ball starts to lose it’s initial velocity … the sidespin will take over and will have more influence on the direction the golf ball travels.

The initial hit provides so much speed that the side spin doesn’t effect the golf ball as much as when the ball starts to lose that initial velocity. Yet, if you hear most Golfers talk about how to fix a slice .. they are making the solution much more complicated than it really is.

The solution is simply to stop the golf ball from spinning to the right.

Now, the PGA of America did a study a few years back and found that 70% of this side spin is caused by the club face and 30% of this spin is caused by the swing path.

Yet, we’re constantly seeing Golfers that have been told that they need to fix their swing path to stop a slice. And yes, if your swing path is causing some side spin … it probably should be worked on … but it should be worked on after learning how to control your club face.

Because these Golfers (trying to fix swing path) are spending 100% of their time trying to fix 30% of the problem.

Thus, even if they completely fixed their swing path … they’re still going to be slicing because the portion of your swing that has 70% of influence on the direction of the golf ball (club face) needs to be corrected.

Or in other words:

If you have a 21 yard slice … by fixing your swing path (30% of your swing) … you still have a 15 yard slice. Yes, it is improvement, but you spent months practicing your swing path and you’re still slicing the golf ball 15 yards.

Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to work on the 70% … club face.

Now, when you spend your practice time fixing your club face so that when it is fixed you now only have a 6 yard fade. Is a 6 yard fade perfect … maybe, maybe not. It depends on the person to decide if that is pleasing to them. However, it is much easier to PLAN, control and be consistent with a 6 yard fade rather than using a 15 yard slice.

Plus, with less side spin comes increased distance.

So the first thing for you to get control of is your club face. But how do you do that? What should you be focused on?

Well, the majority of Golfers that are hitting a slice are inadvertently opening up their club face before they are even hip high in their back swing. I will repeat that: most Golfers are opening their club face before the club is even hip high in their back swing.

What is the significance of this?

Well, a club face that is opening eventually needs to close. So when in your golf swing are you going to close the club?

Are you going to close the club before impact? That would make the golf ball fly to the left of your target and have you lose power.

Are you go to close the club after impact? This wouldn’t be soon enough as the ball doesn’t care what you do after you hit it. So you would still have the golf ball flying to the right.

Are you going to try to time it perfectly and close the club face at the exact moment it needs to? Seriously … that’s not going to happen more than once in every ten shots. What is happening on the other nine shots? Inconsistency!

But that’s what many Golfers have been taught to do. However, that’s why every-once-in-a-while that Golfer will hit a great shot. But the other shots that aren’t perfectly timed are filled with inconsistency and frustration.

So where is this open club face that is causing the side spin coming from?

We made a video about this. Many of you might have seen it already … but it’s worth viewing again.

Go ahead … be a Player and click to see why you’re slicing:

Regards,

Marc Solomon, PGA