Rotate - Cure your slice

Want to get rid of that ugly distance-sapping slice? Then let me share with you a handful of practical tips and swing-thoughts that will get you on track to release the clubhead more freely and on the right path.

Condensed here I am here sharing with you some of the most effective ways in which I work with students to eliminate any tendency to slice the ball, the key being to replace that weak, cutty action with a powerful rotary swinging motion that maximises your clubhead speed and distance.

And this fundamental action of the hands, wrists and forearms through the critical moments post-impact and beyond to the finish is something I really urge you serious golfers to think about and work on. The two exercises you see here are among my particular favourites, for the simple reason both quickly introduce you to feelings that will be totally new to anyone who habitually slices the ball with an out-to-in swing path.

The slow motion drill is one you can rehearse in between hitting shots on the range, the key being that you feel the sensation of the left forearm rotating and the left wrist hingeing up as it should in a natural release. Trapping a small ball between your elbows and keeping it there as you work on this same critical area of the swing immediately after impact encourages the long extension of the arms and the correct rotation of the wrists – any tendency to splay your elbows and the ball falls out. Together these drills can help you improve the quality of your release for more speed, better ball striking and more distance.

Working on the proper rotation of the right forearm over the left post-impact will help you to deliver the club on the correct inside-to-square-to-inside path. It will also maximise your clubhead speed (for distance) and help you to rotate your body to a fully released and balanced finish

1) Gripping a club well down the shaft, I want you to support your left elbow with the back of your right hand

2) Rehearsing the through-swing move, you then rotate your left elbow so that it rolls along the back of the hand

3) The back of the left hand points to the ground as the left wrist then hinges up – as it should in the through-swing

Here I’musing a training ball to help encourage the long extension of the arms and the correct rotation of the wrists and elbows into the through swing. The key is to keep the ball in place (a half deflated beach ball would work just as well)

Identifying with the correct release of the hands, arms and club can help you to eliminate this common problem.

The ‘chicken-wing’, where the arms fail to straighten, the elbows are seen to splay apart and the club is ‘held off’.

This not only slows the clubhead dramatically through impact but also contributes to the slicing action across the ball.

In contrast, rotating the right forearm and extending the arms, as you see here (below & above) maximises your speed and squares the clubface.