Fixing the Slice with a Driver

Friday, December 13, 2013

Some golfers who hit the ball straight with every club except the driver. Unfortunately, the driver is the easiest club to hit a slice.

 

The loft of the driver has a lot to do with it. Of course, the longer shaft will make it harder to square the face at impact, but the sahft length has a little to do with a side spin.

 

You can probably hit your 9-iron straighter than your 3 wood or driver.

 

That's because 9-iron has more loft on the club. More loft means more backspin. The backspin kills some side spin. That's why you hit your 9-iron straighter than longer clubs.

 

The driver has a very little loft on because in order to hit the ball far you want to eliminate too much backspin. But this is making your driver the hardest club to hit it straight.

 

How to Square the Clubface

 

Without the correct grip, you won't hit it straight no matter how much you practice or how many balls you hit.

 

One of the best ways to hit a little draw with a driver is to focus on the back of your left hand. If you wear a watch for this drill.

1. Swing to the top with a driver

2. Start your downsing

3. By the time the shaft becomes parallel with the ground, try to point your watch or the back of your left hand toward the ground.

 

You don't have to hit a ball for this drill. You might think if you point your watch toward the ground, you are going to hit a duck hook. but beacuase the clubhead is traveling at a high speed, the clubface will not close as much as you think at impact.

 

If you still slice, try to point the back of your left hand toward the ground as soos as you start your downswing.

 

It may be harder to control the clubhead, so you might want to focus  on the things that are easier to control. In that sense, focusing on your hand position is a good idea.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/fixing-slice-with-driver.htm

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The Tips to Fix a Slice: Use Your Right Palm

Let's use your right palm to fix your slice. If you are left- handed, focus on your left palm.

 

Clubface Angle and Your Right Palm

 

The cause of your slice is the open face at impact. If you can control your clubface angle during the swing, you'll be able to hit any kind of shots you want. But it's hard to do.

 

The clubhead moves at a fast speed during the swing, and it's hard to control. So focus on your right palm instead.

 

In this drill, you don't need a club. Pretend that your right palm is your clubface.

 

1. Put your left hand on the waist.

2. Swing back with your right hand.

3. At the top, try to face your right palm toward the sky.

4. On the downswing, you will have to close your right palm.

5. When your right hand reaches waist height, try to face your right palm toward the ground.

 

At impact, you should feel like your right palm is facing the ground as well.

 

David Leadbetter said that the right palm mirrors the clubface. So by squaring up your right palm, you will be able to square your clubface.

 

Some players have stronger grip, so your right palm doesn't exactly mirrors the clubface. But it's close. It's a good idea to use your right palm to control your clubface.

 

When you actually hit balls, you should recreate the feeling you got from this drill. If you do exactly, you should be able to turn your slice into a draw.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/fix-slice-with-right-palm.htm

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Looking Up and Hoe to Fix Your Slice

One of the common faults you see among slicers is looking up at impact. However, even if you just keep your head down through impact, you might still slice the ball.

 

The reason why golfers look up is different from person to person. But if you just focus on the angle that your face is pointing and change it a bit, you might get interesting results and fix your slice.

 

Your Face Angle equals the Clubface Angle?

When you look up, your face or nose is pointing toward the target. So you can say that your face is open to the target.

 

When you look at your clubface at impact, it's also open to the target.

 

So there might be a strong relationship between your face angle and the clubface angle.

 

If the clubface is open when your face is pointing toward the target, you should do the opposite to close your clubface at impact for a straight shot or strong draw.

 

I want you to swing to the top using your middle iron. You don't need the ball for this drill.

 

As you rotate your body to the right, your head also turns to the right. So at the top of your swing, your face or nose is looking to the right.

 

Let's start your downswing.

 

At the top, you are looking right. So without changing the way your face or nose is pointing, swing your club past impact. Your face should be pointing right (but keep your eyes on the ball) even after impact. For this drill, you should cut your follow through short. Don't worry about taking finish position.

 

When you swing like above, you will find that you have more room for your arms to swing. You will also notice that it's much easier to turn the clubface over if your face or nose is pointing the opposite direction of the target. If you feel like you might still slice the ball, try to feel like the palm of your right hand is facing toward the ground through impact.

 

This drill is for fixing your slice. To be exact, it's really hard to keep your head position at the top and swing down without moving your head. But trying to do so will help you turn your clubface over through impact and fix your slice.

 

How Long do You Have to Look at the Ball?

When you look up too early and turn your head toward the target, your clubface also opens through impact causing a slice. So you need to keep looking at the ball as you strike the ball.

 

If you have the tendency to look up too early, keep your head back or keep looking at the ball (or the spot that the ball was there) until your right hand reaches your left knee on the follow through.

 

This will keep your head back and prevent the clubface from opening at impact.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/looking-up.htm

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How to Square and Close the Clubface at Impact

To hit the straight shot, you need to make sure your clubface is square at impact.

But that's the hardest thing to do in golf.

Because the clubface  far away from you and moving at the fast speed, you might find it difficult to control the clubface at impact and don't know what is happening to your clubface through your impact. If you are a slicer, your clubface is open to the target at impact. So you want to make sure your clubface is pointing more toward the target or even left of the target for a little draw.

 

Focus on the back of your left hand. When the clubface is open to the target, the back of your left hand or the logo on your glove is facing more toward the sky.

 

To square your clubface, you want the back of your left hand to face more toward the target at impact. Find much easier to control your left hand than trying to control the clubface.

 

If you want to hit a little draw, turn the back of your left hand little toward the ground at impact. This will help you close the clubface at impact for a nice draw.

 

The Correct Way to Keep Your Head behind the Ball

The position of your head at impact is important when you try to square or close your clubface at impact.

 

Players who have their clubface open at impact usually move their head forward at impact or turn their head to the left at impact.

 

When you look at tour players and their head and face position at impact, their face is looking to the right of the ball at impact.

 

Also, their head is behind the ball unless they are trying to hit the special type of shot. When I ask players to keep their head behind the ball through impact, they will try to do so but fail to do it correctly.

 

The common mistake I see is that their face is looking directly toward the ball or straight ahead at impact. Remember that the tour players have theur face looking right of the ball at impact.

 

This is their secret to square or close the clubface at impact. It is much easier to close your clubface if your face is looking right of the ball.

 

But if your face is looking at the ball at impact of your head moves forward at impact, it makes it easier to open your clubface and cause slice.

 

Turn Back Correctly to Keep Your Head Behind

In order to keep your head back, you have to turn back correctly on the backswing.

 

If you look at the backswing of tour players, their face is lookingg right of the ball and their head turns to the right as they take their club back.

 

At the top of their backswing, their face is looking right of the ball and their head is turned about 45 degrees or more to the right.

 

To square or close your clubface at impact, it's important that your face is looking right of the ball. To do this correctly, you need to turn your head or face to the right on the backswing.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/square-clubface-at-impact.htm

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How to Close Your Clubface into Impact to Fix Slice

Fixing your slice could be frustrating sometimes. I used to fight slice for a long time when I was in college.

 

I tried everything I could for more than a few years, but I wasn't able to fix it. I almost gave up trying.

 

I received the email from a golfer one day. He told me that his golf teacher told him to try hit the imaginary ball in front of his right foot to fix his slice with his driver.

 

He tried it but didn't really work well. So he asked me if this advice would really fix his slice or not.

 

If you are hitting lots of slice, your clubface must be open to the target at impact.

 

With less lofted clubs with longer shafts like your driver, the ball will curve to the right if the clubface is open just a tuny bit.

 

That's why his teacher told him to try to hit the imaginary ball in front of his right foot to close his clubface early before impact to avoid hitting slice.

 

But this method didn't work for him because he was casting or releasing his club too early on the downswing in an effort to hit his imaginary ball.

 

When you release your club too early or uncock your wrists too early, you will start to pull it or hit lots of pull slices.

 

Try to Square Your Clubface Early

Trying to hit the imaginary ball in front of your right foot is good idea. But if you hit lots of pulls or slices as a result, you should try other ways to fix your slice.

 

On the downswing, when your clubhead comes in front of your right foot, make sure to square your clubface.

 

So by the time the clunhead reaches the right foot, make sure your clubface is looking at the target.

 

If I tell players to close their clubface at impact, it might be too late because the clubhead is moving at the very fast speed.

 

2 Positions to Check

 

When you try the tip above, check 2 things when your clubhead reaches the right foot on the downswing.

1. Your hands should be toward the inside of your left thigh

2. Clubface is looking at the target

 

If your hands are well abck, you are casting and won't hit the ball very far at all.

 

If you are hitting big slices all the time, I want you to put yourself in the position above and re-grip your club.

 

One of the major resons why you leave your clubface open at impact is a weak grip. You want to grip the club so that the clubface almost automatically closes through impact.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/close-clubface-early-to-fix-slice.htm

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Hitting Slice with the Inside-Out Golf Swing

Most players understand that the outside-in golf swing will lead to a slice.

 

So teachers might tell you to swing inside-out to fix your slice. In this fixes your slice, that's nice. But in most cases, inside-out swing will cause even bigger slices for slicers.

 

By hitting slices with the inside-out golf swing, you might think that the swing path has nothing to do with fixing your slice.

 

That's partly true. Fixing the swing path won't solve your problems.

 

Why Your Clubface Opens during the Downswing

When you swing too much from the inside to create the inside-out golf swing, the club shaft flattens during the downswing causing your clubface to open as the shaft flattens.

 

This is usually a good player's fault leading to push shots or duck hooks if they flip their hands through impact.

 

For slicers, this will cause push-slice because they have their clubface way too open at impact.

 

Change Your Grip and Slow it down

For players who hit push-slice with an inside-out golf swing, the first thing they have to do is to change their grip to a stronger grip.

 

Make sure you see 3 or 3 1/2 knucklesof your left hand when you look down to see your left hand at address. Rotate your right hand to the right as well to match your left hand.

 

Before you change your swing path from inside-out to inside-in, I want you to hit a hook shot with an inside-out swing.

 

When players see their ball starting right of the target and curve to the right, they start to change their swing path from inside-out to outside-in swing. This is why they fail to fix their slice.

 

Instead, don't change your swing path and try to hit the ball that starts right of the target and come back to the left with your 7-iron.

 

I will show you 3 keys to hitting hook shots today.

1. Swing with 60% of your swing speed.

2. Put the ball in the middle of your stance for your 7 iron.

3. On the down swing, make sure your chest is facing the opposite direction of the target (looking right) as you start down. Feel like your chest is facing right until impact. Also, make sure the back of your left hand is facing towards the ground impact.

 

If you do these things right, you will soon start to hit hook shots.

 

After being able to hit hooks shots on demand, you should start to fix your swing path from inside-out to inside-in.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/inside-out-slice.htm

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The Interesting Drill to Fix Your Slice

All the slicers have their clubface open during their golf swing. If they are able to close their clubface, they will be able to turn their slice into a  straight shot.

 

At Address

Please stand in front of a mirror and take your normal address position. You can do this with your club or without it.

 

Now, look in the mirror and check your watch. Do you see any part of the clock face? If not, you have a weak grip. In this case, I want you to rotate your left hand and to the right until you see the part of your clock face.

 

If you hit a big slice all the time, I want you to rotate your left hand to the right so that most of the face you watch is visible when you see it in the mirror.

 

This is very strong grip, and it should help you fix your huge slice.

 

After taking your left grip, put your right hand. Make sure it matches with your left hand. Some players take strong left hand grip and have weak right hand grip.

 

When the Shaft is Parallel with the Ground

Start your backswing and stop at the position where the shaft is parallel with the ground. Your hands are about your waist height. Check the mirror.

 

If the face of your watch is looking straight ahead, that's fine. If it's facing toward the sky, you are sure to hit the slice.

 

If you would like to hit a draw, you might want your watch to face a little bit toward the ground.

 

At the top

At the top of your backswing, turn your head to see the watch. If it's looking at you, that's open. If you are slicer, you want to feel like your watch is facing toward the sky.

 

At impact

Stop at impact and check the mirror once again. If you see the face of your watch, the clubface is open, and you are going to hit the slice.

 

Instead, I want you to turn your watch toward the ground at impact for straighter shots.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/fix-slice-with-your-watch.htm

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The Advanced Way to Hit a Draw and Fade

There are many ways to hit a draw and a fade. Probably, the most popular way to hit them is to open your close the clubface at address.

 

Jack Nicklaus did it that way. For most players, that is the easiest way to do it. But some players prefer other methods.

 

Changing the Position of your hands

 

Lee Trevino who won 6 majors preferred to hit a draw and a fade the other way. He is known to hit fades all the time. But he was naturally fighting a hook. To get rid of his hooks, he close to hit fades.

 

For Draws:

 

To hit a draw, move your hands forward, toward the target. When you look down at your grip, it should hide your left shoe.

 

The important key is to move your hands forward first and then re-grip the club.

 

The clubface should be square to your aim line and then make your normal golf swing.

 

When you come to impact, your hands will naturally come back to your normal position which is little farther back than your started position.

 

When your hands move back at impact, the clubface should close a little. This will allow you to hit a draw.

 

For Fades:

 

To hit a fade, you should do the opposit. You should set your hands back, behind the ball.

 

At impact, your hands will naturally move forward. This will open the clubface a little for a fade.

 

For both methods, the important key is to move your hands first and then re-grip your club. Most players grip the club first and then move their hands. This won't work well.

 

Also, this will help you fix your slice or a hook as well. If you are hitting slices, try to move your hands forward and then grip your club.

 

If you are fighting hooks, you should check the position of your hands at address and make sure they are not too far forward.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/hitting-draw-fade.htm

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Why You Hit Slices with a Closed Clubface at Address?

The reason why you slice is because you have your clubface open at impact. This adds side spin (slice spin) on the ball, and the ba;; curves to the right.

 

So to fix your slice, you are going to close your clubface at impact.

 

One way to fix the open clubface at impact is to set your face closed at address. But some slicers with a closed clubface.

 

Here are some reasons why it happens and how you can fix it.

 

1. The correct way to set your clubface closed

When I ask players to set their clubface closed at address, most of them try to grip the club first and then close it.

 

But that's not the right way to do it because when you come to impact the clubface open.

 

First, set your clubface closed. The clubface should be looking left to your target. The more you closed it, the more you can hook the ball.

 

Next, you should grip the club. This is important. This is just the opposite of what you do with your bunket shot.

 

You need to close the clubface first and then re-grip it. This should feel really awkward at first. That's the sign that you are doing it right.

 

2. Weak Grip

Even if you take a grip like above, you can still slice the ball if you have the weak grip.

 

When you grip the club like above, make sure you can see more than 3 knuckles of your left hand when you look down to see your grip.

 

Don't forget to turn your right hand to the right to match your left hand as well.

 

3. Relax your arms and hands

If you grip the club tightly, you might hit a slice. To hit a hook shot, you need to rotate your hands through impact.

 

To do that, you want to avoid tension. I know the player who fixed his slice just by changing his grip pressure. He told me he was gripping it too tightly.

 

4. You must hit a hook

Some players start to try hitting straight shot with this type of grip (closed face at address).

 

But because you have your clubface closed at address, you must return your face closed at impact as well.

 

If you return your clubface square at impact, that means you opened your clubface during your golf swing. This can cause slices and push-slices.

 

So with this special type of grip and set up, you must hit a hook. I want you to hit hooks every time. After you gained confidence, you should adjust your clubface angle at address and try to hit a draw that curves slightly to the left. 

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/closed-face.htm

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How to Fix Slice using Light Grip Pressure

There are players who fixed their slice using lighter grip pressure.

 

Most amateurs grip the club too hard. On the other hand, pros never grip the club too hard.

 

The bad thing about griping it too hard is that it makes it harder to feel the clubface angle and the weight of the clubhead during the golf swing.

 

Some teachers say you should swing a golf as if you are swinging a whip. But not too many players really understand how it feels to swing a club like a whip.

 

I think this is beacuase they are gripping a club too hard.

 

I know the player who finally understood it feels to swing it like a whip.

 

How did he do it?

 

He simply griped the club much lighter than he used to. He tried to grip the club lighter so that of someone tries to pull the club from his hands, he/she can easily pull it out from his hands.

 

By gripping thr club much lighter than before, he was able to feel the weight of the clubhead. As a result, he finally understood and felt the shaft as if it were a whip.

 

Fixing the Push-Slice

 

By gripping tje club with light grip pressure, he not only understood how to swing a club like a whip but also fixed his push-slice.

 

He had a problem with the open clubface during the downswing. And it was causing him to hit the push-slice to the right.

 

He was hitting it so far to the right. Because he often hit it OB, he had a hard time breaking 90.

 

But since he changed his grip pressure, he was able to feel the weight of the clubhead. At the same time, he started to focus on the clubface.

 

Gripping the club lightly enabled him to do this. He said he was trying to focus on hard on the clubface.

 

Before then, he had no idea where the clubface is facing during the golf swing. But now he has some idea wether it's open or closed during the downswing.

 

This really helped him. He finally was able to fix his push-slice.

 

Be the clubface.

 

I often tell myself when putting. But this is also good idea with normal golf swing. I used to focus on my hands, my arms and so on during the golf swing, I find it much effective to just focus on the clubface.

 

I believe it could help you to fix your slice or hook and add more distance to all your clubs as well.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/light-grip-pressure.htm

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How to Cure Push-Slice with the Correct Backswing

The Key is in Your Backswing

I believe one of the reasons why you hit push-slices is in your backswing.

 

 

The problem is the lack of turning your body or shoulders during the backswing.

 

When you look at pros' backswing, at the top of their backswing, their left shoulder is right above the right knee or just inside the right knee.

 

This is the sign that they turned their body fully and shifted their weight to their right foot during the backswing.

 

But if you fail to do this, you will be forced to open your clubface during the backswing and ted to hit slices. Also, because you didn't turn enough you won't have enough room to swing your arms during the downswing and tend to hit push shots to the right.

 

If you try to avoid push shots, you will have to swing from out to in and hit pulls.

 

Focus on Your Left Shoulder and the Spine Angle

 

At the top of your swing, I want you to make sure your left shoulder is right above the right knee or just inside of it.

 

If your left shoulder is in the middle of your stance at the top of your swing, that's a clear sign that you fail to shift your weight. If that's the case, you just used your hands and arms.

 

This will likely to cause reverse-pivot.

 

So make sure your left shoulder is above the right knee at the top.

 

Another check point is your spine angle at the top of your golf swing.

 

At address, I want you to make sure your spine is slightly tilted to the right. This is because you grip your club with your right hand lower than your left.

 

Now, keep that spine angle and turn back at the top. Your spine must be tilted to the right as well if you just kept your spine angle at address and turned around it.

 

If your spine is tilted to the right at the top, your weight is successfully shifted to your right foot.

 

But if your spine is perpendicular to the ground, that's a sign of reverse-pivot. You won't hit the ball far at all from there.

 

So focus of your left shoulder and your spine angle to fix your push-slice. Also, I keep saying this to you, but it's really important to check your grip and your address.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/slice/fix-push-slice.htm

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Driver: Tee Height and 4 Ways to Set up

There are many methods for tee height for a driver shot. But I don't think there is one correct tee height for everyone. The correct height should be different from person to person.

The proper tee height should be different depending on the type of shots you prefer to hit. For a draw, you should tee it up higher. For a fade, you might want to lower it a bit.

There was a study done to find out the tee height that promotes most distance.

The higher you tee it up, the more distance you get. Most average golfers did the best with the bottom of the ball above the top part of driver.

This is really high. But they not only got most distance with this tee height but also hit it straighter with it.

So you want to try real high tee height as well.

4 Ways to Set Up

There are 4 ways to set up to hit your driver.

1. Tee it up high and set your driver on the ground.

2. Tee it up high and hover the clubhead above the ground.

3. Tee it up low and set your driver on the ground

4. Tee it up low and hover the clubhead above the ground.

Most golfers think they should set the driver on the ground at address. But there are some pros that hover the driver above the ground.

When you hover the clubhead, you can hover the clubhead a little off the ground you can hold it right behind the teed up ball.

 

By setting the driver on the ground, it makes it easier to hit in on the upswing, set your body and club constantly at address, or let you hit it just above the center of the clubface for higher launch angle.

 

You can use any of the 4 methods above. The most important thing is to hit it on the sweet spot. So pick one that will let you do that constantly.

 

Different Tee Height

Low Tee Height: 1/3 of the ball is above the driver

High Tee Height: more than 1/2 of the ball is above the driver

 

When pros want to get more distance off the tee, they tend to tee it up higher.

 

On the other hand, if they need to put it on the fairway, they tend to lower the tee height.

 

Most average players hit it straighter with higher tee height.

 

When you have to hit it straight, you should tee it up high and swing with 60% of your clubhead speed. By slowing down your swing speed, you will reduce the side spin that you put on the ball and have better chance of hitting your shot on the fairway.

 

I think this will give you better result than lowering your tee height.

 

When players lower their tee height, golfers tend to start hitting down on the ball instead of sweeping it. This will cause all kind of problems.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/driver/tee-height-set-up.htm

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