At one point or another, most golfers go through a weird (and frustrating) stretch of slicing the ball over and over. Even when you think you’re doing everything the same as you normally did when you didn’t slice, the ball just comes off the club weird and ends up going way right (for a right-handed player).
While there are a few different reasons for a slice — from having a bad grip to coming into impact on a poor swing path — at the end of the day, players slice the ball because their clubface is open.
Instead of going to the range and beating ball after ball, it’s time to get more intentional about improving your ball-striking.
To help, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Dom DiJulia suggests using an alignment stick drill that can quickly (and efficiently) improve your slice. So check out DiJulia’s explanation below — and finally recover from chronic slicing once and for all.
Why you keep slicing the golf ball
“If you’re slicing on a regular basis and don’t know why, like most golfers, there’s a good chance that you’re swinging over-the-top — which means the club is coming across the ball,” DiJulia says.
When a [right-handed] player comes over-the-top, the clubface opens up and creates a good amount of left-to-right spin, which is why your ball always seems to tail off towards that side of the hole.
So how can you fix this issue in order to cure your chronic slicing? DiJulia suggests using an alignment stick.
“Swinging from inside-to-out rather than outside-to-in (over-the-top) requires proper sequencing,” he adds. “This means you need to first start your motion from the ground up using your feet, knees and hips, avoiding the temptation of moving your arms and shoulder first.”
The following drill teaches you how.
Try using an alignment stick to fix your slice
Start by having a friend or your golf teacher lay an alignment stick straight across your elbows, so that it’s parallel to the ground. Swing to the top, stop, and have them hold the rod in place.
Next, make your everyday downswing.
If you correctly start your downswing with your lower body and swing the arms from the inside, the rod should drop parallel to the ground — or with the back-end striking the turf first. But if the front strikes the ground first, you know you’ve swung over-the-top. If the latter happens, restart the drill.
To help get the feel for the right club path, try bumping your left hip forward and over your lead ankle [the left one for a righty player] as you take your backswing. Stop there and make sure the rod is still sitting parallel to the ground and across your elbows.
After you bump your hip forward, naturally unwind your right elbow and arm so that the rod falls parallel to the ground (or back-end first). If you straighten your right arm too quickly, the stick will fall with the front-end first — which means you’re still coming over-the-top.
