Cut the Slice for Straight Shots

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

Korea Times Golf Columnist

Recreational golfers tend to think that slices result from swinging the club from the outside to in at impact or cutting across the ball. That's true but only partly true. Slice does not result from swinging the club on a path that is from out to in but from the clubface staying open through the ball relative to the path of the clubhead.

An out-to-in swing or cutting across the ball does not, in itself, cause slice. It only exaggerates the slice. Cutting across the ball forces the clubhead to come down on top of the ball, ridding you of your time to square the clubface.

To give yourself a sufficient time to square the clubface, you need to make a big turn, create a wider arc and come into the ball from the inside. The only way to cure your slice is to square the clubface at impact.

When you adopt a neutral or a slightly strong grip, the back of your left hand will be looking at the target at address and the key to producing straight shots is to make it certain that the back of your left hand returns to its original address position at impact so it is facing the target through the ball.

The back of your left hand aligned to the right of the target at impact means that the clubface is open, also meaning that you will produce a slice.

Similarly, the back of your left hand facing the left of the target at impact means that the clubface is closed, which means that you will hook it.

A good way to get the back of your left hand to return to its original square position at impact is to turn your left forearm aggressively through the ball so the knuckles are facing the ground immediately after impact.

By this token, with too weak a grip you will still slice the ball even when you square the back of your left hand to the target through the ball.

To prevent this swing fault it's essential to turn your hands to the right on the club for a stronger grip, which makes it easier to rotate your left forearm.

However, when you still slice the ball despite your having adopted a strong grip, your problem does not lie in your grip. There is something wrong with your swing mechanics like swing plane.

Swinging the club on too steep a plane with your hands and arms makes it hard for your forearms and hands to turn over, leaving the clubface open through impact.

A good way to avoid too upright a swing plane is to swing the club more around the body as if you were making a baseball swing. Practice baseball swings above the ball or hit shots off a sidehill lie with the ball above your feet.

An overly upright swing plane also results from the immoderate tilting of your shoulders going back and coming forward, even when you do not lift the club up and down with your arms and hands.

What has to be done first to make your arms swing around your body is to turn your shoulders level. To learn to make a level shoulder turn, put your arms across your chest and rotate your shoulders level going back and coming through. Then, once you've got that feeling of the level turn, try to reproduce it with a club in your hands.

Golfers still slicing the ball despite swinging on a flatter swing plane are probably those rotating the clubface wide open as they take the club away from the ball instead of swinging the club square to the arc of the swing.

Opening the clubface too much on the backswing makes it hard to square it again through the ball. Try to keep the clubface looking at the ball as long as possible on the takeaway or take the club back as if you were making a really long putt.

Looping the club outside away from you as you change the direction from the end of the backswing to the start of the downswing causes your downswing plane to get too steep, thus resulting in slice.

A faulty outward looping action can result from the attempt to cure the slice by making an inside takeaway. However, an overly inside takeaway leads to too flat a backswing plane, resulting in too steep a downswing plane.

To avoid the outward looping on the downswing you need to correct your swing. Swing the club back straight and up to the top. Then loop it to the inside at the initial stage of the downswing. That way you will hit the ball far and straight or a power hook that travels far.

Golfers gripping the club with a neutral grip had better avoid allowing their left wrist to get cupped at the top of the backswing. The cupped left wrist is another reason for slice. To hit the ball far and straight they should have their left wrist flat at the top

A cupped left wrist at the top of the backswing results from bending the wrists sideways. Cock your wrists upward at the end of the takeaway when your left hand is in front of the right thigh and you will get your left wrist flat at the top of the swing.