Releasing the club through impact is imperative in creating distance, spin and creating solid square contact. Many players who suffer from a slice tend to have issues in releasing the club properly through impact. A good way to catch yourself resisting the release is to check the position of your lead elbow post impact. If your lead elbow is away from your body and pointing towards the target, your in the classic chicken wing follow-through position, and you’re wrists didn’t rotate properly.

You may recall a previous post on follow-through releasing drills. Here are some more to try if these didn’t work.

 

This particular drill can be used for two different purposes, one to help fix your slice, and the other to reduce your lower body movement (which occasionally can also lead to a slice). In regards to specifically fixing your slice, swinging from your knees will promote a flatter more baseball-like swing path into the ball. This should help you move away from a common cause of the slice, a steep, upright swing. By swinging from your knees, you make an upright swing impossible… and you force yourself to flatten your swing path in order to make contact with the ball. I’d recommend staying away from this drill on a range like the one photographed here – the dividers can cause problems. Try this on an open grass range and tee the ball up – use a long iron, or wood if you’re adventurous.

Another common cause for the slice is an over active lower body. By swinging from your knees you basically take your entire lower body out of the swing, and force your upper body to coil to compensate. Therefore, this drill is very effective at reducing a common slice cause, an over-active lower body.  By eliminating your lower body from the swing, you are forced to rotate fully, making it very difficult to "get ahead of the ball". This rotation, is an important factor in helping your square the clubface - leading to straighter shots.

Give it a try!

One of the most common causes of your slice is an over-the-top move on the downswing. Most golfers don’t know the difference, but this move actually causes a different type of slice – a pull slice. It’s a slice that starts left of your target and quickly turns right – it dramatically reduces your distance and power.

The over-the-top move can have many causes – so we won’t get into those here. In short though, this move throws yours hands out from the body on the downswing. This drill will help you to do the opposite – to drop your hands down from the top - by encouraging a downswing that attacks the ball from the inside.

To force your swing to feel the exact opposite of the over-the-top in hopes of curing yourself, grab your golf bag and place it a couple of feet back of you, as shown in this image. Perform this drill with a smooth steady swing (the slower the better for engraining the proper move) – no ball is required. You may find that dodging the ball on the backswing is easy here – this should tell you something. If not, it’s not a big deal. Swing back outside the golf bag to the top of your backswing, once you reach the top loop the club down inside the bag to the ball. The pictures say it all. After about 20 slow swings with your bag in the way – remove the bag and try hitting some balls again. Really focus on your swing path – specifically a path that attacks the ball from inside the target line.

It shouldn’t take long to get your swing back on path – and the ball where you want it.

Give it a try!

9 out of 10 golfers suffer from a slice. As common as the fault is, there is only one cause - an open clubface at impact. Here are three easy quick fixes to help stop your slice in a hurry. Use them if need be on the course, for a mid-game fix, but I would highly recommend trying to groove them on the range so they because ingrained in your swing.

Stronger Grip

I’m talking hand position here, not grip pressure. Most slicers grip the club in too weak of a position (hands too much on top of the club) – to help combat this poor position, rotate your hands to the right on the club. The V’s created by the webbing between your thumb and index fingers should point either at your right shoulder or the right of it as shown in the image. A stronger grip position will help encourage you to grip the club more in your fingers, and it will make it easier for your wrists to rotate through impact helping to square the clubface.

 

I've received many questions and e-mails regarding drills to help release the club more effectively. To all those readers, listen up!

By now, have you have learned how to work your way around a golf course.  Whether you suffer from a pull, a slice, a hook, or a push – you’ve learned to live with your mistakes, and have made swing changes to better your chances of keeping the ball in play.  In this post were going to talk about two specific quick fixes amateurs try when suffering from two different kinds of a slice, neither of which work.

 

The slice is the most common ball flight seen amongst amateur golfers… most of which have a no clue why it’s happening in the first place. They blame their clubs, their lack of talent, or some other technical detail without actually understanding the physics behind a slice.

One of the most common causes of a slice is a weaker grip… now remember, the term “weaker” has no reference to grip pressure… it simple refers to your hands positioning on the grip. Your grip is considered weak when your trailing hand is on top of the club at address, or as it is more commonly described as having your wrists turned to the left (right-handers only).

The chicken wing or flying elbow as it is more commonly known plagues many amateur golfers. Interestingly, you will also discover the same ‘fault’ in the swings of some professionals as well.