The most common fault in amateur golf is the slice—a severe curve of the ball far to the right for a right-handed golfer. Yes, you can definitely stop hitting the golf ball right by making simple changes to your grip, stance, and swing path. This guide will walk you through easy steps to fix your slice for good. We will look at why slices happen and how to build a better, straighter swing.
Deciphering Why Golf Balls Curve Right
A golf slice happens when the clubface is open relative to the swing path at impact. Think of it like throwing a frisbee slightly sideways. The ball starts going one way but curves sharply away from the target. For a right-handed golfer, this means the ball starts slightly left or straight and then curves hard to the right.
This unwanted curve, the golf ball curving right solutions, comes from two main issues working together:
- An Open Clubface: The clubface points too far to the right at impact.
- An Out-to-In Swing Path: The club comes across the body from outside the target line to inside the target line.
The open face imparts side spin (slice spin), and the out-to-in path forces the ball to start on a line that leads to that rightward curve. To eliminate right miss golf, you must fix both of these elements.
The Crucial Role of the Grip in Curing the Slice
Many golfers do not realize how much their grip affects the clubface angle. A weak grip is a primary culprit in causing a slice. When your grip is weak, it is very hard to square the face at impact.
Identifying a Weak Grip
A weak grip means that the lead hand (left hand for a righty) is turned too far to the right on the club handle.
- When looking down at the club at address, you see two or fewer knuckles on your lead hand.
- The “V” formed by your thumb and forefinger points toward your right shoulder or even outside it.
This weak position prevents your hands from rotating properly through impact, leaving the face open.
The Stronger Grip: Your First Step to a Golf Slice Fix
To stop slicing golf ball, you need a stronger grip. A stronger grip encourages the clubface to close naturally.
- Check Your Lead Hand: Turn your left hand slightly more to the right. You should see three knuckles when you look down.
- The “V” Check: The “V” made by your left thumb and forefinger should point toward your chin or slightly inside your right ear.
- Trail Hand Placement: Your right hand should sit more under the club. The “V” from your right hand should also point toward your chin or slightly inside your right ear.
This adjustment keeps the clubface more closed through the swing. This is a key part of any good driving slice correction tips.
Stance and Setup Adjustments to Promote In-to-Out
The way you set up to the ball heavily influences your swing path. An open stance often causes an out-to-in path.
Square Up Your Body
To encourage an correct golf swing path, your feet, hips, and shoulders must align parallel to your target line.
- Alignment Sticks are Your Friend: Place one stick on the ground pointing directly at your target. Place a second stick where your feet should be, parallel to the first.
- Shoulder Check: Make sure your shoulders are square to the target line, not open toward the right side of the range. Open shoulders naturally encourage the arms to swing outside the target line.
Ball Position Matters
For irons and wedges, the ball should be near the center of your stance. For the driver, the ball should be slightly forward, inside your lead heel.
However, when trying to fix my golf slice, try moving the ball just slightly back toward the center of your stance for a few shots. Sometimes, hitting the ball too far forward encourages an early rotation that throws the path out.
The Swing Path: Moving From Out-to-In to In-to-Out
This is where the real work happens. The out-to-in path is the physical motion causing the ball to curve right. You must train your body to swing from inside the target line on the downswing.
Drills to Swing Inside the Ball
These drills help retrain the muscle memory away from the dreaded “over the top” move.
The Gate Drill
This drill physically shows you if you are coming across the ball.
- Set up normally with an iron.
- Place two headcovers or small items (the “gate”) just outside and just inside the ball, slightly ahead of the ball position. The space between them should be slightly wider than your clubhead.
- Your goal is to swing the club through the gate without hitting either marker. An outside takeaway naturally causes you to hit the outside marker.
- A good path will swing between them, often grazing the inside marker slightly.
The Tee Drill for Driver Slices
When using the driver, you are trying to hit slightly up on the ball.
- Place your driver tee in the ground about 4 inches in front of where your normal ball would sit.
- Place your normal ball right where it belongs (inside the lead heel).
- Your goal is to hit the ball first, then hit the front tee on the downswing.
- If you swing over the top (out-to-in), you will miss both entirely, or hit the ball fat first. Successfully hitting the front tee forces an inside approach to the ball. This is excellent for driving slice correction tips.
Feeling the Inside Move
Swinging inside the ball often feels “wrong” at first because you are used to swinging across it. You need to feel like you are swinging toward the middle of your body on the follow-through.
- The Towel Drill: Place a folded towel under your lead armpit (left armpit for a righty). Keep this towel tucked during the backswing and the initial downswing. This prevents the arm separation that causes the “over the top” move and forces the arms and body to work together to shallow the club.
Shallowing the Club: The Secret to a Correct Golf Swing Path
Shallowing the club means reducing the steepness of the downswing angle. A shallow swing allows the club to drop down onto an inside track, creating an in-to-out path and promoting a draw (right-to-left curve, the opposite of a slice).
How to Feel Shallowing
- The Takeaway: Start the swing by moving the clubhead back low and slow, keeping it outside your hands for the first few feet. Avoid lifting the club quickly toward the sky.
- Transition Feel: As you transition from the top of your backswing to the downswing, feel like you are letting your hands drop slightly toward your hip or thigh. This move drops the club shaft behind you, shallowing the plane.
- Hands Leading the Club: In the transition, feel like your lower body starts moving toward the target first. Let your hands “fall” into the slot created by your lower body rotation.
This change is critical in determining golf ball hooks versus slices. A shallow path with a square or slightly closed face leads to a push-draw or straight shot. A steep path with an open face leads to a slice.
Fixing the Push Slice vs. the Pull Slice
Not all slices are the same. How to stop hitting push slices requires a slightly different focus than fixing a standard slice.
| Slice Type | Ball Flight Start Direction | Clubface at Impact | Path at Impact | Primary Fix Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Slice | Neutral or slightly left | Open to Path | Out-to-In | Close the face and fix the path. |
| Push Slice | Straight or right of target | Open to Path | Out-to-In | Focus heavily on closing the face via a stronger grip and proper hand rotation. |
| Pull Slice | Left of target | Open to Path | Out-to-In | Path is too far left, but the face is still too open relative to that path. Fix the path first (get it closer to square). |
If you are hitting a push slice (the ball starts going right immediately and curves more right), the clubface is likely very open. Your primary focus must be on the grip and ensuring that your hands rotate the clubface closed through impact.
Hand Rotation and the Impact Zone
The speed at which your hands rotate the club through impact is vital. A slice often results from holding the clubface “off” or letting the lead wrist remain extended (cupped) at impact.
Encouraging Face Rotation
To stop slicing golf ball, you must encourage the left forearm to rotate over the right forearm during the downswing.
- Feel the Finish: Take a half-swing. Concentrate on a strong finish position where your belt buckle faces the target. Your left arm should be relatively straight, and your right forearm should be on top of your left forearm.
- Impact Rehearsal: Practice just the impact zone. Hold the club out in front of you. Rotate your wrists aggressively, trying to get the toe of the club pointing toward the sky as you finish. Now, slow that rotation down so it happens through impact. This ensures you are trying to square the face, not just hold it open.
Proper Golf Grip for Slice Relief
Revisiting the proper golf grip for slice is essential because it is the foundation. Many golfers try complex swing fixes when a simple grip adjustment solves 80% of their issues.
If you struggle to keep the clubface square, try adopting a “baseball grip” temporarily for practice. This means overlapping your hands more aggressively, which naturally puts your hands in a stronger position. While not tournament legal for everyone, it highlights the feeling of having the hands work together to close the face.
Once you feel the difference, return to a standard interlocking or overlapping grip but maintain that strong feel: knuckles visible, V’s pointing slightly right.
Common Mistakes When Trying to Eliminate The Slice
When golfers try to fix a slice, they often overcorrect, leading to a new problem: the hook.
Overcorrecting the Path
If you focus only on swinging “inside,” you might swing too far from the inside, causing the path to move dramatically to the right. This results in a severe hook (ball curves sharply left). If you start seeing hooks, back off the inside move slightly and ensure your clubface isn’t closing too fast.
Trying to Fix It with the Shoulders
Many beginners try to fix the slice by pulling their right shoulder under the ball early. This causes the upper body to get ahead of the lower body, leading to a jerky, steep, and uncontrolled swing—not a fix. The path change must come from the arms dropping into the slot, initiated by the lower body turn.
Impact Sequence Errors
Remember the sequence: Hips turn, arms drop (shallow), then the wrists release through impact. If you lead with your hands and release too early (casting), you will almost certainly open the face and slice.
Using Technology to Confirm Your Fixes
If you have access to a launch monitor or even a simple slow-motion video camera, these tools offer instant feedback.
| Swing Metric | Slice Indication | Fix Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Club Path | Significantly positive (e.g., +5 degrees out) | Move toward 0 or slightly negative (in-to-out). |
| Face to Path | Face angle is significantly more open than the path (e.g., Path is -2, Face is +4). | Make Face to Path number less positive (ideally 0 to -2). |
| Attack Angle | Too positive (hitting too far up) with driver. | Maintain slightly positive, but focus on decreasing steepness. |
Focusing on these numbers helps demystify the process of how to stop hitting push slices.
Integrating the Fixes: Practice Plan Structure
Fixing a persistent slice requires focused, repetitive practice. Do not just go to the range and hit driver as hard as possible.
Phase 1: Grip and Setup Mastery (15 Minutes)
Dedicate your first 15 minutes to hitting 7-irons only, focusing solely on grip pressure and alignment. Take 20 practice swings without a ball, focusing on feeling the strong grip and square setup. Hit 10 balls focusing only on a square setup.
Phase 2: Path Training (20 Minutes)
Use the Gate Drill or the Tee Drill mentioned above. Use a mid-iron (like a 7-iron or 8-iron) for this. The shorter club makes path control easier. Hit 20 balls focusing only on feeling the inside approach. If the ball starts going left (hooking), you are swinging too far inside; ease up slightly.
Phase 3: Ball Flight Correction (25 Minutes)
Once the path feels better, move to the driver or your longest club. Apply the strong grip and the path feeling from Phase 2. You are now aiming to hit controlled draws or straight shots. If you are still slicing, regress back to Phase 2.
This structured approach ensures you address the root cause—path and face angle—rather than just trying to steer the ball straight in the moment. This is the best way to fix my golf slice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: My ball starts straight but curves hard right. Is this still a slice?
A: Yes, this is a common slice. It usually means your club path is slightly out-to-in, but your clubface is open relative to that path at impact. The combination causes the severe curve to the right. A proper golf grip for slice correction is crucial here.
Q: What is the difference between a slice and a push?
A: A push is a shot that starts right of the target line and flies straight (or curves slightly further right). It is primarily caused by an open clubface aimed right of the target line. A slice starts near the target line (or slightly left) but curves severely right due to an out-to-in path combined with an open face.
Q: How can I tell if I am casting the club?
A: Casting is releasing the wrist angle too early in the downswing. A key sign is that you lose all power and the clubface flips open, resulting in a weak slice or a push slice. Slow-motion video is the best way to spot casting. Feel like your hands stay passive until just before impact.
Q: If I adopt a strong grip, won’t I start hitting hooks?
A: It is possible, especially if you drastically strengthen your grip and keep your old out-to-in path. A strong grip naturally encourages the face to close. If you adopt a strong grip and work on shallowing the club for an in-to-out path, the result should be a controlled draw or a straight shot, which is the opposite of a slice. If you hook, slightly weaken your grip until the ball starts going straight.
Q: What should I focus on first to stop slicing golf ball?
A: Focus on the grip first. If the grip is weak, nothing else you do will feel natural or consistent. Make your grip strong, then practice the feeling of shallowing the club to create an correct golf swing path.