Golf: Why We Slice The Ball

Step 1: Weak grip

If your left hand grips too far beneath the club, so the knuckles are not visible from above, you will make what is called a weak grip.

In a correct grip, your left arm hangs relaxed from your shoulder.

The weight of the club head stretches your arms out on the downswing.

If you straighten out a weak left hand grip the clubface will open up, turning out to the right so it hits the ball at an angle and slices it off to the right.

Step 2: Aiming off-target

Ninety percent of all golfers set up aiming to the right of the target, but thinking they aim straight.

They then have to compensate by opening up the shoulders, turning them left towards the target.

This shoulder position makes the club swing into the ball from the outside, hitting across the line of the ball and slicing it over to the right.

Step 3: Protecting the right hand side

This is more of a psychological than a technical problem.

If you have already sliced a few shots, it will play on your mind in every shot in which you have to avoid the right hand side, because of water, out of bounds or some other hazard.

This might put you off turning your body as much as you should in the back swing, as it makes it feel like you are going to hit even further to the right.

Instead, you will try to compensate by hitting the ball towards the left.

Insufficient body rotation in the back swing makes the club come down from the outside and hit across the line of the ball, producing even more slice.

As you can see in our video 'avoid slicing', the solution is to grip, set up and swing correctly for a straighter, longer shot.