How to Fix Your Golf Slice Full as Possible Shoulder Turn - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler
How to Fix Your Golf Slice Full as Possible Shoulder Turn - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler

If I asked you golfers sat out there looking at this clip, how many of you golfers actually slice the ball? I think just about everybody’s hand will go up because that’s the biggest fault in golf is a slice. So, what is a slice? Yes, you’ll most probably will say I know, but I’m going to let you know just for those people who might not know. A slice for a right-handed golfer is a ball that starts to the left of the target. Remember, this is the direction that we want to actually hit the ball down. The ball starts to the left of the target and curves to the right finishing right at the target for a right-handed golfer, just reverse that process for a left-handed golfer, so that’s what a slice is. There are many causes in the body that create a slice, so let’s just very quickly go for that checklist. The first thing is the most obvious factor.

The clubface may well be open. Open means that the clubface is aiming to the right of the target before we even started working on anything else. Secondly, the grip. If the grip is too weak, weak means that the hands to the left of the club and the right hand is wrapped over. By putting the hands in that position you can see that my shoulders are now in an open position. Open meaning that the shoulders are going down the left-hand side. This is a crucial element and this the area we’re going to actually talk about here, because we’re talking about the shoulders and the shoulders and what influence they actually have on the slice. Now, remember, we just talked about the grip being too weak and, again, just to go over that, it means the left hand is under for a right-handed golfer, for the left-handed golfer it would be the right hand, the opposite way.

Left hand is too far to the left and then the right hand is too far over. That now puts my shoulders in a position where you can’t see my left shoulder. That means that the shoulders are aiming to the left. If your shoulders are aiming to the left that is the direction that you’re going to swing the club. So, there are my shoulders, open setup and straight away my swing will go outside the line. What goes out has to come in and if you could see the action there, out to in, and when it hit the left-hand side of the ball and if I hit the left side of the ball, the ball is now going to rotate to the right-hand side, left to right, so you can just imagine that sort of spin I’m actually going to put on that ball. So, we now know what causes a slice, with the shoulders being in the wrong position at address.

So, how do we put it right? The simplest way would not be what you think, which is over the ball and just turn the shoulders this way because we didn’t get to the problem in the first place, which was in the hands. So, let’s concentrate. Let’s put the left hand over the grip, keeping the thumb down the center. We can see there is a groove here, a line what we call the V and that goes between the chin and the right shoulder. That’s a good position to have. Then we place the right hand on sitting in the fingers and the right hand also sits in a position where that V is going in this area. Now, concentrate on the area. Imaging standing in front of a mirror and look at the hands, look at the Vs, chin to left side, that’s a slicing position.

Chin to right side, good golf shot, neutral shot, maybe even a bit of a draw and I bet there are not many golfers out there watching this draw the ball, so keep that in the back of your mind. So, as I put my left hand over, you’ll notice the shoulder now comes forward, I put my right hand in the position I set and from here now, you can see where the shoulders are actually aiming, nice and true where I want to go with the sticks along the ground. From there my natural swing now will be just as I turn my shoulders and that beings the club on the inside, inside and then back to the ball, you can see me in a very, very strong position, whereas when we first started we were in this position here and we were going outside and in.

So, the shoulders are a very, very important part of the setup and what I want you to do is to focus on just bringing that left hand over, it’s what we call strengthening the grip. Remember for left-handers, go the opposite way and from that go out and work on this. I might not happen the first few balls, but certainly after a bucket of balls, you should start seeing that slice start to reduce. Go and work on it.

 2013-08-07

If I asked you golfers sat out there looking at this clip, how many of you golfers actually slice the ball? I think just about everybody’s hand will go up because that’s the biggest fault in golf is a slice. So, what is a slice? Yes, you’ll most probably will say I know, but I’m going to let you know just for those people who might not know. A slice for a right-handed golfer is a ball that starts to the left of the target. Remember, this is the direction that we want to actually hit the ball down. The ball starts to the left of the target and curves to the right finishing right at the target for a right-handed golfer, just reverse that process for a left-handed golfer, so that’s what a slice is. There are many causes in the body that create a slice, so let’s just very quickly go for that checklist. The first thing is the most obvious factor.

The clubface may well be open. Open means that the clubface is aiming to the right of the target before we even started working on anything else. Secondly, the grip. If the grip is too weak, weak means that the hands to the left of the club and the right hand is wrapped over. By putting the hands in that position you can see that my shoulders are now in an open position. Open meaning that the shoulders are going down the left-hand side. This is a crucial element and this the area we’re going to actually talk about here, because we’re talking about the shoulders and the shoulders and what influence they actually have on the slice. Now, remember, we just talked about the grip being too weak and, again, just to go over that, it means the left hand is under for a right-handed golfer, for the left-handed golfer it would be the right hand, the opposite way.

Left hand is too far to the left and then the right hand is too far over. That now puts my shoulders in a position where you can’t see my left shoulder. That means that the shoulders are aiming to the left. If your shoulders are aiming to the left that is the direction that you’re going to swing the club. So, there are my shoulders, open setup and straight away my swing will go outside the line. What goes out has to come in and if you could see the action there, out to in, and when it hit the left-hand side of the ball and if I hit the left side of the ball, the ball is now going to rotate to the right-hand side, left to right, so you can just imagine that sort of spin I’m actually going to put on that ball. So, we now know what causes a slice, with the shoulders being in the wrong position at address.

So, how do we put it right? The simplest way would not be what you think, which is over the ball and just turn the shoulders this way because we didn’t get to the problem in the first place, which was in the hands. So, let’s concentrate. Let’s put the left hand over the grip, keeping the thumb down the center. We can see there is a groove here, a line what we call the V and that goes between the chin and the right shoulder. That’s a good position to have. Then we place the right hand on sitting in the fingers and the right hand also sits in a position where that V is going in this area. Now, concentrate on the area. Imaging standing in front of a mirror and look at the hands, look at the Vs, chin to left side, that’s a slicing position.

Chin to right side, good golf shot, neutral shot, maybe even a bit of a draw and I bet there are not many golfers out there watching this draw the ball, so keep that in the back of your mind. So, as I put my left hand over, you’ll notice the shoulder now comes forward, I put my right hand in the position I set and from here now, you can see where the shoulders are actually aiming, nice and true where I want to go with the sticks along the ground. From there my natural swing now will be just as I turn my shoulders and that beings the club on the inside, inside and then back to the ball, you can see me in a very, very strong position, whereas when we first started we were in this position here and we were going outside and in.

So, the shoulders are a very, very important part of the setup and what I want you to do is to focus on just bringing that left hand over, it’s what we call strengthening the grip. Remember for left-handers, go the opposite way and from that go out and work on this. I might not happen the first few balls, but certainly after a bucket of balls, you should start seeing that slice start to reduce. Go and work on it.