The slice and the fade are two of the most-common ball flights in golf.

While they might look similar as they move through the air, they are actually quite different. A fade is something you can use effectively to make your way around the course – a slice is not. Those who deal with a slice know that it is nearly impossible to play good golf with this kind of ball flight. In this article, we are going to detail the differences between the fade and the slice, and we are going to discuss how you can move away from the slice in order to improve your play moving forward. For a right-handed golfer, both a fade and a slice are going to curve from left to right in the air. Typically, these shots will start to the left of the target line before curving back to the right as they fly – with a slice curving significantly more than a fade. Often, a fade will move only a few yards from side to side in the air, although some golfers may intentionally move the ball a bit more. With a slice, it’s possible that the ball will curve 20 or 30 yards from side to side, if not more. It needs to be emphasized that the slice is a shot which is out of control. The player has not been able to control the spin that is placed on the ball at impact, and as a result the shot is wildly curving as it flies through the air.

If you play a fade, it is because you have decided that ball flight is the best option for your game. You probably found that the left-to-right shot pattern comes naturally to you, so the smart decision was to stick with it and trust it moving forward. You maybe did a little bit of work to refine your fade and make it as consistent and effective as possible, but most players who stay with a fade do so because it is the most comfortable pattern they can produce.

A slice, on the other hand, is something you didn’t pick. Rather, it picked you, as you can’t help but slice the ball badly from left to right as a result of the mechanics in your swing. Most players who fight the slice would love to break the habit, learning instead how to play a controlled fade – or even a draw. You don’t need to be embarrassed by your game if you currently deal with a slice, but you do know that some work will need to be done before you can take a meaningful step forward with your game.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Why a Fade?

We’ve already discussed the basic difference between a fade and a slice. A fade is a controlled, intentional shot that curves from left to right. A slice takes the same general shape, but it is not intentional, and the ball flight is out of control. It should go without saying that no golfer would voluntarily sign up for a slice as his or her standard ball flight, but why do players pick a fade? Let’s walk through some of the appealing benefits of this type of shot.

• Play under control. Perhaps the biggest selling point of the fade as a go-to ball flight is the control that it can provide. It’s never easy to control your golf ball perfectly as you make your way around the course, but it does get a little easier for many players by turning to the fade. A fade typically has a high rate of backspin, which causes the ball to fly high and settle quickly after it lands. Therefore, some golfers find it to be easier to control than a draw, which may not have as much backspin and may bounce and roll more after coming back down to the ground. It’s a great feeling to have control over your golf ball, as you may find that you are more willing to attack targets and less concerned about committing big mistakes. Golf is never an easy game, and it won’t be easy just because you decide to play a fade, but the control you may gain is a meaningful selling point.
• Access to front hole locations. When the hole is cut near the front of the green, it can be difficult to set up a short birdie putt. If you play a draw, you’ll likely get a little bit of forward bounce and roll on your approach shots, unless you are hitting something like a sand wedge. That forward movement makes it tough to stop the ball in time to keep it close to the cup. By opting for a fade, you can usually stop the ball more quickly, meaning front hole locations will not be as much of a challenge. It’s obviously desirable to set up as many short birdie putts as possible throughout the course of a round and using a fade ball flight can help you do just that.
• Not a huge distance difference. One of the main reasons that some golfers decide to stick with a draw rather than a fade is the belief that they will lose a significant amount of distance if they work the ball from left to right. However, that is not necessarily going to be the case. Yes, most golfers will hit a draw a little bit farther, but the difference may not be enough to warrant going with the draw. For instance, if you only hit the ball a few yards farther with a draw, those few yards might not be enough to justify passing up everything else the fade can offer. And, in some cases, there won’t be any difference in distance at all between a fade and a draw. There are certainly some appealing aspects to playing a draw, and we aren’t trying to say that every single golfer should use a fade, but don’t let concerns over distance lead you to ignore what a fade can provide.
• Added versatility. Just because you decide on a fade as your main ball flight does not mean you can’t use a draw from time to time as well – as long as you develop that shot properly in practice. In fact, it is often the case that golfers who favor a fade have an easier time switching to a draw, rather than players who hit a draw trying to create a fade. It’s ideal to be able to turn the ball in both directions so you can adapt your attack of the course based on the layout of the holes, location of hazards, etc. Having the capability to hit both a fade and a draw will give you a big advantage over much of your competition.

As you can see, it’s pretty easy to make the case for using a fade as your go-to ball flight. That said, a fade is only useful when it is the result of a swing that features solid fundamentals and reliable technique. If your fade is more like a slice in disguise, it really isn’t going to work the way you would like. If you are going to use a fade, take the time necessary to build the kind of technique that is going to lead to high-quality, long-lasting performance.

Slice Problems

The slice is one of the hardest mistakes in golf to eliminate from your game. Once you develop a slice pattern – which many golfers develop right from the start of their golf experience – it’s hard to get on track and straighten out your ball flight. One of the biggest issues is the fact that the typical golfer doesn’t even understand why the ball is slicing in the first place. Once you understand the problem, and its underlying causes, you’ll be far more likely to be able to correct it.

On a basic level, there are two issues that need to come together in order to produce a slice. You’ll need to have a swing path which is moving across the ball from outside-in, and a club face which is open in relation to the swing path. When both of those conditions are met, the outcome of your swing is sure to be a slice. And, the more dramatic the errors, the bigger the slice will be. So, a swing which only cuts across the ball slightly with an open face may lead to a modest slice, while a swing that moves badly across the ball while the face is open will result in a wild, out-of-control slice.

So, what is it about your swing that is leading to this negative outcome? We can’t say for sure without seeing you make a swing, but we can offer some general ideas on the kinds of mistakes that typically lead to a slice pattern.

• Poor shoulder turn. To make your backswing, you should be turning your shoulders away from the target. Your arms and the club will go along for the ride, of course, but it is really the rotation of your shoulders which should be at the heart of the action. Unfortunately, if you fail to turn your shoulders properly, you’ll be putting yourself at risk for a slice. An incomplete shoulder turn means the club isn’t going to get behind you properly at the top of the swing, and you may wind up hitting across the ball at impact as a result. Many times, a poor shoulder turn is the result of nothing more than a rushed tempo. Take more time in the backswing to let your shoulders finish rotating and you may find that your slice problem is suddenly improved.
• Release from the top. One of the most difficult concepts to learn in all of golf is that of the delayed release. For many golfers, the natural inclination is to release the club immediately upon the start of the downswing. That means the hands and wrists give up the angle they had created, the club moves into a straight line with the left arm, and the rest of the downswing is nothing more than dragging the club through the hitting area. This is not an effective way to play golf, and it is never going to lead to the kinds of results that you desire. Not only does releasing the club at the top of the swing rob you of power, but it also makes it very likely that you will wind up hitting a slice. Only when you learn how to hold onto the angle between your left arm and the club shaft well into the downswing will you be able to elevate the quality of your ball striking. Learning to delay the release is one of the biggest steps in the progression of a golfer.
• An open stance. Sometimes, you are destined to hit a slice before you even put the club in motion. This is the case when you stand with your body open to the target line at address. If your feet, hips, and shoulders are all open to the intended target line by a significant amount, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll avoid the slice. In most cases, the club will move through the ball along the line that you have established with your stance, rather than moving down the target line. If the face is open in relation to your swing path – which is probably will be – a slice is going to be the outcome. Spend some time working on your address position in order to avoid letting this fundamental mistake throw you off track.

Realistically, there are many mistakes you can make during the golf swing which will lead to a slice. You are going to need to focus on the specifics of your swing in order to get down to the bottom of the issue and straighten out your ball flight pattern once and for all.

Diagnosing Your Current Status

If you are relatively early on in your golf journey, you may have a bit of trouble figuring out whether you are hitting a fade or a slice currently. Sure, we’ve talked about the differences between these two shots already, but for a golfer without a ton of experience, it still might be hard to figure out what is going on. With the points below, we hope to clear up any confusion that is rolling around in the back of your mind.

• Did you mean to do it? One of the first questions you should ask of yourself is whether or not you meant to hit a shot that curved from left to right. While many golfers just make a swing and hope for the best, you should always hit your shots with intention. Be sure to have a plan for each shot so you can evaluate whether or not you succeeded when all is said and done. If you meant to have the ball curve to the right, there is a chance it can be called a fade. If not, you very likely are straying into slice territory.
• Was the shot useful? This is not the same thing as asking whether or not it wound up being a good shot. There are plenty of shots you’ll hit during the course of a round which wouldn’t really be considered ‘good’, but that doesn’t mean they are bad, either. Most of the shots that fall in the middle of those two extremes are ‘useful’, in that they don’t put you in trouble and they keep you on track to finish the hole nicely. A fade is quite often going to be a useful shot, but that can rarely be said for a slice.
• Do you feel in control? While this question is certainly subjective, it will give you a good insight into the status of your game at the moment. Do you feel like you are generally in control of your ball from shot to shot, or are you just swinging away and hoping for the best? When you look up and expect to see the ball turning gently to the right as it heads for the target, you will know that you are hitting a nice fade. On the other hand, if you are looking up unsure of what to expect – and fearing that the ball is curving wildly to the right – you are face to face with the slice.

It’s important to be honest with yourself as you try to evaluate the current status of your game. You aren’t going to benefit in the long run by talking yourself into the belief that you are hitting a fade when deep down you know it is a slice. Spend some time hitting balls on the practice range and do your best to honestly evaluate where you are at presently. If you feel like your shots fall more into the slice category than the fade category, the next step is to figure out what is going wrong and make the necessary adjustments.

Just Play the Game

There is a time for working on your ball flight and trying to figure out if you are hitting a fade or a slice, and there is a time for putting that to the side and just playing the game. As you might guess, the driving range is the place where you should be working on things, while the course should be reserved for using the skills you have at this point to see how well you can play. Many golfers struggle to separate the two, but your enjoyment of this great game is going to depend largely on your ability to do just that.

The first tip we can offer on this point is simply to do your best to make this a game of hitting targets when you are on the course. Instead of thinking about the many different fundamentals that need to come together in your swing to hit a good shot, just think about your target. Pick a target, pick a ball flight that you think can help you reach that target, and do your best to bring that plan to life. Are you going to succeed every time? Of course not. This is a hard game, and there are way more failures than there are successes. However, by making it a goal to focus on the process of hitting the target, you should be able to get away from swing thoughts and just let your natural ability come through. When each round is finished, you can reflect back on what you did well, what you did poorly, and what you should work on during your next practice session.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that you should be focused on actually enjoying yourself on the course. Remember, this is a game, and it is supposed to be fun. If you aren’t having fun, it’s hard to think of a good reason to keep at it. Specifically, you should be having fun when you get the chance to get out on the course and play a round. It’s fine to work hard for a while during a practice session but be sure to always enjoy your rounds of golf, rather than getting bogged down in the details of your performance.

A fade is an extremely useful ball flight which is selected by many of the best players in the world for the control and versatility that it offers. If you decide to play a fade, make sure yours is one that is resulting from quality swing mechanics and reliable technique. You aren’t likely to be successful if you are trying to pass off a slice as a fade, since a slice is so hard to control. Work on your ball flight pattern and do your best to reach a point where you know you can trust your fade time and time again on the course. Good luck!

What is the difference between a sliced and a faded golf shot? Now a sliced and a faded golf shot have similar characteristics in the sense that they start to the left of the target before curving in the air to the right. Now, a fade shot will start to the left, curve to the right and finish on the target while a slice will start to the left before curving more through the air to finish quite a long way to the right of the target. Now these two shots come from two different types of swing techniques and also two, well a swing fault as far as a slice is concerned. Now with the fade, the club will travel from slightly outside the target line cutting across the body and at impact the club face will be slightly open to that path or slightly close to the target. So, you get a gentle motion with the ball, where it curves slightly from the left around to the right to finish on the target.

Now with the slice, the club will come a long way from out to in, cutting across the ball with the club face open to both the path and to the target. And that will cause much more rotation on the ball and much more movement off to the right hand side. Now, a fade is much more controllable than a slice and a fade is much more preferable. If you are hitting the ball which starts to the left and veers a long way off to the right hand side, it might be worth checking your alignment because you might think you are hitting a fade, but if you’re aiming a long way off to the left hand side, your target, your target line which you club is lined up to, could be left to where you actually want it to go.

So if you start off to the left and have a massive amount of movement through the air, you could be hitting a little bit of a slice. So, it’s not only a small kind of change in the way you perceive the shot but it could have lasting kind of implications when you start changing around and want to hit different ball flights. So that’s the difference between a fade and a slice, try and identify that in your game and you might actually be able to tell the difference between what you’re doing and what you actually want to achieve.