Why Do So Many Golfers Slice The Golf Ball (Video) - Lesson by Peter Finch
Why Do So Many Golfers Slice The Golf Ball (Video) - Lesson by Peter Finch

Why do so many golfers slice the golf ball? Now the first thing you need to realize about a slice is what actually causes the curvature through the air. Now a slice in the classic sense of the word starts to the left of the target before curving round in the air to finish a long way to the right of the target. If you’re hitting a push slice where the ball starts to the right of the target and then curves through air finishing even further to the right this is an opposite problem. On this particular demonstration we are talking about the classic slice which starts to the left and curves through the air to finish to the right of the target. Now a slice is caused as the club travels on an out-to-in swing path.

It comes out-to-in over the target line cutting across the ball. As the club moves from out-to-in the club face is open to that path but it’s also open to the target line. Now this combination of factors causes the spin axis to change and it curves in the air in this manner. It’s a very destructive shot which many, many golfers will be very, very actually acutely aware of and not unfortunately have a happy relationship with. However we need to change that and one of the reasons that many golfer struggle is they can’t dissociate their hips from their upper body. What normally happens is on the downswing the whole body turns and the club is thrown over the top. What needs to happen in a good downswing is for the hips to actually rotate towards the target while the upper body drops the club into a position where it approaches from an inside swing path. To actually practice this, golfers need to start turning the hips fast and then moving the body down into the ball. And then a really nice way of practicing this is not actually hitting any shots, but getting the club across the chest turning to the top of the swing and then keeping the upper body in this position and just trying to disassociate the hips from the upper body. Now if you can’t do this then some flexibility work and some strength work might need to be actually kind of embarked upon. But if you can disassociate the hips from the upper body then the hips can start turning through and the upper body can drop onto a much better path from the inside. If you can start getting on to this path you can actually start rotating and releasing the club face through impact which will bring the ball back to a much straighter flight. So the slice affects so many people and it’s to do with path and the face angle. And if you can disassociate the hips from the upper body, you can start turning the hips, dropping the club on a better path and hopefully start hitting some better shots. 2014-10-21

Why do so many golfers slice the golf ball? Now the first thing you need to realize about a slice is what actually causes the curvature through the air. Now a slice in the classic sense of the word starts to the left of the target before curving round in the air to finish a long way to the right of the target. If you’re hitting a push slice where the ball starts to the right of the target and then curves through air finishing even further to the right this is an opposite problem. On this particular demonstration we are talking about the classic slice which starts to the left and curves through the air to finish to the right of the target. Now a slice is caused as the club travels on an out-to-in swing path.

It comes out-to-in over the target line cutting across the ball. As the club moves from out-to-in the club face is open to that path but it’s also open to the target line. Now this combination of factors causes the spin axis to change and it curves in the air in this manner. It’s a very destructive shot which many, many golfers will be very, very actually acutely aware of and not unfortunately have a happy relationship with. However we need to change that and one of the reasons that many golfer struggle is they can’t dissociate their hips from their upper body.

What normally happens is on the downswing the whole body turns and the club is thrown over the top. What needs to happen in a good downswing is for the hips to actually rotate towards the target while the upper body drops the club into a position where it approaches from an inside swing path. To actually practice this, golfers need to start turning the hips fast and then moving the body down into the ball. And then a really nice way of practicing this is not actually hitting any shots, but getting the club across the chest turning to the top of the swing and then keeping the upper body in this position and just trying to disassociate the hips from the upper body.

Now if you can’t do this then some flexibility work and some strength work might need to be actually kind of embarked upon. But if you can disassociate the hips from the upper body then the hips can start turning through and the upper body can drop onto a much better path from the inside. If you can start getting on to this path you can actually start rotating and releasing the club face through impact which will bring the ball back to a much straighter flight.

So the slice affects so many people and it’s to do with path and the face angle. And if you can disassociate the hips from the upper body, you can start turning the hips, dropping the club on a better path and hopefully start hitting some better shots.