By: David Nevogt
Here's a really good tip that may help you to get rid of your slice. Best of all, it's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it, and understand why it's being used.
Chances are that you have battled with a slice at some point in your golfing days. To be completely direct with you, dealing with a slice really sucks. It hurts your golf game in many more ways than one.
Luckily, it's fairly easy to fix. I cannot claim that this small tip will completely cure your slice, but there's a good chance that it will. I hope it does.
First off, please understand that when you come into the impact zone, there are really only 2 factors that can determine the "shape" of ball flight.
1. The angle of the club face at impact.
2. The Path the club is taking at impact.
So, here's a few things you should concentrate on.
Try to keep your leading shoulder "down" on the ball through impact. This is called staying strong through impact. Many times the leading shoulder (left shoulder if right handed) flies up before impact. Now just for a minute, think about what that does to the club head when it's in the impact zone.
Get up from the computer and actually go though the motions slowly. Let your leading shoulder fly up as you approach impact and you'll actually be able feel and see the clubface coming from an outside-in path. That’s the cause of the slice you are battling.
See, golf is all about thinking and analyzing your shots to get better. A huge part of this game is understanding "why" you're getting a certain result, and the physics behind that result. Thinking through your golf swing will provide huge dividends if you're willing to invest the time it takes.
So what can you do to correct that flying shoulder? Well, for starters, try to learn to keep your leading shoulder strong. Keep that shoulder "Down" on the ball all the way through impact, even after the ball is gone and flying straight down the fairway.
So, after impact the leading shoulder is still down. The triangle between your shoulders and chest is still present. Most importantly, the body has NOT gotten ahead of the hands. This is a HUGE distinction. As you may notice, the left shoulder is actually higher than the right shoulder. So what do I mean when I say "leading shoulder down"?
You have to envision yourself from the back looking down on the ball. When I say "down", I mean that the leading shoulder and chest is still facing the ball through impact.
So even though it may seem like the leading shoulder is higher than the trailing shoulder, it's still facing the ball at impact. NOT TOWARDS THIRD BASE in comparison to the ball. If your leading shoulder was facing towards third base at impact, which would mean that you have let the leading shoulder fly up.
Furthermore, hand action is huge in this game. You must learn to release your hands correctly through the ball. This means that you release the hands while the leading shoulder is still "down", or facing the ball.
The key is to let your arms release through the ball, while your left shoulder is "Down" on the ball. To do this you will need to rotate your forearms correctly, and use your leading ELBOW (not shoulder) as a hinge. So another way to explain this movement would be that your hands are still moving towards the target, but your leading elbow has almost stopped.
Keep the leading shoulder down and let your arms and hands release through the ball and you will see the ball go farther and higher. This will take a while to get used to, but once it clicks, the results will be outstanding.
