7 Simple & Actionable Steps to Stop Slicing Driver (Forever!)
The slice is the most common miss among amateur golfers. Surprisingly some players decide to live with the slice and aim down the left side of the course.
There are problems with this; slicing the driver does not need to be your signature golf shot.
If you want to learn to control the clubface, hit a straight shot, and get your distance and confidence back from the tee, follow these simple steps to stop slicing your driver.
How to Fix Slice with Driver (Key Takeaways)
The driver slices to the right because you strike the golf ball with an open clubface. If you don’t have time to read all of these fixes for your slice, here are the most important points.
- The simplest and most effective way to fix a slice with your driver is to minimize wrist extension in your lead wrist throughout the swing.
- Golfers who slice struggle with setup and alignment; you must ensure your hips, shoulders, feet, and clubface are parallel and aimed at the target.
- A stronger grip can make it easier to square the clubface; for right-handed golfers, this means turning the left hand slightly to the right when gripping the club.
- The ball position for a straight drive will always be off the heel of the lead foot; this is the only position the clubface has time to square through impact.
- To fix a slice, it’s very important to feel the open clubface at impact; use HackMotion to get real-time feedback about the amount of extension in the lead wrist at impact.
Short on time? Here are 3 simple drills to improve driver distance and consistency that you can take to the driving range today. Check out the drills here!
Contents
What Causes a Slice?
A slice is caused by a clubface that is open to the target and open to the path. The slice is exaggerated by how far open your clubface is.
Positions you get into at setup, and the top of your backswing will dictate whether or not you can square the clubface at impact and hit a straight drive.
Why am I Slicing the Driver but not Irons?
Slicing the driver but not the irons is a common mistake for many amateur golfers.
Drivers are longer than irons by several inches. Therefore you have more club to swing, and you are further from the golf ball. This combination makes it more difficult to square the clubface and to time it all correctly.
In addition, golfers tend to really go after their driver shots to try and increase distance. When you add speed to this equation, the results become even more exaggerated.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
7 Actionable Steps to Stop Slicing Driver Forever
At times you have likely fixed your slice for a round or two, but if you want to fix the slice forever, you have to make some fundamental fixes in your golf game.
Nail the Setup and Alignment
If your setup is incorrect, don’t even worry about taking the club back.
Your feet, hips, shoulders, and clubface should all be parallel with each other and aimed at your target. Many slicers aim further and further left to help accommodate the slice. The problem with this is that it can make it nearly impossible to get the club on the proper path.
Start setting up with your body aimed as if you hit every driver off the tee perfectly straight. This will only help you succeed in your quest to hit a straight drive.
Strengthen the Grip
When you have a strong grip, it makes it easier to square the clubface. You may not need to keep your grip strong forever, but until your slice is fixed, it’s best to strengthen.
Remember, a strong grip has nothing to do with grip pressure, instead it is where the left and right hand are positioned on the club.
The stronger grip has the right handed golfer take their left hand and turn it slightly to the right. This turn of the left hand makes it so that the right hand sits a little under the club.
With the right hand in this position, it has much more control of the club and can help improve the rotation and closing of the clubface on the downswing.
Ball Position Check
The driver requires you to place the ball further up in your stance. The golf ball should be placed off the heel of the lead foot.
If you slice the ball consistently, the ball is likely more toward the middle of your stance or even the back foot. By moving the ball up slightly, you will have more time to rotate the clubface to square and hit the drive as part of your upswing, not the downswing.
If you struggle to get into this position, start with your feet together and the ball in the middle of your stance. Then take a step back with the trail foot but leave the lead foot in position.
Minimize Wrist Extension at the Top of the Swing
One of the easiest methods to fix a slice with a driver is to work on your wrist action throughout the golf swing. The wrist controls the clubface, and many golfers focus on the path and plane before they work on the number one slice cause; poor wrist position.
The typical slicer’s wrist pattern has too much extension and an open clubface at the top of the swing.
After analyzing more than 1,000,000 swings, we know that players who add the extension from setup to the top of their backswing have a hard time decreasing this extension in time to hit a golf ball with a square clubface.
To fix this, you need to have a flat or even slightly flexed wrist at the top of the backswing. From this position, there is much less “work” to do before getting to impact.
Unlock your swing’s full potential with our wrist mechanics guide and finally take control of your clubface – explore the wrist mechanics guide here.
Wearing the HackMotion device and measuring your wrist angles will greatly decrease the amount of extension you have at the top of your backswing.
Work to create a pattern that adds no extension from set up to the top and quickly decreases any extension from the top down.
Leave the Club Alone During Transition
Golfers that have an extended lead wrist and an open clubface tend to start their downswing by pulling down on the handle. This creates a more outside-to-in path, with an open clubface, the classic position to hit a slice.
Instead, you will want to work on allowing your body to rotate from the top down. To do this, you first need a great position with your clubface being square. Then you can turn your body as the trigger to start off your downswing.
A great swing thought is to consider leaving the club alone at the top and letting your body and core take over.
Rotate the Wrists and Body to Square
Rotation is the key to speed in the golf swing. That’s why it is such terrible advice every time you hear that slowing down will fix your slice.
Slowing down is not going to fix your slice.
Rotate your wrists through the impact zone until your lead wrist is in a flat position at impact when you strike the driver.
Put in the Time
Finally, if you want to fix your slice with a driver, you have to spend some time working on the range. These actionable steps to stop slicing the driver will work, but you must work through each.
Fixing a slice while you are in the middle of a round is very difficult.
Wearing your HackMotion device on the driving range can help to alert you when you are in the proper position.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
Drills to Fix a Slice with the Driver
Now that you have a better understanding of what it takes to fix a slice with the driver, here are a few of the best drills you can use to get through this transition.
Wear the HackMotion During Training
Wearing the HackMotion while training to fix your slice will allow you to see if wrist extension positions at the top of your swing are improving. The HackMotion features an audio feedback mode that lets you set acceptable ranges for wrist angles throughout the swing; if your wrists move outside these ranges, the HackMotion notifies you.
Specifically, work on the following:
- Keep the amount of extension in the lead wrist from setup to the top of the swing consistent.
- At the top of the backswing, look for less extension and a flat lead wrist.
- As the downswing starts, the extension should be disappearing so that at impact, the lead wrist is flat or even slightly flexed.
Club Path Drill
If you feel an over-the-top motion is making the slice difficult to fix, you can use a simple alignment stick to fix this.
Place an alignment stick in the ground at about a 45 degree angle with the ground. Put the alignment stick in the ground in such a way that it is not going to interfere with your backswing and instead will only catch the club if you take an over the top swing.
Most golfers never even come close to making contact with the alignment stick once it is in place; it’s just knowing that it’s there that helps you get the club on a shallower path with no over the top motion.
Club Face Drill
A common club face drill will help you decrease extension in the lead wrist on the downswing. You need a golf glove and a golf tee to complete this drill.
Place the top of the tee in the velcro of your golf glove and then close the glove so the tee is sticking straight out of the top of your hand. The tee will be pointing in the general direction of the target at setup.
From the first move down from the top of the downswing all the way through impact, your goal is to ensure that the tip of the tee does not move toward the forearm of your lead hand and instead moves away. When the tee moves toward the forearm, that adds extension.
Towel Under Arm Drill
We talked about the importance of staying connected throughout the swing to avoid an over-the-top path. One great way to do this is to tuck a towel under your lead arm as you practice.
Set up to hit a shot as you normally would, and place the golf towel under the lead arm. Take a normal stance and swing, but ensure you do not drop the towel as you are swinging. If the towel drops, it’s a sign that you have a disconnection between the arms and the body, and very likely an extended lead wrist.
Headcover Drill
The headcover drill will help you visualize the over-the-top motion that could be making your slice worse.
To start, take a headcover and place it just outside the golf ball. You’ll want the top of the headcover to sit just over the ball and then have the length of the headcover pointing straight back where you normally start your takeaway.
You won’t want the headcover to block you from taking the clubhead back on your swing.
However, the reason it’s there is to keep you from hitting the outside of the golf ball on your downswing. As you swing down, you won’t want to make contact with the headcover in any way.
Your natural tendency will be to take the club back slightly more inside and hit from an inside approach.
Closed Clubface Drill
After analyzing more than 1,000,000 golf swings with HackMotion, we know that great golfers are able to close the clubface sooner than beginner or high-handicap golfers. Essentially, the sooner you start closing the clubface from the top, the easier it is to be square at impact.
This is a drill for the driving range only.
You will take a regular backswing, but on the downswing, focus on closing the clubface almost immediately after the transition. If you can learn this feeling and what it takes, you should start to close it more at impact.
At first, this is a bit of an extreme, so you may hook some shots.
However, as any slicer can tell you, a hook is a sign of improvement and will hopefully be the first step in lowering your scores!
Final Thoughts
The HackMotion list of actionable steps to steps to stop slicing your driver is all you will ever need to hit a straight drive for the rest of your golfing career.
Fixing a slice takes a little time, but if you use the right tools like HackMotion, spend time on the range, and build your confidence up, you will get there.
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