You've got your path ironed out and your face is as square as the yell leader at M.I.T. All that's left to do is combine the two for a slice-busting swing.
By adding just a few additional must-have elements to your motion, the in-out swing and square face at contact you've worked hard to achieve will happen naturally and without effort. Try the following to pull it all together and kick that slice to the curb.
Fact: Your clubface points in the same direction as your right hand. This is never more relevant than just prior to impact. At this point, your right hand (and clubface) should face the ball. If you're solid here, all it takes is a full turn through the ball to produce straight, powerful shots.
Stay in your shoes
If you overswing even slightly, you're left to depend on impeccable timing and luck to make square contact. Strive for a more compact motion-one that you can control. You'll get more power from centered contact than you will from a big swing with an impact out toward the heel or toe.
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When you stop your hips in your downswing, your arms fling past your body and across the target line-a bad thing. An easy way to feel proper hip turn is to pull on your right pants pocket with your left hand. That powerful and aggressive turn through impact is exactly what you need to keep your club on the proper plane.
Hinge your wrists
Poor wrist hinge can open your face quicker than almost anything else. Avoid hinging upward during your takeaway. In a good full swing your wrists cock laterally, especially at the start. Your arm swing and elbow fold do the work to get your club upward.
The swing in the mirror
Your through-swing is a mirror image of your backswing. Look at your elbow and wrist positions. In your backswing, your right arm is folded and your left wrist is flat. In your through-swing, your left arm is folded and your right wrist is flat. Sometimes breaking the golf motion down to its simplest parts is all you need to get on plane and square.
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Stay centered
The middle of your sternum is your swing center, and your path goes awry and your face position falls out of whack when you don't swing around it. To learn to swing around your center (and on plane), place the grip against your belt buckle and wrap your hands around the shaft. Make a swing and feel the connection between your arms and your torso. That's "keeping your club in front" and is one of the true hallmarks of a high-level swing.
Four gear changes you can make to stop your slice today
1. Hook up your face
If your woods are designed with a square face angle (like most clubs are), you'll benefit from a custom fitting for woods with a closed (aka "hook") face angle. This directly offsets the effects of an open face.
2. Add some offset
"Offset" means that the shaft of the club is in front of the clubhead. This will give you a split second more to keep the rotation of your hands and arms going so that the clubface arrives at impact less open than it would with a conventional wood.
3. Shorten the shaft
By going an inch or two shorter with your driver, you'll find it much easier to reduce your outside-in swing path, which should automatically reduce the severity of your slice. However, if you shorten your existing driver, be sure to add weight back to the head to re-establish the swing weight-otherwise, you'll make your slice much worse!
4. Order a combo
If you're staring at a 30- to 40-yard banana ball on most of your shots, and you're not willing or able to put in the time to fix your swing, a driver with a more closed face angle and an offset hosel, along with a shorter shaft, should definitely reduce the severity of your slice.
By Tom Wishon
President, Wishon Golf Technology
