A Reformed Slicer Teaches you How to Stop Slicing Driver(with Driving Range Checklist)

If you’re a slicer (like I was for years) you know it feels to stand on the tee box and embarrassingly aim your body directly towards the trees on the left. Sometimes it will float round into the fairway, other times it slices wildly right. A humiliating trip onto an adjacent fairway, searching in the trees, or hitting a provisional drive normally follows. As a recovered slicer, I’m here to take everything I have learned to teach you how to stop slicing driver. In VERY simple steps.

Let me be completely honest. This is not an adjustment you want to make on the golf course. You need to go to the range and hit balls to eradicate the slice.

Here’s the other problem though.

When you’re at the range you’re not going to remember everything from the 15 minute instructional video you watched on Youtube. You do not want to read through 3,000 words as you stand in the bay.

My suggestion is this.

Read this article: it tells you exactly how I eliminated the slice from my drive. I have also made a checklist in the form of an infographic. Once you have read everything, take your phone to the range and keep the checklist next to you as you practice.

Key Takeaways

• There are three stages to fixing your slice: closing your club face, correcting your swing path and ensuring the right point of contact on your club face.

• Make sure you have a driver that is going to help you, not hinder you.

• Your changing an ‘out to in’ swing to a ‘in to out’ swing.

Step by Step Checklist to Fix your Slice on the Driving Range

Understanding the Dreaded Slice

A golf slice occurs when the golf ball curves from left to right during flight due to the club face being open at the point of contact and aiming right of the swing path direction. This common issue plagues many amateur golfers, leading to frustration and a lack of control on the course.

You might think that aiming left or opening the club face will fix your slice, but it can exacerbate the problem.

As well as accuracy being a problem, a slice will massively reduce your distance. Think about the distance it travels left before coming around versus a pure straight shot.

The key to ridding yourself of a slice for good is to comprehend the causes and adjust your golf swing, grip, and club path accordingly.

The Fundamental Principles of a Sliced Golf Swing

The key to fixing your slice lies in understanding the mechanics of your golf swing. Proper swing path and club face alignment play a significant role in producing a straight shot. When you swing to the left side with a face that aims right, the results can wildly vary. That’s probably why 4 or 5 times out of ten you will hit the fairway with something that feels less like a slice and more like a draw.

As much as it may work some of the time. It is still a slice, and slices are unreliable.

Even if you get the point where 8 or 9 drives out of ten hit the fairway through aiming really left, you will significantly lower your distance. You might experience yourself hitting it the same distance with your driver as mates do with a 5 iron.

To actually gain an advantage off the tee, you need to correct your technique.

There are really three stages to eliminating your slice.

1. Closing the face of the club
2. Correcting the path of your swing
3. Perfecting where on the face of your driver you impact the ball

Equipment Sense Check Before the Steps: Is Your Driver the Culprit?

Having grasped the significance of correct swing mechanics, it’s appropriate to review your equipment. Your driver might be part of the reason for your slice. Take some time to examine:

• Its loft

• Weight

• Shaft flex

• Club face settings

There is a way to cheat with your slice. The top manufacturers release a version of their driver that is specifically weighted to offset your slice. We think the best offering on the market that does this is the Callaway Paradym X. Some golfers have great results with these.

You can read our full Callaway Paradym Driver Review for more depth.

If you’re newer to the game or a higher handicap player that is considering buying a new driver, don’t do so with out reading our guide that outlines the best drivers for beginners right now.

Step 1: How to Fix Your Open Club Face

The big reason why a lot of people slice is because of an open club face. The open face misaligns the club head with the swing path. Learning to close the club face during your swing is key to avoiding a slice forever.

This starts with your grip. Two techniques that can help you achieve this are the Stronger Grip Technique and Grip Pressure Balance.

The Stronger Grip Technique

A strong grip can help close the clubface and reduce the slice. To implement a stronger grip, turn your left hand (for right-handed golfers) slightly to the right, giving your right hand more control of the club and greater power in your swing.

This simple adjustment makes it really hard to let you natural swing path veer out to the right into a slicing motion

Grip Pressure Balance

Balanced grip pressure is another crucial factor in preventing a slice. A “death grip” can create tension in the arms, causing you to guide the ball instead of swinging freely towards the target. Aim for a grip pressure of 3 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lightest and 10 being the tightest, to maintain control while still allowing for a fluid swing.

In Practice

By improving these two things, you will get a more closed face.

If the club face still feels open, then try bending the left wrist a bit more so the club moves further away from the body and not directly up.

As you take the club back, the club face should not be open and facing the sky. It should be facing down

If the club still feels open, then it might be that you’re open the face up to try and get more loft. If this is the case, try to rotate the club left with arms on your downswing. This will feel like your arms are crossing over.

To start with, you will hit the ball left. Hit a load of balls to the left: some will go straight left and others will curve left like a draw.

You actually want to be hitting shots like this.

Hitting left means you’ve successfully closed the face. Once your consistently hitting it left, then we can move onto correcting the flight path. This will make it all come together. But we almost have to get used to hitting it in exactly the opposite direction to eradicate the tendency to slice.

Step 2: Swing Path Correction

Golf Ball Position & Setup Mastery

Mastering the positioning of the ball is a quick and easy hack that can yield BIG results. The golf ball’s location in your stance significantly influences your swing path, clubface angle, and the direction of your shot.

Aim the logo of the ball towards 7 o’clock, which assists with alignment and focus during the swing. Save this thought for later, but think about your club face entering the ball at 7’oclock.

Just as a mention for your driver setup, the ball should be in line with your left heel, and your feet shoulder width apart with 50% balance on each foot. Try and tilt your right shoulder down and aim to hit up onto the ball.

With irons on the other hand, the ball is in the middle of your feet and you are trying to hit down on the ball.

By adjusting your ball position for various golf clubs, you can prevent slicing and improve your overall performance on the course. This article focuses on eliminating your slice, but if you want to learn how to hit a driver in one simple infographic, check out our article.

The Correct Swing Path for Your Golf Club

To prevent slicing and improve your shots, it’s crucial to maintain the correct swing path throughout your golf swing.

• Focus on keeping your body still and only moving your arms during the swing, as this can help ensure proper body rotation and a more consistent swing path.

• Try to rotate through hitting area by turning. Extend your right arm over left.

• Keep right shoulder back as you rotate

• Move your weight into your right heel

Here’s the important bit.

You need to control the angle you come in from on your downswing. You want more of an inside swing with a closed club face. See how we mentioned before about the logo aiming to 7 o’clock and you hitting the club at 7 o’clock? This is how you want to do it.

This should give you the opposite flight path to a slice

By mastering the correct swing path, you’ll be on your way to finding the correct path to hitting the ball straight, reducing the dreaded golf slice.

Follow through as you normally would.

The Towel Drill

The Towel Drill is an excellent practice technique to help correct your swing path and reduce slicing. To perform this drill, place a towel underneath your trail arm’s armpit as you hit balls. This will help keep your arms “connected” to your body during the swing, preventing bad movements and promoting a more consistent swing path.

Practice the Towel Drill regularly to see improvements in your golf game and reduce slicing.

Step 3: The Sweet Spot for Driver

At this point you should have effectively eliminated your slice on most drives. There is one final component which could potentially catch you out.

If you hit the ball close to the heel (even with this change in technique), then you might still get a slice.

Just to the upper right of the centre is where you want to aim for. This will give you the best balance of spin and distance with an upward attack angle that you are trying to hit with a driver.

To analyze your contact, use Strike Spray on the driver face and hit balls. This will allow you to see where on the face you’re striking the ball. You can also achieve the same result by using a launch monitor or golf simulator, which tracks this data.

There isn’t really a scientific fix. If you’re consistently hitting towards the heel side of your driver, try to slightly adjust your aim to hit closer to the toe side of the centre.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Does my Driver Slice So Much?

Your driver may be slicing due to a combination of factors. Common reasons include an open clubface at impact, an out-to-in swing path, or poor weight distribution. A slice occurs when the ball spins excessively from left to right for right-handed golfers.

How do You Adjust a Driver to Fix a Slice?

Grip: Ensure a neutral grip. A grip that is too weak can lead to an open clubface.

Stance: Check your stance width and alignment. Square your feet and shoulders to the target.

Clubface Position: Make sure the clubface is square at address and impact.

Swing Path: Aim for an inside-to-outside swing path to counteract an out-to-in path that contributes to slicing.

Weight Transfer: Shift your weight properly from back foot to front foot during your swing.

Experiment with small adjustments and consult with a golf professional for personalized guidance.

Summary

Understanding how to stop slicing your driver will have a dramatic impact on your game. If you can eliminate it from the shape of your drive, you will generate more distance, hit more fairways, and bring down your handicap. Playing good golf will get a lot easier, trust me.