It's going to kill me. No matter how hard I try to concentrate and follow the tutor's instructions, it just remains there smiling in my face. IT IS GOING TO KILL ME I SWEAR!!!

Hey Lucky,

I'm probably not telling you anything that your instructor hasn't already but just in case...

Adjust your stance at set-up to where your right foot (back foot) is is further back than your left. This is called a "closed" stance.

Once you get your club to the top of your backswing and just start ot begin the downswing towards they ball, think of pulling down on a rope that's attached to a church bell.

These two tope will promote a more inside swingpath that will result in straighter shots. What you are doing is swinging the club in an outside-in swingpath taht doesn't get the club face square at impact...it leaves it open a touch and hits accross the ball.

These tips helps me back when I used to slice the ball and I think they'll help you too if you work on them at a range. Best of luck!!!

OK wait, because these instructions are totally new to me. You mean I should have the distance between the ball and my right foot more than the distance between the ball and my left foot? OK, I think I do this all the time when I am hitting anything above 8 Iron.

Then when I am swinging down at the ball I do like I am pulling a church bell? You mean a more vigorous downswing at a steeper angle than the usual?

I have made a simple illustration here
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6271/swingplanenp0.jpg

Let's assume A is my normal swing, would B be what you are talking about??? A steeper down swing?

Not a steeper downswing. The pulling down of the hands at the top of the backswing simply helps the hands stay closer to the body and square up the club face properly at impact. It will also help get the club face moving through the ball on and inside-out line, which will actually hit a draw if you close the face of the club. However, for someone who has a tendancy to slice (or even block/push shots right) rather than draw, the ball will simply go straight. This stuff is really hard to explain through words. It would be much easier to have explained to you by a pro. That way you could hear it, see it, and try to feel it and repeat it.

I think I can understand what you mean, I will try this next time.
The problem is that my pro doesn't seem to tell me anything useful. He told me my wrists should be extended and that's all.

If you can think of your swing, what arm would you say does the most work? The left or right?
The left arm should 'pull' the club through the ball rather than your right arm 'pushing' the club through the ball.

I used to push a lot with my right arm and my club face was never straight at impact...

This may or may not help but if you stand a little farther from the ball it makes it harder to come over the top.

I used to hit a slice or a fade all of the time. I read a tip in Golf Digest or something that helped, especially with a driver. I hit it pretty straight or a slight draw now.

Take a slow backswing and concentrate on keeping the clubhead as close to the ground for as long as you can. This should promote more of an "inside out" swing. Your backswing is finished when your left shoulder is tucked under your chin (keep your head still). Start your downswing or "pull the trigger" by pulling your left shoulder out from under your chin (toward your target) and your torso and arms will follow. Keep your wrists "cocked" for as long as you possibly can. "Flipping" or breaking your wrists too early in the downswing will cause a slice or a weaker shot as well.

Lastly... try to do all of the above without actually thinking about trying to do it and you will be cured!

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will try doing some of these tips.
The problem with me seems is that I can never know when I am hitting right and when I am hitting wrong. I notice that when I first start a round my shots are awful and they almost always slice, don't go far or sometimes even don't leave the ground at all. By the 3rd or 4th hole things start to get a little better but the slice still ruins my game.

I just don't seem to know what makes my shot slice sometimes, and what makes it good and centered the other times. It just comes randomly and that's the problem.

I just aimed left of where I wanted the ball to go. When the slice kicked in, it was right down the fairway!

quote:

Originally posted by cjl:
Hey Lucky,

I'm probably not telling you anything that your instructor hasn't already but just in case...

Adjust your stance at set-up to where your right foot (back foot) is is further back than your left. This is called a "closed" stance.

Once you get your club to the top of your backswing and just start ot begin the downswing towards they ball, think of pulling down on a rope that's attached to a church bell.

These two tope will promote a more inside swingpath that will result in straighter shots. What you are doing is swinging the club in an outside-in swingpath taht doesn't get the club face square at impact...it leaves it open a touch and hits accross the ball.

These tips helps me back when I used to slice the ball and I think they'll help you too if you work on them at a range. Best of luck!!!

That just creates a slew of other problems. Stick with professional advice. If you seek out and worse yet follow advice like this, and then work on it on your own until you think you've fixed the problem, you'll NEVER EVER learn to play golf...just reinforce bad habits.

It's your whole set-up...position of your shoulders, where your hands are, how you're bending your knees, the swing plane, hitting up on the ball instead of down, sliding through the swing zone instead of keeping your body still as your hands swing around you...all of these things and a thousand others contribute to bad shots.

Your back should be stiff and straight and you should be bent slightly at the waist. Your hands should hang naturally and your shoulders should be relaxed. The club should fall naturally into your hands. Your grip is yet another thing...and that takes a pro to correct. All of this stuff will feel strange because you're not doing it right, and the more you do it wrong, again, the more difficult it will be to correct.

Don't look for advice on this board...it's all bad.

EVP, I sometimes do this, but then when you hit it this way it doesn't slice, and there you out of bounds

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
EVP, I sometimes do this, but then when you hit it this way it doesn't slice, and there you out of bounds

That sounds familiar.

I have played a slice or fade off the tee for 15+ years.Somedays i can really get the fade working but some days look out..As i get older i am losing ALOT of distance off the tee cuz of the "fade".I don't play enuff anymore to grove my slice swing.Oh well

A 'fade' is a ball struck where it veers slightly to the side of the player's dominant hand. A slice is a poorly struck ball. If you play a 'fade' then you can control it. If you're just flailing away at the ball hoping that, by aiming way right, you'll miraculously hit the fairway, forget it. That's a slice. You lose distance, you have no accuracy, and you're probably better off watching a baseball game in the clubhouse with a cigar and a nice cold beer.

A friend of mine belonged to a club in Texas and was on the range with one other player. It was Ben Hogan. My friend approached him after watching him hit some balls, and after some chit chat admiration stuff, Hogan asked my buddy if he was a golfer, and what his handicap was. My buddy played to a 3, and was quite proud of it. Hogan looked at him and said, well, son, you're no golfer...and walked away.

If you're going to play golf, don't allow your mistakes to guide your play...you'll suck, you'll always suck, and you'll never be able to play except with a lot of luck on your side.

One errant shot that slices...sure...happens to everyone. But if it's every shot, and you're lining up facing Morocco, hoping the ball will end up somewhere near the Indian Ocean, you're in trouble!

Keep your body centered...don't slide through the ball...relax your shoulders...allow the shoulders to swing under your neck and around you...hit down on the ball...then, and only then, will you have a chance of having fun.

A pro explained it like this to me...think of the golf shot as a piece of pie...sometimes you go a little to the right, sometimes to the left, and the direction should be somewhere in the middle. The object is to LESSEN the scope of that pie. Also...if a ball starts out 3' left or right, at 100 yards, that 3' is 50' or more. Small adjustments make huge differences.

ryj..thats why i only played 27 holes all last year..

quote:

Originally posted by ryj7x47:
then, and only then, will you have a chance of having fun.

I take that back. Golf is a game, and games should ALWAYS be fun, and you do NOT need to be a scratch golfer to have fun. The sentiment I meant to express was that, perhaps we should not have such great expectations of ourselves, and when we do, and are constantly looking for the secret to improve, we end up frustrated.

So, yeah...have fun doing whatever it is you do whenever it is you do it. It doesn't matter. If you want to be a great golfer, that's a different story. There are many hacks who have fun playing...and there are many great golfers who don't have fun playing the game. Go figure!

Cigdogg...whenever you're ready for that stogie and a beer...drop me a line! Sometimes I WOULD rather watch a baseball game...

I played today, surprisingly I sliced just a couple of times and the rest were more or less straight.
It's one bad day and one good day I guess.

Lucky, try to follow the advice of your tutor. That's the best advice.

Now, for my personal experience. The best advice I ever got for stopping my slice, which I played with for years and now it's been gone for 5 years or so, is this: My pro had me rotate my grip right - alot, effectively strengthening my grip to an exaggerated degree. When you do this and swing outside-in, you jerk hook it left. His belief was that if you do this and stick with a strong grip, your body will naturally change your swing to put the ball back in the fairway (right). Turns out he knew what he was talking about. My swing changed from outside-in to something more "normal".

When I began playing I never had a slice which I was thankful for, but when I purchased new clubs I suddenly had a horrible slice. The new clubs I got had a more flexible shaft, meaning that when I set up normally over the ball, and swung like I would have with my older, stiffer clubs, the head would be dragging further behind than normal, opening the club face more and causing me to slice nearly every time.

What I do now to correct the slice is set up with the ball closer to my front foot. This gives the club more room to come around and with the flex of the shaft will have the head striking the ball more square.

Also, I am keeping my right arm a lot closer to my body. A lot of slices are caused by people pushing their arms out and then quickly bringing them back in before striking the ball. This motion will put a heavy clock wise spin the ball and make it slice. When I'm swinging now I try and keep my right arm as close to my body as possible, even letting my elbow brush my torso as the club comes around.

I hope this helps you out, let us know you're playing and best of luck out there!

Remember: playing with friends, having fun, and being able to laugh about a bad shot will make you forget about your slice every time.

Good luck!