What Causes A Slice In Golf
Whether you’re a time tested golf veteran or an amateur player still finding your way through the game for the first time, there will be instances when your stroke may not be as good as you want it to be. This is just natural; it comes with learning the game.
One of the more common issues that golfers struggle with throughout their career is the ’slicing’ challenge caused by incorrect swinging techniques.
Simply put, slicing means that due to improper form and swing technique, once you swing, you do not get the desired result in trajectory and flight direction for the ball. Ultimately causing you to miss your target and lose the match in some cases.
What seems to be a fairly simple concept is easier said and done. In practice, it is a challenging issue to address and will require tons of patience and lots of time out on the green perfecting the technique.
More than the physical aspect, it also involves a lot of mental conditioning. You will need to focus and visualize your desired objective. As with all types of competitive sports, the mental aspect is what will give you the edge once the game is on the line. Just ask any professional athlete.
If you think like a winner, you WILL be a winner.
So now back to the task at hand. Let us go ahead and identify the common causes of golf slices. Knowing is winning half the battle, so arming yourself with the knowledge regarding the causes of golf slices will help you avoid them and possibly facilitate the improvement of your overall golf game and maybe even improve your handicap.
There are 2 components to consider when attempting to remedy your slices, is it the clubface upon impact, which causes the slice or is it the downswing. Or in some cases it can even be both. Let’s look at the effect of each component separately.
Open clubface – the position of the clubface once it hits the ball controls the curve of the ball. Once you hit the ball with an open clubface, regardless of the path of the swing it will swerve to the right even with a perfectly angled path.
Swing path – this component of the swinging process dictates the direction of the ball once it’s in flight. There are two distinct patterns for the swing path.
Out-to-in – this is when your swing angle starts from the outside and ends with the ball hitting the club at an inside angle. This type of swinging motion when combined with an open clubface will cause the ball to begin its flight coming from the left, but then veer towards the right.
Inside-to-out – this swing involves the angle of the path to face outwards upon impact. Thus sending the ball flying to your right and then veering even further to the right.
As independent benchmark tests have shown, hitting a ball at an angle of 1.5 degrees relative to the clubface will cause a right hand curve of at least 60 feet from the intended target! That’s just 1.5 degrees with a perfect path!
Now if you add an out-to-in path angled at 5 degrees to this mix, you will get an additional slice to the tune of 30 feet to the existing 60 feet of curve caused by the open clubface!!
What these tests tell us is how damaging these components are if not addressed at the onset. However, it further exemplifies that, even tough an open clubface is a cause of concern; the out-to-in swing path is the more critical flaw that needs to be addressed between the 2.
However you want to go about improving your overall game, just bear in mind that ‘practice does make perfect’. And with enough of it, you might just achieve that perfect game you’ve been aiming for.