What is a slice?

What exactly is a slice - besides being a fade gone wild? It is a shot which makes the ball curve to the right (for a right handed golfer), after first either starting out left or right of target.

That happens when the club’s face moves sideways across the ball and towards the golfer’s body. In other words, the club is OPENING as it passes the ball. With the golfer’s weight remaining on the right leg at impact, and the golfer’s right shoulder and thigh spinning forward and down. This movement is often termed an ‘over-the-top’ downswing.

Where should the club be at impact to avoid a slice?

Unfortunately the body is designed to rotate around the spine, but the only action of the body, arms and clubshaft which can produce straight-line motion is a straight line!

You would not expect to pot a pool ball if the cue does not move in a straight line back and past the ball. Why then should your golf ball go straight, when the arms and body are chopping the club across the ball, much like a table-tennis/ping pong bat does when it is made to produce side-spin? The club should actually be moving on a very slightly in-to-out path as it arrives at, and passes, the ball.

Where should the body be in the impact area?

To facilitate correct club movement during impact, the right shoulder, arm and waist must all be behind and below the left shoulder, arm and waist at impact (so that the shoulders can be parallel to the club’s path). The head, too, must be to the right of the ball. And the body’s mass should be in the middle of the two feet.

Why do YOU slice the ball?

A slice, or for that matter, any mis-hit in golf, takes place because the upper right side of the body - arms and shoulder - shove the club in a straight line towards the ground.

Why does this happen? There are certain top-of-backswing positions from which the human brain finds it much simpler to follow the ‘path of least resistance’, rather than make any re-route which requires a complex series of movements.

See the TEN TRAGIC Tendencies to understand which these positions are

Simply use The Minimalist Golf Swing to get rid of your slice forever!