How to Cure a Slice

For many golfers, learning how to cure a slice is made to be their top priority. More specifically, approximately 90% of golfers endure the struggles of hitting a sliced shot.

While there are many other types of golf shot flaws, like hooks, shanks, and more, none are as frustrating and annoying as that wild curve ball to the right that we know a slice to be.

Coming in as the bearer of bad news, we have a piece of good news for you. Learning how to cure a slice does not have to be as complicated and confusing as people may push you to think.

Starting off with the basics and all the way to deeper adjustments, we have it for you. Without further ado, here are some tips and strategies on ridding your golf game of this problematic shot.

Proper Setup

One of the main reasons that golfers send their shots screaming into the right-hand tree-line so often is because they do not take enough time to set up properly. Your setup at address determines the rest of your shot.

To learn how to cure a slice, the important thing to do before anything is to check your set up and stance. To do so, follow this checklist: make sure your feet and shoulders are lined up and square your hips, shoulders, and feet.

For most shots, as a right-handed player, your left foot should be under your left shoulder. Deviating from these, such as setting up with a closed or opened shoulder, can and will lead to a ball not being able to travel straight.

If you’ve initially had the correct setup or made these adjustments and still hitting a sliced shot, setup and stance are not your cause.

Examine Your Grip

The next step in learning how to cure a slice is visualizing and applying the proper grip.

To kick it off, it’s an important thing to note that you should avoid holding the club too loose, as it will cause the club face to move at the moment of impact, and directly prior. In other words, a nice, firm grip is the best option, but do not mistaken this for a tight grip.

On the other end of the spectrum, you should also keep away from clenching the club too tightly with your hands as this will lead to a restricted swing.

Typing to grip, a player should check the position of their hands on the shaft.

To recognize the proper placement, first, take your normal stance, grip the club as you normally would, and now, look directly down at your hands. As an indicator, you should see no more and no less than two knuckles on your left hand, if you are a right-handed golfer.

Smoothen Your Hip Turn

If your grip is firm and proper, this is our next adjustment.

In the process of learning how to cure a slice, one of the keys to success is having the club face strike the ball while the face is square. One of the primary causes of a sliced shot is an open club face and with that, the ball will surely veer to the right.

If you’re a player whose shots end up going towards the right way too often, you may have a problem with your hip turn and need a series of movement adjustments. It is crucial that your hips follow a smooth, full turn as you move through your downswing, at impact, and during the necessary follow through.

Remember, the key is to make club-to-ball impact with the face of the club square, and this simply cannot occur unless your hips are rotating smoothly with your entire swing. As your club strikes the ball, the golfer should continue their swing and hip rotation until they achieve a nice, high finish.

Quick tip on top of this, knowing your “top,” which is unique to every individual, will deem very helpful with aiming for a high finish.

Keep Your Head Down

If it isn’t about your stance, nor your grip, nor your hip turn, it may be this. But before we get into it, keep an open mind about revisiting the basics and simple aspects of golf.

You’d be surprised but a common reason for sending the ball into right field is picking up your head too soon. Many golfers lift their heads to see where their ball is taking flight — it is mere curiosity. However, this leads to that micro-second of a mistake that causes a poor hit, or more specifically, a sliced shot.

If you aren’t too sure, you can ask a friend or a fellow golfer to watch you as you swing. They would be able to provide you with an accurate verdict.

Check the Swing Speed

When it comes to curing a slice, another common mistake, and that is relatively easy to fix, is swinging too fast. A good number of golfers will speed up their hands as they initiate their downswing. This is driven by the wrong assumption that it can and will add power, and therefore, distance.

Yes, club head speed is important, but it should come from the whole body, like the complete hip turn, and not just from the hands.

Takeaway

As a golfer taking the step to learn how to cure a slice, one of the most important keys is spending more time determining the cause or causes.

Your swing is unique to you, and only you — it is vital that you narrow down the possible culprits to find the one or two things that you are doing wrong and the areas that need adjustment. Only then can you begin to unlearn the bad habit that causes the slicing problem.

You can learn how to cure a slice, but it takes time, effort, and patience. However, once you have solved the problem, enjoyment of the game surely follows, as well as better scores out of the game.