How To Overcome The Slice!!

If you ask any elite golfer about the position of their trail arm in the backswing, very rarely will you see the right elbow (Opposite for a left hander) lifting excessively away from the body. One of the most common faults that leads to a steep downswing and ultimately a slice is the right elbow getting too high and disconnected early in the backswing. This often causes the club to travel too far “out” and sets the shaft into a very steep position at the top.

When the right elbow lifts and separates from the body, the club tends to work up and away from the body line. From there, the only way back to the ball for most golfers is over the top, creating an out-to-in path. This is one of the main reasons why the ball starts left and curves further right for a right-handed golfer.

A very simple but effective drill to fix this is to place a towel, headcover, or even a glove underneath your right arm at setup. The goal is to keep that “connection” between your upper arm and body during the backswing. As you swing to the top, you want to feel like the right arm stays more in front of the chest rather than lifting away and disconnecting.

From there, focus on rotating your body rather than lifting your arms. When the body turns correctly and the right arm stays more connected, the club naturally shallows into a better position at the top. This immediately improves your downswing path, helping you approach the ball more from the inside rather than cutting across it.

A couple of key notes when doing this drill: don’t try and force the arm down or restrict the motion too much. The feeling should still be a natural turn, just with better connection between the right arm and torso. Also, once you start to see the slice reduce and ball flight straighten out, gradually remove the drill so you don’t become overly dependent on it.

If you want to fix your slice and improve your swing path, just contact myself at David Waters Golf Coaching, located at Emerald Lakes Coaching Centre.