It is true that most people including myself slice the ball when they first start playing golf. This is because our natural instincts tend to take over when we grip the club in our hands, that is we dominate the swing with our upper half. When we focus on swinging the club with just our arms, we tend to pick the club up quite steeply and then as a result swing to the left sharply on the follow through imparting left to right spin.
What we also tend to do is not pay too much attention to our set-up fundamentals. For example most people when they start have a weak grip, meaning the hands tend to be positioned too far to the left. This in fact tends to open the face too much on the backswing and again naturally has the face open at impact. The other element is alignment. We tend to stand in a position which feels most comfortable. However that usually means the shoulders, feet and hips often point in different directions. This will also affect the shot by changing swing path.
Also when we notice a slice is occurring, we also tend to aim further and further left. Now this can help us hit the fairway but if you continue to do this over a long period of time, you will in fact worsen the problem. The main reason for this is that as mentioned previously, a slice is caused by swinging too much to the left. You will also start to lose distance considerably as the more you aim left, the less your legs will want to drive and thus will only gain power from the arms.
Now like most people who had a slice at the beginning, I did all these things above which worsened the problem. Over time though, once my Dad really taught me the importance of fundamentals in particular grip, ball position and alignment, the slice started to get less and less. I also worked on making sure I had a complete shoulder turn on the backswing and tried to have the ideal finish position each time with my body pointing at the target with all my weight on the front foot. This is really the magic formula for consistency. Focus on the fundamentals first in particular aligning yourself perfectly each time and then work on your big muscles during the backswing and sticking your finish.
If you'd like any further help in stopping your slice, just book in with myself at David Waters Golf.
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