Fix your slice: read the ball flight before you change your swing

A drive that starts left and peels right needs a different fix from one that starts right and keeps going, and the ball tells you which you have on every shot.

This guide is written for right-handed golfers. If you play left-handed, swap every “left” and “right”.

Face against path

Two things decide where the ball goes: where the club face points at impact, and the direction the club head travels (the swing path). Titleist’s Learning Lab sums up the physics: “the face sends it, the path bends it.” With a driver, it puts the face at roughly 85% responsible for starting direction (closer to 75% with a mid-iron).

Curve comes from the gap between the two. TrackMan calls this “face to path”. When the face is open to the path, the spin axis tilts and the ball curves right. The bigger the gap, the bigger the curve, and the driver’s low loft exaggerates it, which is why the same swing can produce a gentle 7-iron fade and a big driver slice.

Check your misses lean right before calling it a slice

Shot Scope’s tracking data, published by MyGolfSpy, shows that 25-handicappers miss 28% of drives to the right and 19% to the left. At most other handicap levels the split is close to even. Count your own misses over a few rounds first. If they’re spread both ways, the problem is consistency.

Step 1: read the start line

Hit ten drivers (or 5-woods, if you’re struggling to find the ball) and watch only where each one starts, not where it finishes.

• Starts left, curves right (the pull-slice). The face is pointing left of the target, but the path is even further left. This is the classic out-to-in swing. Work on path first.
• Starts roughly at the target, curves right. The face is close to square, but the path is left. Work on path.
• Starts right, curves further right (the push-slice). The face is open to the target and to the path. Work on the face first.

Step 2: check where you’re hitting it

Impact location can create curve all by itself. As coach Adam Young explains in a GolfWRX piece on gear effect, strikes out of the heel add slice spin and strikes out of the toe add draw spin. A heel strike can start left and slice, looking exactly like an over-the-top swing. Coach Tom Stickney’s spray tests, also on GolfWRX, found higher handicaps hitting all over the face and mid-handicappers often showing a consistent heel or toe bias.

Spray the driver face with foot powder or dry shampoo (it wipes off) and hit five balls. If the marks cluster on the heel, sort that out before touching your swing: stand a fraction further from the ball, or set a second ball just inside the one you’re hitting and try to miss it.

Step 3: one fix, one drill

Pick the drill that matches step 1. Start with a low-teed 7-iron and half swings, then build up to the driver.

If you need to fix the face: the start-line gate. Push two tees into the ground about three yards in front of you, a club head’s width either side of your target line. Your only job is to start the ball through the gate. Since the face controls start direction, balls through the gate mean a face close to square. Grip is the usual place to look: many coaches suggest turning both hands slightly away from the target so you can see two or three knuckles on your lead hand at address, which makes it easier to return the face square.

If you need to fix the path: the headcover gate. Lay a soft headcover on the ground just outside the ball and a few inches behind it. An out-to-in downswing clips it; a path from slightly inside misses it. Feel as though the club approaches the ball from behind you and swings out to the right of the target. If you start hitting pulls that don’t curve, your path has improved and the face now needs to catch up.

Score each session: out of ten balls, how many start where you want and curve less than before? Write it down and beat it next time.

On the course: don’t rebuild mid-round

If the slice turns up during a round, play for it:

• Aim to use the whole fairway. Tee up on the right side of the tee box and aim at the left edge of the fairway or left rough, so the curve brings the ball back into play.
• Take more loft when the trouble is right. A 3-wood or hybrid curves less than a driver from the same swing.
• Save the drills for the range. One swing thought at most on the course, and make it about the start line.

Flexibility, kit and the fade you can keep

Strength and flexibility. If a full turn is hard work, the arms often take over from the top. A shorter backswing you can complete may help more than any grip change.

Equipment. A driver with too little loft, a shaft that doesn’t suit your speed or a club that’s too long can all make face and contact problems worse. Draw-biased heads can reduce the curve; we’d treat one as help while you work on the cause.

A controlled fade is fine. If your ball curves the same modest amount right every time, you have a fade you can aim with, and nothing needs fixing.

Hybrids, three range sessions or a heel check

Aiming to break 100. Use a 5-wood or hybrid on tight holes and prioritise centred contact.

Handicaps of roughly 10 to 25. Run steps 1 to 3 once, pick your drill, and give it three range sessions before judging it.

Single-figure players. If a slice has crept in, check contact first; the strike may have drifted towards the heel.

Two letters on every tee shot

On every tee shot, note two letters on your scorecard: where the ball started (L, S for straight, R) and where it finished (L, F for fairway, R). After 18 holes, look at the start column. Mostly L or S with a rightward finish means work on your path; mostly R means start with the face.

Sources

• Titleist Learning Lab: The physics of ball striking
• TrackMan: What is face to path?
• MyGolfSpy: Left versus right miss off the tee – what the data tells us (Shot Scope data)
• GolfWRX: Gear effect basics – how off-centre hits cause slices and hooks (Adam Young)
• GolfWRX: Impact location by handicap (Tom Stickney II)