golfrewind.com

I've been playing for 5 months now, and I just turned a major corner, and I'm so pumped up I feel like I can play a real game of golf, as opposed to just bringing the club back and hoping for the best in my swing.

Like most, I couldn't figure out why I would hit fades, slices, & bananas so often. Sure I'd hit straight shots, and even some pulls & hooks, but on average it would be mostly shots to the right.

Well go figure, it took a couple of articles from GOLF Magazine and Golf Digest to open my eyes. This is after 5 months of going to the library and looking at every golf instruction manual published in the last 50 years. I know many think that these magazines and books are not useful, and will contradict themselves often just to keep us confused, but this time it worked.

The tips that worked are "The Power Move" in Golf Magazine, and the "Breaking 100-90-80" in Golf Digest this month (where they use the driving analogies).

What they basically showed me was, during the downswing (which should be 80% effort) is to "twist and lean". That is, to 'twist' my arms to rotate the clubface, and to 'lean' into the shot so that I shift my weight to the left at impact.

Oddly, it was one small picture of a Tiger extension after impact that did it for me out of the whole article. I saw that his right arm was pointing at the target and his right palm was perpendicular to the ground when he brought his right arm parallel to the ground after impact. I was always pointing out towards the right and/or had my palm facing up by 45*. By forcing myself to get my right hand & arm to that position at that point has cured my slice. (note: this is also the same thing that Pennick teaches when he demonstrated positioning your hands like you're shaking hands with someone on either side of you during the swing, but I just couldn't see it when I read it then).

Then there was the 'lean' part of it. I saw that to get extra distance, you need to de-loft the club at impact and turn a 9iron to a 7iron by shifting your hands forward about 2" at impact from where they were at setup. The only way to do this was to complete the weight shift to the left and feel like you are leaning forward at impact. I immediately got 10 yards on my shots. You also force yourself to hit down on the ball (getting extra spin) instead of sweeping it.

Once I got this, I brought it to the range (haven't had a chance to play yet) and in the last 3 trips, I've hit about 10, then 5, then 1 shots that were definite slices (out of 75 balls to a bucket). Each time I worked on these new items, and it has paid off. As opposed to my usual range sessions, where I would hit balls that land on one side of the range to the other.

I now know that if I don't concentrate and do this on every shot, then I am wasting my time. I also understand what it means when golfers talk about taking one side of the course out of play. I did some simple geometry, and given a fairway that is 30 yards wide. If you are inconsistant and hit the ball on any one of the 9 ball-flights (from duck hook to banana slice) with no direction any more likely than the others, then you have only a 35% chance of landing in the fairway. But if you can take the slice/banana away, you'll have a 56% chance of fairway. And if you aim for a tendency to fade/hook, you can probably bring that up to 2/3 chance.

So to sum up, you are wasting your time if you don't
a) twist your arms so that your right hand is pointing towards the target and right palm is perpendicular to the ground after impact
b) feel like you're leaning forward a little too much at impact so that you can de-loft the club and hit more down on the ball and get extra distance

Congrats on the progress. Now get out on the course and make it work for you there.

Yeah, congrats when i first got rid of my slice, the next round i started to hook....

^^ i agree, when i was younger i had a killer slice that I thought i fixed on the range, turns out it was so downwind my ball couldnt curve right, hahaha

5 months!?!? You lucky son of a....oh wait, language policy is in effect. It took me 5 years to work out my slice. Glad to hear you found something that works for you. Now can you retype that out for us lefties? Hahaha...just kidding. I'm used to switching hands when I'm reading now.

u may have gotten rid of it... for now.

from my own experience playing golf..

its likes herpes... its never completely gone.

as soon as u think its not gonna happen.. when u least expect it. it will come back.

That's awesome progress and make sure you keep up the hard work. The only thing I would be wary about and just keep a lookout for is the leaning part. It may start turning into a sway if you start reaching for extra distance. Other than that...good job.

Congrats on getting rid of the slice . I tend to pull/hook now and again, but again, it seems to be due to me not get my weight onto my left side at impact (I dont seem to have a problem with rotating my arms). Its something I am hoping to work on again this weekend as its only my accuracy that seems to be stoping me from shooting lower .

Congratulations! It feels good when golf gives some back instead of just taking all the time doesn't it?

As was said, just don't get careless, becasue it's never completely gone! I've been playing for 18 years and normally hit a draw or hook on just about everything, but even have spells where everything is a fade/slice and it leaves me scratching my head for a week or so until my normal swing comes back.

I read that article also, and it's really not some new great idea, it's just that most of your amateurs/beginning golfers don't realize that this is what has to happen in the golf swing to close the clubface. You're simply "releasing" the club. I'll agree though...it's not an easy thing to master. Just watch out for the ol' hook now!

THERE'S an analogy that sums up the pain of the slicer...

I've got a friend that says, "Any time a golfer looses a slice, two other golfers find it."

An update for all those that replied. I took the new swing to a course Friday and I will agree that it is a different situation from the range & the course (but I knew that already).

I took about 2 strokes off my average on that course. I could still do a whole lot better (seeing as my HCP is about 25 for that course). I still hit some shots that went right, but I knew exactly what happened after I swung.

Unlike other times when I could'nt tell you why the ball went this or that way. The nerves, the slow players in front of me, the fast players behind me (isn't that always the case, but Friday it was really true). The adrenaline, the numerous hazards, trees, etc that creep into your mind.

What I figure is that I need more playing time than once every 2 weeks. Its just that that time doesn't always present itself. But anyway, thats good news. I can honestly say that I'm at a point to where I won't turn a corner for a significant improvement unless I play 1+ times a week. I'll just have to live with that ; )

Congrats, I fixed my slice a while back and I know what that feeling is like when you break through, but I developed a new problem, taking a huge divot.

i have a nasty slice and i cannot get rid of it but i will try the tips and i will get back to you on it or and also a draw bias driver would also sort you out.

and also cheers weizard 4 tips.