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I have a tendency to hit the ball right to what I am aiming. It isn't exactly a slice, but everything goes right of my target. My dad believes it is because my club face is open at impact, thus pushing the ball a bit right. I was wondering if there was any swing changes or tweaks I could make to keep it closed. Thanks!

whats your swing path? I had the same problem because I was coming out side in so my mind controlled me and made me push or fade shots.. To fix i just think of elbowing myself in the ribs(with out actually doing it) and my club is on a flat straight plane to the target..

What do yo mean it goes right but not exactly a slice?
Ball goes right, does it curve right? Straight right? Did you lose distance going right?
Tell us if the ball started right and went straight , or started right and curved further right? Or starte left than curved right......? What does the ball do?

Bignose has printed some good info on clubface angle and swing path shot shape results. To sum things up... Bignose correct me if I am wrong.

Ball starts right and does not curve: Swing path is inside out with a clubface square to path but slightly open to target.

Ball starts straight and curves right: Swing path is outside in, clubface is open to path but square to target.

Ball starts right and curves further right: Swing path is inside out, clubface is open relative to both target and swing path.

Start your downswing with your hips...

I understand the importance now, but up until about a year ago I would have had no idea what that meant...get some lessons, read a few books and try some drills, but essentially one of the core fundamentals of the golf swing is NOT swinging from the top...getting that weight over to the left will let you drive through the ball, turn it over and not push it out to the right...

In general this is right, though real-life is rarely so clean-cut. The best example is to take your putter and significantly open or close the face (compared to the intended target line). It doesn't matter how hard or soft you hit the ball -- the ball will be pushed or pulled at least somewhat simply because the clubface is not square. On top of that, a non-square clubface will also impart spin -- any oblique (fancy way of saying non-square) will cause spin. So, a slice or push isn't exclusively the domain of one cause or the other. A club that is traveling down the line at impact but with an open face with have a some push and some slice to it. I believe that the rule is that the push angle will be about 1/3 the angle the amount the clubhead is open to the line. Either way, the root of the issue is a clubhead that is either not moving along the line at impact and/or a clubhead that is not square to the target line at contact.

The list you gave Martini usually fixes a good 75% or so of the issues, and usually are the major reasons. But, there are smaller parts that can also add up. A swing that is slightly open and slightly in-to-out can turn into a large push-slice. Or, two flaws can balance out -- an in-to-out swing with a closed face may results in a push-hook which might balance into a good shot. It probably isn't the best idea to perfect that, though, since if you fix one of the two issues or exacerbate it some, you're going to have a major problem on your hand.

There is a general tendency for right handed golfers to line up to the right of target by about 20 yds. This could be simply an alignment issue and have nothing to do with your swing.

Step one before making adjustments:

Stand behind the ball and determine the target.

Looking just beyond your ball, find a landmark that is about 6-10 inches away (a patch of grass, immobile leaf, cigarette butt, whatever).

Line up the body, ball and club to the intermediate target.

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It may be how you are aligning yourself.

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I started doing this preparation to make sure that I was lined up correctly. It also translates into a more effective routine when playing on the course.

i had the slice problem too, try a stronger grip. what fixed my slice is that when in my backswing, i think of the back of my lefthand as the clubface. its a page right out of tiger woods tips from golf digest. another problem is swingpath like funkyfdora said. bump-n-run is also right, start your downswing with your hips, that should help with swing path.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Another question I have involves your hips during your backswing. I've read you should rotate them with your shoulders. However, I've also read that minimum hip rotation will produce more coil and thus more power. Which is correct? I know the one thing you don't want to do is slide them.

ers, hip movement depends on what kind of swing you are aiming to achieve.

If you are doing a more armsy, up-and-down, "two-plane", Tom Watson swing, you want the hips to rotate back with the arms. The idea there is to keep everything in sync. In this swing, your power comes from timing the "karate-chop" at impact, and having parts of the body rotate out of sync ruins it.

If you are doing a more core-driven, dead-arms, around, one-plane, rotary, Ben Hogan swing, you want to build tension between the hips and the shoulders/arms. In this swing, you a letting the power come from the hip rotation and the shoulder, arms, hands, and club are all "along-for-the-ride". The hips have to lead the shoulders and club through impact, the hips are the power. In this swing, if you start the forward swing with the arms instead of with the hips, then it gets out of whack.

Now, most people swing with a mixture of the two types. There are very, very few pure two-planers or one-planers, but the movement and timing of the hips is a significant difference between the two. To learn more, I'd suggest you pick up one of Hardy's Plane Truth for Golfers books -- either the original or the Master Class (you can read Master Class without having read the 1st one so either is good) he does a decent job explaining the differences between the two techniques. I don't think he gets some of the details right -- his description of Hogan's swing is wrong in several significant places -- but Hardy's broad description of the two swings is pretty good.