BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING CONTINUED!

Ball Flight and Your Swing - Part 4: The Pull-Slice

Probably the most common mistake in golf, the one you'll see the most on the first tee of most golf courses, is the pull-slice where the ball starts wide of the target and curves back toward the target. However rather than a total error with no redeeming feature, it's a tribute to the average players ability to adjust from a very bad position at the start of the downswing.

The pull part of the pull slice is caused when the back shoulder pushes out towards the target line and the chest spins around to start the club back to the ball. Whether this is due to impatience or simply bad mechanics, it sends the club on an outside-to-in path that's on course to start the ball wide of the target [to the left for right handers]. Now comes the admirable part of the pull-slice; the slice part. This is caused when the face of the club is open to the path i.e. the face is pointing toward the target, a situation that puts side spin on the shot, curving the ball back toward the target.

Now because it curves it finishes somewhere around the target and herein lies a benefit laced with a bit of danger - yes it's in play but the slice costs you distance and in the wind it becomes unmanageable. Here is a scenario to rid yourself of the pull-slice.

Fix the path first. Take your address position using a five iron and then place a ball on the ground opposite your back foot approximately three clubheads away. This is your guide ball. Now hit a bunch of balls and practice bringing the path of your clubhead in over the guide ball. This will give you the correct path. Using the correct path your ball should start at the target and as soon as it does a high percentage of the time then you go to work on the face.

To learn to square up the face of your club at impact do this drill: address the ball as you normally do and then pull your back foot away from its regular position so that your back toe is in line with your front heel. Now flare your back foot about 45 degrees. Hit balls from this stance and feel your forearms turn over through impact. Granted it’s an awkward position but it will teach you to release the club, something you didn't do when you were a slicer.

BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING - PART 3

How to Fix Your Push Slice

When you put curve on the ball it’s due to side spin produced when the clubface looks in one direction while the clubhead path looks in another. For example for a right hander when the path of the club is pointing to the right of the target at impact and the face of the club aims to the right of where the path is pointing, then the ball starts to the right and spins or curves even father right - its called a push slice and its one of the worst errors you can have.

Please note that the actual path of your clubhead and the target line at impact are not always the same. If you think you are swinging along the target line but you are actually swinging across it from inside-to-out then your mis-understanding will make it difficult to choose the correct fix.

Ball Flight:  Push Slice

Some ball flight mistakes are ‘better’ than others - like the push hook where the ball ends up moving back toward the target. But the push slice is the one of the worst errors in golf, [right along side the dreaded pull hook] because the spin carries the ball away from the target. With the push slice if your clubface is 30 yards off line and the slice spin carries the shot another 40 yards off line then the combined error is 70 yards. This is the infamous right-to-right shot that few golf courses can contain  -- especially when the wind blows making the error even greater.

Where to Begin

You have two problems with the push slice i.e. [1] the path of your club is too much inside-to-out and [2] the clubface is open to the path. There are far too many causes of path and face problems to deal with them all here, but below is an example of how to proceed.

Fixing the path: Delay or slow your body turn during the downswing to give your clubhead the time it needs to move out from behind you and onto the target line. One way to do this is to make a setup change by increasing the flare in both feet. The more flare, the more hip turn and more hip turn makes your hips "effectively" slower because they have to travel farther.

Once the path is repaired its time to focus on the face using match ups that affect release. A video tape or a friend is handy to check if your clubface is open [toe pointing towards the ground] at the top of your swing. If it is, strengthen your top hand grip until you can swing to the top with the face pointing between the horizon and the sky [a square face]. If your face is correct and you are still slicing increase the amount of forearm rotation through impact – a little at first and then more if needed. And lighten your grip pressure a bit to make sure you’re letting your forearms rotate as they should.

BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING -- PART 2

In the past it was commonly believed that path is related to the direction the ball starts in while the clubface position at impact determines the curve of the ball, but the newest research shows that clubface has a much greater influence on overall ball flight than does path by a 85%/15% ratio.  Even with this departure from accepted belief, the flight of the ball is most helpful as a general diagnostic tool since it requires no special equipment and is present in every shot, except the whiff. The ball flight under analysis here is the push hook where the ball starts to the right of target [left for left-handers] and somewhere in the last third of its flight it bends toward the target.

The fact that your ball is going to the right then hooking suggests that you have two problems: your clubface is closed to the path, and the path is to the right of target. It is my recommendation that you fix the path first because the brain "understands" path better than it does face. It is my experience that sometimes when you fix the path so that the ball starts at the target and then hooks to the left, the face will fix itself after a few swings. You can live with a push hook because the ball eventually moves toward the target but since you can't live with a ball that hooks away from the target, you brain tries to find a way to fix it.

Where To Begin

First fix the path as described last week: turn your hips later which will delay impact giving your clubhead the time it needs to get out from behind you and onto the target line. The best way to do this is to make a setup change by increasing the flare in both feet. The more flare, the more hip turn and more hip turn will make your hips "effectively" slower because they have to travel farther. And make sure to check your ball position – you may have to move the ball forward to stop it from starting to the right.

Next focus on the clubface. The closed face problem could be caused by several factors. To cut down on the hook make sure you have enough flare in your front foot. Then check your grip: if your top hand is too strong [three knuckles showing at address] you'll hook it; if both hands are too strong, you'll push hook it, so weaken both hands.  The other common cause of a closed face occurs when you lose your posture at the top of the swing by straightening your spine. This flattens your shoulder turn and shuts the clubface.  The answer to this one is to keep the spine angle you started with at address all the way to impact.