There is nothing more infuriating then slicing your tee ball into the woods on the very first tee box (except for maybe slicing it into the woods on the 2nd tee as well.) This is something that every golfer will struggle with in the course of his/her golf life. And it makes perfect sense too, because the driver is the longest club in your bag with the straightest clubface. This makes it more difficult to hit then the weekly lotto!
The two main reasons you slice the ball (the ball curves from left to right) is because 1] the clubface is open (pointing to the right) at impact and 2] your swing path starts from the outside and moves to the inside. If we can fix these two flaws, we'll have you hooking the ball into the woods on the other side of the fairway in no time!
Clubface Open at Impact. A number of things can contribute to an open clubface at impact. First and foremost is your grip. Make sure you have a "strong" grip. This means that when you grip the club, the lines that are formed when your forefinger and your thumb meet - both are pointing at your right shoulder.
Address a golf ball and take your normal grip. Look down at your hands and notice the lines between your thumb and forefinger make a "V." If both V's are not pointing at your right shoulder then rotate your hand(s) until they are. Now if you keep light grip pressure when you swing, your hands will naturally close the clubface at impact. If you are unsure about your grip, ask a PGA Professional to take a look.
In addition, there are many drivers out now that have adjustable clubfaces so you can set the clubface closed. I use to be against this technology until my friend Brian got a TaylorMade R9, before he always played a fade which took several yards off of his tee ball. He set the R9 clubface slightly closed and started hitting a draw, which added 15 yards to his drives. The jerk began to outdrive me consistently! There is nothing wrong with using technology to help you move forward, and you can always adjust the clubhead back to neutral or open when your swing improves.
Outside to Inside Swing Path. This one is a little bit more difficult to fix, but nonetheless it's not as hard as people make it. The main thing we are trying to accomplish is swinging the club on an inside to outside path on the downswing. Most beginners swing the club up and to the inside on their take away. This puts the club on a very shallow plane and puts the club in an impossible position to get back to the ball from the inside (because you would hit yourself in the right leg otherwise - ouch!) Thus, the only way to get the club to the ball is to throw it over your right shoulder and swing outside to inside which creates a slice.
To get the club on an inside path on the downswing you need to sweep the club back. A good shortcut to try is after taking your normal stance, take a half step back with your right foot. This will make it feel like you are aiming to the right of the target line. Make sure to realign your shoulders with your feet so that your body is pointing right as well. Finally, the easy part is to swing along your body line, sweeping the club back on a long wide arc. As you make your downswing feel as if you are swinging out to the right of your target. For you baseball players, you want to feel like you are swinging out to right field.
In closing, these tips should certainly take some of that frustration you have from slicing your driver. Of course after you've over corrected yourself, please look for our next article "How to Stop Hooking your Driver."
Robert L. Ludwig honed his golf skills at Indian Peaks Golf Course, just outside of Boulder. In one year he went from shooting in the 100s to breaking 80 consistently. Nowadays, he writes about drivers for ZipGolfer.com while pursuing a job as a PGA Teaching Professional.
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