A slice is a ball flight by right-handed players that curves to the right. It is one of the most common mis-hits for recreational golfers. Many golfers struggle with a slice because they don’t understand the cause. The physics that cause a slice revolve around two things: the club face and the swing path. When you understand the cause of a slice, you can focus on correcting it.

Features Of A Slice

The sliced shot has more backspin and sidespin than a shot that’s properly hit. Having more backspin causes a slice to be much shorter than a properly hit shot. The sidespin causes the ball to curve to the right in the air and then bounce and roll even further right when it hits the ground.

Types Of Slice

There are three different types of slices:

A pull slice – A pull slice starts left of the target and curves back to the right.
A push slice – A push slice starts right of the target and curves farther right.
A standard slice – A standard slice starts straight at the target but also curves right.

Physical Causes

A standard slice is caused by an open club face and/or a slightly outside-to-in swing path. These combine to create the sidespin that causes the ball to go right. The more open the club face is at impact, the more sidespin the ball will have and the more it will curve (slice). The swing path determines the starting point of the slice.

A pull slice is caused by a severe outside-to-in swing path. The more a golfer swings from outside-in, the more the ball will start left of the target before curving (slicing) right.

A push slice is caused by an inside-to-out swing path with an open club face.

Correcting A Slice

In order to eliminate or reduce a slice we need to have a clear understanding of the correct path the club should be taking AND the relationship of the clubface relative to that path.

Something to keep in mind. The clubface position is influenced by the path the club is taking but the clubface has very little if any influence on the path the clubs swing on.

What does that mean? It means to eliminate a slice first we need to ensure that the club is swinging on the correct path and then we can learn to square the clubface upon impact. We need both parts to work correctly but we need the most influential part first.