Of all the factors that can contribute to hitting a slice, clubface awareness doesn’t get enough attention. A lot of amateurs will point to the face being open at impact, which is correct, but they dont know how it arrived that way or what it feels like.
Here’s an easy drill you can use to get a better handle on the clubface. It also will teach you how to properly release and square the face through impact. Before you hit balls on the range, place a thin, two-inch-long strip of white tape midway down the top of the clubshaft. Make sure the face is square, or perpendicular to your target line, when you apply the tape. You should be able to look down on the shaft and clearly see the tape on top, facing the sky.
Hit some drives at about 50-percent speed and gradually work your way up to full speed. The goal is to return the tape to its face-up position just prior to impact, and keep it there through the shot (above). As long as the tape stays up and the club swings on an arc from the inside, out to the ball and back to the inside, it will square up at impact. If the clubface is open, the tape will appear more underneath the shaft.
JD Cuban
This drill is a good check for the takeaway, too, because many slicers tend to pull the club to the inside and fan the clubface open. If you do that on the takeaway, the tape rolls underneath the shaft, just like on the downswing. Practice keeping the tape face up, and youll improve both your backswing (above) and impact positions and straighten out that nagging slice.
Todd Anderson, one of Golf Digests Legends of Golf Instruction, is director of instruction at the PGA Tour Performance Center at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.