There are many tips, articles, and books written to help players fix their golf slice. They are often based around a simple tip that is hoping to give a short-term boost in technique and temporarily stop that most destructive left-to-right golf shot. However, the best thing that a golfer should do is take a long term look at their game and aim to build a solid golf swing which will mean that slicing is a thing of the past. To do this a player must completely grasp the reasons why a golf slice occurs.

The two reasons are clubface angle, and swingpath.

Firstly, let's take clubface angle - hard to explain in an article, so lets start by imaging that it is in the perfect position when it strikes the ball - the clubface position would be what's known as "square". That means the face of the club would be pointing exactly at the intended target at the moment the ball is struck. If however, the clubface pointed slightly to the left, it would be described as "closed", and if it pointed slightly to the right at the moment it contacts the ball it would be described as "open" (the position that is partly responsible for a golf slice). Keeping this in mind lets look at swingpath.

With swingpath lets first of all look at the perfect scenario - the ideal swingpath should be in-to-in. What this means is that the club should be drawn back by the golfer on the ball-to-target line, and as the club goes further away from the ball it starts to travel "inside" this line as the clubhead goes up and behind the golfers back. As the clubhead comes down this inside path it momentarily, as it makes contact with the ball is travelling on the ball to target line before it starts to come inside that line again as the golfer makes their follow through. If the clubhead comes from the inside as it should but then after contacting the ball carries on across and "outside" the ball to target line on the follow through, this is known as an in-to-out swingpath. Alternatively, if the clubhead comes down outside the ball to target line and the follow though is inside, then this is an out-to-in swingpath.

Now, bearing these two factors of clubface alignment and swingpath in mind a golfer can analyze his technique by looking at the shape of his golf shots. The swingpath decides the initial flight direction of the ball, and the clubface affects how it curves in the air. So, if the ball takes off straight at the target and flies in a straight line then this is the result of an in-to-in swingpath and a square clubface.

However, if the ball starts off straight but then curves to the left a golfer can ascertain that his swingpath was ok but his clubface was closed - hence the hook. Alternatively, if the ball started off left and then curved even further left then it shows that the swingpath was out-to-in and the clubface was closed - causing a pull hook.

Using this type of analysis it becomes easier to fix your golf slice. If the ball starts off straight and then goes to the right a golfer knows that his swingpath was ok but that his clubface was open at impact. If the ball started off right and went further right then it would mean an in-to-out swingpath and an open clubface. and if it started of left then curved to the right it would mean an out-to-in swingpath and an open clubface.

Learning exactly what is going on in your golf swing, by studying the flight of the golf ball, is a very important step in fixing your golf slice.