The bane of both recreational and professional golfers, the slice carries a ball sideways and out of the fairway. Slice is caused by both incorrect swing and club face angles at impact, and golfers should attempt to understand why that happens before they attempt to figure out how to stop it.
Definition
A slice (for a right-hander) is a ball that spins left to right, causing the ball to travel in that direction, usually in a pronounced, curving arc. In addition to left-to-right sidespin, slice shots also have the natural underspin or backspin (a rotation of the ball toward you) caused by hitting a ball from behind and down.
Physics
The slice is created by the slice angle, which is the direction of the club face at impact in conjunction with the face angle of the club at that moment. When a moving golf club strikes a motionless golf ball, Newton's first law of motion is invoked: An object that is at rest will stay at rest until an unbalanced force acts upon it.
When a golf club strikes a golf ball, the ball will initially move in the opposite direction. So if the ball is hit from behind, it should move forward. If the ball is hit from behind and from right to left, it should move from right to left. However, based on the Magnus Effect, a ball hit in such a way that puts spin on the ball will travel in the direction of that spin.
Causes
The main cause of the slice is the incorrect outside-to-inside (right to left) swing path of a club during the downward phase of the swing. This can be caused by a number of factors, including the stance (where the ball is in relation to the feet), club swing path and effect of the wrists on the club fact at impact.
Standing too close to the ball can cause a slice as the golfer must move the ball very much outside-to-inside to hit the ball. Taking the club back incorrectly (e.g., breaking the elbows too early or taking the club back too far away from the body) will set up a forward swing that causes slice. Laying the wrists back (palmar flexion) too far or snapping the wrist into the shot incorrectly will cause a club face angle at impact that will impart slice on the ball.
Tee Placement
Teeing the ball too low or too high can exacerbate a slice. If the ball is teed too low, the golfer will swing too far down on the ball, creating more backspin and sidespin. If the ball is teed too high, the club will hit the ball father down (toward the bottom), creating more backspin, exacerbating the detrimental spin that causes slice.
Swing Cures
Proper ball placement that does not require the golfer to exaggerate the right-to-left or outside-in club path addresses a major cause of the slice. A backswing or take-back that follows a more straight line will decrease the resultant outside-to-inside forward swing caused by an exaggerated inside-to-outside backswing. Keeping the wrists firm prior to contact will prevent an open face at impact, decreasing the club face angle that causes sidespin.
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