Hi Everyone

Apparently 7 out of 10 golfers "slice". My own experiences when playing with amateurs in pro ams, backs that statistic.

Now, as winter approaches some of you will still be playing golf each weekend and more than likely the game will be getting more and more difficult as the ground gets wetter and wetter and your golf ball starts to go a shorter and shorter distance. Those par 4's you where reaching in the summer in two shots are now out of range and because of that the game becomes less and less fun!

Distance off the tee is crucial at all levels of the game but take a moment now to imagine being 30 or 40 yards further down the fairway that you usually are......Can you imagine how much easier the game would be?

As a golf coach I have tried to help many golfers hit the ball further and in general if you're a "slicer" you're the type of golfer who can be the easiest to help.

So how can I help you, the reader of this article gain a few extra yards??

First of all lets look at why you slice!

Lets by- past all the 'stuff' that supposedly stops slicing, I bet you've tried all the 'tips' to 'CURE YOUR SLICE' anyway.

Lets get to the 'nitty gritty', the ball slices because of the way the clubface impacted with the ball. The club face would have been 'looking' to the right of the intended target as it struck the ball and probably 'moving' in a direction to the left of the target.

If you're not sure if you swing the club 'left' of the target (we're talking about the moment the club would strike the ball) a great way to check would be to look at your divots, if they are pointing to the left that was the line you where swinging on, FACT. Another way to check the path that the club is swinging on would be to do an exercise of 'club throwing'.

To do this you'll need some space!!! But if you're interested, here's what the exercise is all about. Take some small practise swings with a 7iron, when you're warmed up, I want you to take a swing and throw the club forward towards your intended target. If you end up throwing it 'left' of your target (which will probably happen if you're a 'slicer' that's the swing which loses you 30 yards off the tee!! Do the exercise again for FUN and see if you can change the 'feel' of your swing so that you throw the club in the correct direction. It's all about the 'line' you're swinging the club on and when you let go of the club. This exercise should give you some great feedback as to what direction you swing the club in. JUST BE CAREFUL!!

Okay, you've found out for definate that you're swinging the club 'left' and the ball goes right when you hit it, so the face of the club must be 'looking' that way when you strike the ball. HOW DO WE CHANGE THAT?????

This is the crucial bit, listen and read carefully, you change it by developing a different feel!!

Imagine you had a 'flat faced' club and you were going to learn how to drive a 'nail' forward. You could put down on the floor a 'brolly' (to act as a nail) aiming in the direction of the target. Imagine trying to hit the handle of the brolly forward towards the target with your flat faced tool/club. What would you need to do??
Obviously you would need accuracy of contact, but you would also need to swing the tool/club in the direction of the brolly and have the face of the club/tool 'square' to the brolly handle as you struck it.

This motion/swing is appropriate when you do this 'imaginary' task but it would also be a totally differnt swing from a 'slicers' swing. A slicer would make a swing at the brolly and probably hit the handle with a glancing blow and have no idea whether the face was 'square' as he hit it. That's because the slicers 'feel' for the path of the club and the 'squareness' of the face at impact is very poor.

If you truly want to be 30 to 40 yards further down the fairway with your tee shots, get your hands on a 'Core' and start making practise swings to a brolly on the ground (You don't hit the brolly handle, just make some practise swings imagining you were). See if the feel of this swing is similar to your golf swing, if you slice it probably won't be. Make these practise swings for a few minutes and then try hitting some golf shots with the Core trying to repeat the same swing 'feel'. It's important to swing with enough control that you know what happened when you swung, i.e. did the club swing left or was the face square??

Once you feel that after each step your swing is changing and wouldn't hit the brolly with a glancing blow, change to a 7iron and try and make some practise swings where you swing the club in this new manner.

It will take time but with maybe 10/15 minutes a day for a week you'll really see some changes .

It's my heart felt belief that having watched many , many golfer struggle for years with a slice and lack of distance that the practise system I've just mentioned will add yardage to your shots.

Please let me know how you get on.

Good golfing

Paul