Anyone who has encountered a stubborn lot knows how frustrating it is to watch your cars turn right. Beyond sending your ball into trouble, a fairway robs you of both distance and control, turning your driver into one of the most intimidating clubs in your bag. As a result, many amateurs end up benching one of their biggest weapons on the course.
But you don’t have to sacrifice distance to find more fairways. As David Armitage says, a GOLF Top 100 Teachersexplains in the video below, all you need is a simple swing tip to improve the order and arrangement of your drives.
Keep your back to the target to adjust your slice
According to Armitage, one of the biggest causes of a slice is opening the upper body too early.
“What I see a lot is people opening up too early, trying to generate too much power with their upper body, and that just opens them up and the clubface doesn’t have a chance to clear,” says Armitage.
This often looks like players roll their shoulders toward the target from the top of the backswing, resulting in an open clubface and an out-to-in spin path that sends the ball straight.
To combat this, Armitage borrows a classic swing style from Jack Nicklaus. The tip is simple: keep your back to the target as long as possible as you transition to the landing. It’s a simple tip that Nicklaus still shares with golfers today, and that can have a huge impact on your ball flight.
However, don’t confuse this feeling with a pause at the top.
“It’s not a stop, it’s a sequence,” says Armitage.
The goal is simply to keep the upper body from overpowering the lower body. By keeping your chest and shoulders closed a split second longer, you give the club time to naturally fall into the swing and approach the ball on the inside. From there, the clubface can be released more freely through impact instead of staying open and sending the ball sailing straight.
