How To Stop Slicing Your Driver: 7 Top Tips For a Straighter Tee Shot
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How many times have you thought, “Why do I keep slicing the driver?”
If you’re suffering from a slice, you need to address this issue head on. While you might have been playing with this miss for a while, it’s important to fix it and not “live with it.”
A slice off the tee makes it hard to hit your golf goals and play your best. Because when you hit a slice you:
- Lose distance on every shot. Slices spend time moving laterally in the air instead of down the fairway which causes you to lose distance. This leads to longer approach shots which invite higher numbers on the scorecard.
- Miss more fairways. Your accuracy will go down greatly and will likely find yourself playing from the rough more than the fairway. Sometimes you will have to chip out and hope to save par. But even if you do have a clear shot to the green from the right rough, playing out of the rough isn’t as consistent as hitting from the fairway. This makes it harder to hit greens in regulation and likely leads to more bogeys.
- Lose confidence in your game. Finally, not only does a slice hurt distance and accuracy, it crushes your confidence too. Especially if you’re playing well and know you need to hit some good drives coming down the stretch to finish strong. This can make it hard to swing with confidence especially when you’re under pressure.
How to Stop Slicing Driver
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you hit it longer and straighter so you can have more confidence than ever. Here are seven ways to help you hit it straighter off the tee box.
1. Adjust Your Current Driver
The first thing you need to do is make sure your equipment isn’t enabling your slice.
Golf clubs have come a long way in the past decade which is great for most golfers. Since the majority of players struggle with slicing their driver off the tee, equipment can help. While this isn’t a long-term fix, it can help you find more fairways and hit it longer too.
If your driver has an adjustable hosel, move the setting to the “draw” setting. And if there is an adjustable sliding weight, move it to the toe so it’s easier to hit it straight.
2. Start With Your Setup
Once your driver is finely tuned to help you hit it straight, don’t change any part of your swing just yet. Instead, look at your setup position to see if something you’re doing before you take the club away is enabling a slice.
Here are three parts of the setup to master so you can hit it straighter.
Grip
One of the main reasons why most golfers slice the ball is because of a weak left-hand grip (assuming you’re a right-handed player). This makes it easy to take the club too far on an inside path and hit the weak slice with the driver.
Start by moving your left-hand so it’s more on top of the club. If you’re still slicing from this position, strengthen your right hand by rolling it more underneath the grip.Watch the below YouTube video from Rick Shiels to get your grip in a neutral to strong position.
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Stance
Once your grip is strengthened, make sure you have a wider than shoulder width stance. This will also help shallow your plane and reduce a slice.
Ball Position
Finally, don’t forget to check your ball position. With a driver, the ball should be placed on your front foot. If it’s too far back in your stance, it can lead to all sorts of problems at impact.
3. Improve Alignment (and Don’t Aim Left)
Once your driver and setup are correct, the next important issue to look at is your alignment.
One of the biggest things I see in everyday recreational golfers is accidentally aiming right of the target. This isn’t done intentionally in order to hit a draw either.
Instead, most players aim right without realizing it. But their mind understands they’re aimed well right of the target. The solution to this error is pulling the club back toward the target, which usually leads to a pull slice.
The problem is, most golfers don’t know they’re doing this at setup. So if they hit it dead straight, they think they pushed it, which only compounds the issue.
The other problem with alignment is once a golfer sees a slice on the course, they think aiming left is the strategy. Similar to the other example of aiming right, this only makes things worse.
To become a consistent driver of the golf ball, you need to master your alignment. Check your feet, hips, and shoulders are square to the target (or even slightly closed). This will make it easier to hit a straight shot or even a draw.
4. Create an Outside Takeaway
After you’ve gotten into a neutral address position, let’s dive into what’s happening in the swing. The takeaway is one of the most important parts of the golf swing and sets up your downswing.
One of the most common causes for a driver slice is taking the club too far back on an inside plane. This will lead to the club being laid off (known as “across the line”) at the top of the backswing. For most players, this will lead to a steep downswing that causes them to pull the shot with an open face.
If you fix your takeaway, you can change the rest of your swing without a ton of effort. Remember, the backswing sets up the downswing. If you’re hitting a slice, it means the face is open at impact which is due to something breaking down in your backswing.
When you fix your takeaway, a lot of other issues will fix themselves. Check out this new training aid that can help you master the takeaway.
Use the Lag Shot Driver
While there are a lot of training aids promising to help you quit slicing the golf ball, few deliver on the promise. But this is one of those training aids that can actually help you hit it straighter.
The Lag Shot driver was awarded the “best swing trainer” of 2022 and can do wonders for your swing. This club is unique in that you can use it with golf balls on the driving range or at home to start grooving a more consistent swing.
It has a whippy driver shaft that helps you learn how to get shallow on the downswing. When you have a shallow downswing, it’s easier to get the cub in the slot. This power move makes it easier to hit a draw and will fix your slice quickly.
Plus, the club has other benefits too. Not only will it help you fix your slice it will help:
- Not get too quick on your transition.
- Generate more clubhead speed for longer distance with each swing.
- Eliminate the casting motion that kills distance. According to Lag Shot, “Golfers report an extra 17-22 yards off the tee on average.”
This training aid has taken the golf world by storm and can help you become a better driver of the golf ball quickly.
Click here to learn more about it on Amazon now. They also have a Lag Shot wedge and iron too!
Related: How to Hit Longer Drives
5. Tee the Ball Higher
Your driver tee height has a big impact on ball flight.
The lower the tee, the more you need to hit down on the shot which is more likely to cause a fade or slice. With a higher tee height, you need to hit up on the ball and make it easier to straighten out your drives.
Experiment with different tee heights on the range and see how it impacts your ball flight. I find that with a higher tee, it’s best to drop my right shoulder slightly so my left is higher. This makes it easier to swing up and through the shot which should help hit it straighter.
6. Start Hitting Hooks
Sometimes you need to feel something different by over correcting your miss.
If you’re suffering from a slice, one of the best strategies to fix it is to start hitting draws or even hook shots. I know it’s not the ideal shot you want but it might be the key to hitting straight shots.
On the driving range, set up to the ball like normal or a closed stance but address the ball so it’s on the toe of the club. Then, swing with one goal in mind – hit a power hook. To do this, you’ll need to feel like your right hand is rolling over the other hand at impact.
Think of it like a baseball swing and try to cover the ball. Once you know how to hit a hook, you can reduce your wrist action to hit a draw and maybe even a straight ball. This video from the Art of Simple Golf should help you too.
Related: Draw vs. Fade
7. Fix Your Flying Right Elbow
The final tip to help you learn how to stop slicing your driver is to check out your right elbow. Your arms play a big role in hitting it straight and making consistent contact too.
Here’s what Ben Hogan said about it in his book, Five Lessons, “The elbows should be tucked in, not stuck out from the body. At address, the left elbow should point directly at the left hip bone and the right below should point directly at the right hip bone.
Furthermore, there should be a sense of fixed jointness between the two forearms and the wrists and it should be maintained throughout the swing.”
The problem for a lot of golfers is the arms don’t stay connected during the swing. Watch this YouTube video from Me and My Golf to fix your flying right elbow once and for all.
Top Questions about Slicing Driver
Do you have extra questions about slicing your driver? Hopefully these top questions and answers will help you get it all straightened out.
How do I adjust my driver to stop slicing?
It depends on the brand of driver you use as each has different ways to adjust.
For example, Callaway drivers have three different positions on the adjustable hosel; draw, neutral, or fade. Insert a tool into the screw on top of the driver and rotate until it’s in the draw position. You can also adjust the loft while doing this as well.
Other drivers like Titleist have a chart that provides the impact of adjusting the hosel to different settings. Refer to the Titleist fitting guide to tweak your driver into a neutral or draw setting.
Why do I keep slicing my driver in golf?
The reason you’re slicing the golf ball is simple – an open clubface.
But understanding why the clubface is open at impact is the bigger question. Use the tips above to test out different methods to stop slicing your driver off the tee.
Why do I slice my driver when I swing hard?
A common reason for this is from moving the upper body instead of the lower body on the downswing.
Swinging hard is great but you need to make sure it’s your lower body that starts the downswing, not the upper body. This will ensure you move your weight on the downswing and use your big muscles to create more speed and distance.
What swing path causes a slice?
A slice is caused by an outside to inside swing path on the downswing.
To hit a straight or draw, you want to groove an inside to outside path so it’s easier to swing out toward the target and roll your hands. The Lagshot driver mentioned above is a useful tool in helping you feel this move and create a more consistent swing.
Wrapping Up
I’m confident these seven tips will help you hit it straighter off the tee. But don’t forget, fixing this swing issue doesn’t happen overnight. It will usually take diligence on the range or at home during practice to create a more neutral path. Stick with it though and you can overcome it like so many other players.
If you still struggle with a slice, keep working on your issues but don’t be afraid to use an anti-slice driver too. Check out some of our favorite picks for the best drivers for high handicappers here.
Do you still suffer from a slice with your driver?
Let us know in the comments below.
Phil Grounds
Phil is an avid golfer, and the creator of The Golfers Gear. He’s been playing golf for 30 years, and is obsessed with improving his game and sharing his experience helping fellow golfers score better.
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