If you want to know how to fix a slice, the short version is this: your clubface is pointing right of your swing path at impact (for a right-hander), so the ball spins hard to the right. Cure the slice and you have to do two things — square the face and stop swinging so far across the ball from out to in. The five drills below tackle exactly that, and we'll show you how simulator data on club path and face angle turns weeks of guesswork into a couple of focused sessions.
A slice is comfortably the most common fault in amateur golf, and the most frustrating, because it costs you distance and accuracy at the same time. The good news is that it's also one of the most fixable faults once you understand what's really causing it.
What actually causes a slice?
A slice is caused by an open clubface relative to your swing path at impact, which puts left-to-right sidespin on the ball. Almost always that comes with an out-to-in path — the club swinging left of target through the ball while the face hangs open. The bigger the gap between face and path, the more the ball curves.
Most amateurs try to fix the symptom by aiming further left, which only makes the path more out-to-in and the slice worse. The real cure is to close the face relative to the path and swing more from the inside. Everything below is built around those two changes.
How does a grip change stop a slice?
A weak grip — hands rotated too far to the left on the handle — is the single most common cause of an open face, so strengthening your grip is the first drill for a reason. When you rotate both hands slightly clockwise so you can see two or three knuckles on your lead hand, the face naturally returns squarer at impact.
- The drill: take your normal grip, then rotate both hands a touch to the right until you see two to three knuckles on your lead hand at address.
- Check point: the V shapes formed by thumb and forefinger should point up towards your trail shoulder.
- Why it works: a stronger grip lets the face rotate closed through impact instead of arriving open.
It will feel strange for a session or two, and your early shots may even draw or hook. That's a good sign — it means the face is finally closing. Stick with it until the new grip feels normal.
The gate drill: how do you square the face?
The gate drill trains you to deliver a square face and a centred strike by placing two tees just wider than your clubhead and swinging through the gap without clipping either one. It gives you instant, honest feedback on both your face and your path.
Set a tee just outside the toe and another just inside the heel, forming a gate slightly wider than your club. Make slow swings, brushing the turf, and try to pass the club cleanly through the gate square to your target. If you keep clipping the outside tee, your path is too out-to-in; if you catch the inside tee, you're coming too far from the inside. On a simulator you get the same feedback in numbers, so you can see the correction land shot after shot.
The headcover drill: how do you fix an out-to-in path?
The headcover drill fixes a steep, out-to-in path by giving you an obstacle you must swing around from the inside. Place a headcover or empty water bottle a few inches outside and behind the ball, on the line your club currently swings down.
If you keep coming over the top, you'll clatter the headcover on the way down. To miss it, you're forced to drop the club to the inside and swing out towards the target — exactly the path shape that beats a slice. Start with slow half-swings so you can feel the club approaching from inside the line, then build up to full speed once you're missing the cover consistently.
- Place the object: a few inches outside and behind the ball, on your current over-the-top line.
- Swing to miss it: the club has to approach from the inside to avoid the cover.
- Feel the in-to-out release: that's the path that turns a slice into a gentle draw.
The split-hands drill: how do you feel the release?
The split-hands drill teaches your forearms and hands to rotate through impact so the face closes rather than staying open. Take your normal grip, then slide your trail hand a couple of inches down the handle so there's a gap between your hands.
Make slow, waist-high to waist-high swings and feel your trail forearm rotate over your lead forearm through the ball — the toe of the club turning to point skyward after impact. That rotation is the release a slicer is missing. Do it in slow motion first, feel the forearms cross, then rebuild your normal grip and keep the same feeling. It's one of the quickest ways to stop leaving the face open.
The alignment and aim drill: are you aiming yourself into a slice?
Many slicers unknowingly aim their body well left to allow for the curve, which steepens the out-to-in path and guarantees the very slice they're trying to avoid. This drill resets your aim so your body isn't fighting the fix.
Lay one alignment stick along your toes and another pointing at your target, so you can see exactly where your feet, hips and shoulders point. Get your body parallel to the target line, not aimed left of it. With square alignment, an in-to-out path sends the ball starting slightly right and drawing back — the opposite of a slice. Combine this with the stronger grip and the headcover drill and you've addressed face, path and aim all at once.
How does simulator data fix a slice faster?
A launch monitor fixes a slice faster because it measures the two numbers that actually cause it — club path and face angle — so you stop guessing and start seeing whether each change is working. On grass you only see the result; on a simulator you see the cause.
Here's what the key numbers tell a slicer:
| Number | What a slicer usually sees | What you're aiming for |
|---|---|---|
| Face angle | Open (pointing right of target) | Square, or slightly closed to your path |
| Club path | Out-to-in (swinging left through impact) | Neutral to slightly in-to-out |
| Face-to-path gap | Face well open to path — big curve | A small gap for a gentle, controllable shape |
| Spin axis | Tilted right, forcing slice spin | Level or tilted slightly left for a draw |
Because you can watch face angle and club path respond shot by shot, you can make one change — the stronger grip, say — and confirm the face is finally squaring up before moving on. If you're new to these figures, our guide to launch monitor numbers explained breaks them all down in plain English. It's the same measurement the pros use, explained without the jargon.
How should you practise these drills?
Practise the drills in the order above — grip, then face, then path, then release, then aim — and change only one thing at a time so you can tell what's working. Slow, deliberate reps beat fast, mindless ones every time when you're rebuilding a move.
An indoor bay is close to ideal for this, because you get warm, dry, repeatable conditions and instant feedback on every swing, with no wind or bad lies to muddy the picture. For more on getting value from a session, see how to practise golf indoors and get more from every hour, and if you'd like to understand how that carries to the course, read golf simulator vs real golf.
Want to see your club path and face angle on a 4K screen and finally cure that slice? Book a private bay at The Golf Cabin in Wick, about 10 minutes from Bristol — two bays, free parking, free club hire, open every day from 6am to midnight, from £25 an hour per bay. Book a bay and start fixing your slice with real data.