Why Do People Develop A Slice When They're Older Or After An Injury??

I see many students after time off from an injury or as they've gotten older, develop a 'slice'. Now the reason for this is that they often stop using their body, specifically their lower half, to swing through the shot. Once the lower body stops being involved, the upper half starts to take over and thus can cause an 'over the top swing'. This 'over the top swing' causes the path to be quite steep on the downswing which leads to the path exiting left quite sharply through impact.

Out of any swing error that I see most, the 'over the top' swing is by the most common. Since we grip the club with our hands, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of only using the upper half to control the swing. This is especially prevalent when a student suffers a leg injury or has been away from the game for some time. When the swing is slowed down you can see often not a bad backswing but on the downswing, the hands start to push away from the body without sufficient weight transfer moving onto the front foot.

The first task to solve this problem is applying a drill that has the lower half more engaged. I will often use the step drill to feel the lower half on the downswing. The first part to this drill is make a normal backswing by turning your body. Then as you begin the downswing, you want to keep your upper half still while you make a side step forward with your left leg. After the step you then want to transfer 100% of weight onto your front foot while turning.

Doing this drill will start to give you the sequence of movement. You want to always feel as though the lower half goes first on the downswing followed by the upper half. Once you've applied this drill several times, you want to then try and do this in your normal swing. Simply feel that as you start the downswing, the left hip will bump laterally to the left first before the rest of the upper half moves through the ball. Once you have practiced this, you will not only engage your lower half and thus more power, but also change your swing path. The more you transition with your lower half first, the flatter your swing becomes on the downswing and thus giving you the ability to create 'draws' and straighter shots.

If you'd like any further help in fixing the 'slice', just contact myself at David Waters Golf.