WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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Let's dive into three ways that you can fix your slice.

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Slice is one of the more frustrating

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but more common patterns

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and there's a couple different common ways

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that we can solve it.

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Number one is to understand the club face,

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the face-to-path relationship,

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which is basically if the ball is curving off to the right,

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that means that the face is open to the path.

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What that means is if I had a club going like this in space,

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the club face would be pointing right of the target

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just like a drop shot or like a slice shot in tennis.

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So the club face is matching my hand

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and it's basically cutting across the ball like this.

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So then what would happen is if I swung the club

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at the target but the club face was open,

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the ball would start right and curve right.

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So then golfers will instinctively swing this drop shot left

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so that now the club face is pointing at the target

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but because the path of the club is going off to the left,

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it starts curving off to the right.

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In fact, the more that the ball curves,

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that's a simple recipe for telling you

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how much the club face was open.

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Piece number two is the path.

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If I have a path that is way outside in,

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then my brain's probably not gonna let me close the face

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'cause I might hit it over on the road way over there.

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So I need to get my path closer to neutral

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to match up a club face that's gonna be a little bit closed.

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You don't have to get it all the way into out

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and hit a draw.

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You could just hit a nice little fade

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but I think that it can be helpful to exaggerate it

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and get the path actually inside out

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to feel closer to a more neutral path.

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And then the third one is for you rhythm golfers.

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We're gonna look more at tempo.

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Oftentimes what happens with a golfer who slices it

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is that they're going to go really aggressive

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with the upper body and pull down on the handle,

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opening the club face in transition

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and by going hard with the upper body,

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they're gonna tend to swing a little bit more outside in.

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So rhythm wise, we're gonna work on getting

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the legs to lead a little bit more

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and the club to wait a little bit longer.

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And as I'm waiting for the club,

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it's gonna tend to shallow out

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or swing a little bit more from the inside.

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Okay, so let's tackle those in what I think is the priority.

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Priority number one, if you're trying to eliminate a slice,

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you have got to get the club face more close to the path.

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So if I get set up normal, just like this,

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I've got the club pretty much straight up and down

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even with my spine.

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And usually what I'll do is down in impact position

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like this, I'll say, all right, golfer is what I want you to do

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is show me where you're gonna get the club face at impact

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if you didn't put your hands forward.

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Basically, if I was just here

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and then I went to impact, what would happen?

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Well, if I just changed the club face,

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what you see is I would turn it about 30 degrees closed.

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Now, you're probably looking at yourself

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like that can't be right.

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It's got to be coming back straight.

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But if I turn it 30 degrees closed,

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but then I put my body in impact position,

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now I've created my hands a little bit more forward.

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And now you can see that the club

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is a little bit behind me, but it's square.

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So what'll naturally happen is when you use your body

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and try to hit the club or hit the ball,

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you'll get your hands a little bit more forward.

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And when you get your hands more forward,

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that's gonna instinctively point the face

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a little bit more to the right.

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So the average is that pros are going to rotate

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the club face closed somewhere around 30 degrees.

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Most of my students who I find slice the ball

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basically keep the club face the same

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and try not to let the club face change at all

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during the swing.

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So now we're gonna go through just a quick little drill

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to start feeling that club face closed.

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And we're gonna dial it in at two different spots.

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You can dial it in right here

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at Chaff parallel in the downswing.

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So we're gonna do like a little half swing

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where we're just gonna bring it back to belly button height

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and then belly button height.

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So at this first checkpoint, we're gonna bring it back

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and then we're going to rotate the club face closed

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about 30 degrees.

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Then from here, we're going to rotate the body through,

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but keep that club face turning

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so that it's gradually rotating closed just like this.

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Now, if you're used to slicing,

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this is going to feel incredibly awkward

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and very exaggerated, but what you're gonna start to see

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is the ball is not going to curve to the right

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when we make contact.

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Once I have this feeling of the club face being more closed

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but I'm monitoring ball flight, if it's not looking

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like crazy or not going way to the left,

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if the ball is not curving very much,

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then I know the club face was actually square.

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And then what I can do is I can do more

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of a three quarter swing or I can go all the way up

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to a full swing and try to recreate the same ball flight.

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That's one of the easiest go to drills

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for getting a little bit more club face awareness

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and learning how to get out of the slice.

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Goal number two is gonna be looking at the path.

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So now, if I'm, I've got a stick on the ground here

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and I'm going to put an object.

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This could be a golf ball in this case.

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I often use an impact bag and have golfers train that.

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Sometimes I'll use a tissue box or yoga block

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or something like that, but I'm gonna put a golf ball

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at about a 30 degree angle out to the right.

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And now setting up to the golf ball,

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I've got the stick aimed at my target.

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I'm going to practice bringing the toe of the club

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into that impact bag or towards that golf ball.

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So I'm gonna feel like the club is going this way.

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If I'm used to slicing the ball,

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it would look more like this

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where the blur of the club is coming way

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to the left of that golf ball.

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So now, what's gonna happen is I'm feeling like this

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with my arms where the club face is more

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in a closed position, just like this,

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but then it's traveling out that way.

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My goal is to overdo it and try to hit some hooks.

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What I'm gonna find is as I start to turn my body,

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it's gonna make it harder and harder for me

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to actually hit that object,

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whether it's an impact bag or yoga block.

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We got the club face in the little nine to three drill.

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We got the path in this little right path drill.

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The last one's gonna be rhythm and tempo.

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So rhythm and tempo, we're gonna get a feeling

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of a pump down and then a release through.

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So instead of hitting straight from the top,

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we're going to feel like the club is dropping

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until it gets to about waist height.

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And then I'm going to swing through.

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So we're gonna try and exaggerate this

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where we're gonna feel like it's really slow

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in transition until we get to about here.

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And then it's really fast down through the ball

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instead of fast early.

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So rhythm wise, I'm gonna feel a one to the backswing,

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two down to here, and then a three

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being the release down at the bottom.

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So it will look something, one, two, three.

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So I'm feeling like the two is happening

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as a long, slow transition.

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So I'm making a full turn,

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letting it drop their transition

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and then trying to apply the speed early.

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Or sorry, late.

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If I'm used to slicing the ball,

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then I'm probably applying the speed early.

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One of the principles that we use at GolfSmart Academy

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is you wanna use some type of feedback

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to accurately diagnose what's going on,

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but then you have to be willing to experiment

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with different solutions in order to solve it.

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If you're slicing the ball,

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one of these three will absolutely solve it.

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But you might feel like you're closing

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and not actually be closing.

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You might have to feel like you close it

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with the right hand instead of the left hand.

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I've got drills to help work through any

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of the different pieces that might relate

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to getting the path more to the right,

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getting the club face closed,

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or working on your rhythm and sequencing.

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So, if you're struggling with it,

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just know that there's hope.

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Get an accurate diagnosis,

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either by reading ball flight or even using video.

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And when you have an accurate diagnosis,

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if you play around with the results,

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you will fix your problem and get better.