Stop Slicing with the Anti-Slice Drill Using Swingmate

If you fight a slice, your club is usually approaching the ball from too far outside the target line with a face that stays open relative to that path. This drill uses the Swingmate to give you a clear visual station so you can train a better downswing route. Instead of guessing what “from the inside” should feel like, you create a corridor that teaches you to shallow the club, avoid the over-the-top move, and deliver the club more efficiently through impact.

How the Drill Works

The strength of this drill is that it combines visual feedback with movement training. Some days you can rely on feel alone. Other days, your swing feels are off and you need a picture in front of you that tells you exactly where the club should travel. That is where this station becomes so useful.

With the Swingmate, you can build a simple anti-slice setup using alignment rods and one or two foam noodles. One rod establishes your target line. Another can show your stance line. Then the adjustable arms create the real training value: one barrier helps you avoid the steep, outside-in approach, while another gives you a visual for the shallower path you want on the way down.

For this anti-slice version, the station is designed to do two things:

• Prevent the club from coming over the top
• Encourage the club to travel on a more inside, flatter approach

One noodle or arm sits above and slightly outside the ball, acting as a “don’t hit this” barrier. If your downswing gets steep and throws the club out toward the target line, you will run into it. The second visual is set to represent the path you want to trace on the way down. Your job is to feel as though the clubhead and shaft are following that lower, more inside route into the ball while staying underneath the upper barrier.

This is why the drill is so effective for slicers. A slice is not just a face problem. It is often a path-and-face relationship problem. If the club is cutting across the ball from outside to in, the face only has to be slightly open to that path for the ball to curve hard to the right. Improve the path first, and you immediately make it easier to square the face and compress the ball better.

Step-by-Step

1. Set your target line. Place one alignment rod on the ground aimed at your target. This gives you a clear reference for where the ball should start and helps organize the station.

2. Add your stance line. Position a second rod parallel to the target line to represent your feet, hips, and shoulders. This keeps your setup from drifting while you work on path.

3. Create the upper barrier. Use one Swingmate arm with a noodle positioned above and slightly outside the ball. This simulates the classic “inside approach” station. If you throw the club over the top, you will hit this barrier.

4. Create the inside path visual. Set the second noodle or arm so it points along the shallower route you want the club to follow into impact. This line should feel more from the inside and slightly flatter than your current slice pattern.

5. Address the ball normally. Take your regular setup with a mid-iron to start. You do not need a special stance or exaggerated closed alignment. Let the station provide the exaggeration, not your body lines.

6. Make a rehearsal backswing. Swing to the top slowly and notice where the upper noodle sits in relation to your downswing path. This gives you a preview of what you must avoid.

7. Rehearse the downswing route. From the top, feel the club dropping underneath the upper barrier while tracing the lower inside visual. The sensation should be that the club is approaching the ball from behind you rather than being thrown out in front of you.

8. Hit soft shots first. Start with half-speed swings. Your goal is not power. Your goal is to miss the upper barrier and send the club along the shallower route into the ball.

9. Increase speed gradually. Once you can repeatedly avoid the over-the-top move, build toward fuller swings. Keep the same picture: under the upper noodle, along the inside path visual.

10. Watch the ball flight. A good sign is a ball that starts more on line or slightly right of target and curves less. You may even see a small push-draw or pull-draw at first, which is often a better miss than a wipey slice.

What You Should Feel

This drill works best when the visual station starts to create new sensations in your swing. You are not trying to manually reroute the club with your hands alone. You want the station to help you organize your motion so the club can approach from a better place naturally.

A Shallower Delivery

You should feel the club dropping instead of immediately moving outward from the top. For many slicers, this feels unusual at first because they are used to the shaft getting steep early in the downswing. The new feeling is that the club stays behind you a little longer.

Under, Not Over

The upper barrier should make you feel as though the club is traveling underneath something on the way down. That is a useful image because the over-the-top move is typically a high-to-low, out-and-across action. Staying under the barrier helps neutralize that pattern.

More Body Rotation, Less Throw

Many golfers who slice also snatch the club away with the arms and then throw it from the top. This station can help you feel more rotation-driven motion, especially if you tend to lift the club too abruptly in the takeaway. A better turn often helps the club fall into a better slot on the way down.

A More Compressed Strike

When the path improves, you may notice the strike feels heavier and more solid. That is because a better inside approach often makes it easier to deliver shaft lean, hit the ball before the turf, and avoid the glancing contact that produces weak slices.

Key Checkpoints

• The club misses the upper noodle completely
• The downswing feels like it traces the inside visual
• Your divot points less left of the target
• The ball curves less to the right
• Contact feels more centered and compressed

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Making the station too extreme: If the barriers are set in a way that no normal golf swing can fit, you will create compensations instead of improvement. Build an exaggeration, but make it playable.
• Trying to swing wildly to the right: The goal is not to shove the club far out into the field. You want a better path, not an exaggerated block.
• Using only your hands to reroute the club: If you simply dump the club under with your wrists while your body stalls, you may avoid the barrier but create hooks or heavy contact.
• Ignoring setup fundamentals: Poor alignment can make you think your path is fixed when you are really just aimed left or right. Keep your stance and target lines organized.
• Starting at full speed: If you go after it too early, your old pattern will usually take over. Begin with slow rehearsals and short swings.
• Confusing a draw with a good swing: Early on, you might hit a pull-draw while learning. That is often better than a slice, but it still means you are refining the face-to-path relationship.
• Letting the club get steep in the takeaway: Some golfers lift the club too much early, which sets up the over-the-top move later. Use the station to encourage a more connected start.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is not just about dodging a noodle. It is about changing the pattern that produces your slice. If your typical miss is a weak shot that starts left and curves right, the club is likely moving across the ball with an open face relative to that path. The Swingmate station helps you change the first half of that equation by improving the club path.

Once the path gets less outside-in, several good things tend to happen:

• You can square the face more easily
• You create more forward shaft lean through impact
• You strike the ball with less glancing contact
• Your ball flight becomes stronger and more predictable

It also fits into the bigger picture of learning golf skills through both feel and feedback. You may not always need a station like this on the course, but in practice it can calibrate your motion quickly. The visual gives you a clear task, and the repetition helps turn that task into a usable feel.

If you practice at home on a mat, this type of station is especially helpful because it does not require sticking rods into the ground. You can set it up indoors or in a garage, make slow-motion rehearsals, and build the correct picture of the downswing path without needing a full range session.

Most importantly, this drill teaches you that curing a slice is not about random hand action at impact. It starts earlier, with how the club approaches the ball. Train a shallower, more inside delivery, and you give yourself a much better chance to hit shots that fly straighter, curve less, and feel far more solid.