Stop Slicing: Train Your Hands In and Club Out

This drill trains one of the most important pieces of a reliable release: getting your hands moving in while the club exits out. If you tend to slice the ball, pull it, or feel like you get “on top of it” through impact, the problem is often not your transition at all. Many golfers arrive in a reasonable downswing position, then ruin the strike with a release that sends the club sharply left. A simple pool noodle station gives you immediate feedback so you can learn a softer, more neutral release that improves contact, start line, and ball flight.

How the Drill Works

The idea is simple: place a pool noodle just outside your knee line from a down-the-line view, close enough that a steep, flipping, leftward release will run into it. If your club exits correctly, it will miss the noodle while your body continues rotating through.

This matters because many players misunderstand what “club out” really means. It does not mean shoving your hands outward toward right field. In fact, pushing the hands out usually creates a different set of problems. What you want is for the handle to keep working left with your body rotation while the clubhead stays out longer through the strike.

That happens when you avoid a scooping release. If your grip stalls and your right arm throws the clubhead past your hands, the shaft tips under too quickly and the club cuts left across the ball. That pattern commonly produces pulls, slices, glancing contact, and a weak strike.

A better release keeps the wrist angles organized longer. When you maintain extension in the trail wrist and avoid an early flip, the club can travel more outward through the hitting area. Pair that with continued body rotation, and you get a shallower strike, softer turf interaction, and a more penetrating flight.

Step-by-Step

Set the noodle in place. From a down-the-line view, place the pool noodle roughly in line with your knees or slightly outside them. It should be close enough that a poor release would hit it, but not so far away that it becomes irrelevant.
Check the spacing. Your clubshaft should sit just inside the noodle at address from the camera view. If the noodle is too far out, you can still make a bad release and never touch it. If it is too close, it may interfere with a good swing.
Make a slow-motion downswing. Rehearse down to delivery and through impact at reduced speed. Focus on arriving in a decent downswing position without changing anything dramatically on the way down.
Feel the hands work inward, not outward. As you move through the strike, let your body keep turning so the handle continues moving left. Do not try to throw your hands out toward the ball or target line.
Keep the clubhead out longer. Maintain the trail wrist extension and avoid flipping the clubhead past your hands. This is what allows the club to exit more to the right from the down-the-line view.
Miss the noodle. If you scoop, throw the right arm, or cut the club left, you will likely strike the noodle. If you rotate through with a quieter release, the club should pass without contact.
Build up gradually. Start with slow rehearsals, then move to soft shots, then three-quarter swings, and finally full swings. The goal is to keep the same release pattern as speed increases.

What You Should Feel

This drill often feels different from what slicers expect. You may feel as if the club is staying behind you longer, or as if the face is not being “helped” through impact. That is usually a good sign.

Your body keeps turning instead of stalling at impact.
Your hands move inward with rotation rather than being shoved outward.
Your trail wrist stays bent back longer instead of straightening early.
The clubhead feels quieter through the strike, not thrown or slapped at the ball.
The club exits slightly outside the hands in the follow-through from a down-the-line view.
Ground contact feels shallower and softer rather than steep and diggy.

A useful checkpoint is the early follow-through. From down the line, the club should appear just slightly outside your hands. If the club disappears well under your hands too early, you are likely flipping or rolling the release in a way that sends the path left.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Pushing the hands outward. This is not the goal. Club out does not come from hands out.
Flipping the clubhead past the handle. This is the move that usually sends the club left and into the noodle.
Stalling your body rotation. If your chest stops turning, your arms and hands will take over.
Setting the noodle too far away. Then the drill stops giving honest feedback.
Setting the noodle too close. Then even a good release may clip it.
Going full speed too soon. Learn the pattern slowly before adding speed.
Assuming the problem is transition. Many golfers are fine earlier in the downswing and only lose it in the release.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is especially helpful if your typical miss is a slice, a pull, or a weak wipe across the ball. In those patterns, the club is often traveling too far left through impact because of how you release it, not because your backswing or transition is completely broken.

Learning hands-in, club-out gives you a better match-up through the strike. Your body rotation can keep the handle moving left while the clubhead stays on a more functional path for longer. That combination improves face control, path control, and strike quality all at once.

In the bigger picture, this is a release drill that helps you stop compensating with your hands. Instead of trying to save the shot at the bottom with a flip, you train a motion where the club is delivered more efficiently and exits more correctly. The result is a strike that feels compressed, shallow, and repeatable rather than steep, glancing, and timing-dependent.

If you film yourself from down the line, this drill also gives you a clear visual checkpoint. You can compare a poor release that crashes into the noodle with a better one where the club exits properly. That makes it easier to connect feel to real motion, which is often the missing link when you are trying to fix a slice or pull.