Improve Your Swing Path with the Tissue Box Drill

The tissue box drill is a simple way to improve two pieces that often show up together in a slice pattern: an outside-in club path and a face that stays too open through impact. By placing a light object just out to the right of the target line and learning to brush or push it with the toe of the club, you train the club to keep moving more down the line and slightly out to the right after impact. At the same time, you encourage better face rotation and extension through the strike. The result is a drill that can help you straighten out weak fades, improve contact, and give you a much clearer picture of where the club should be traveling through the ball.

How the Drill Works

This drill is built around a very specific image: after you strike the ball, the club should continue traveling toward an object set slightly to the right of the target line. Instead of chopping across the ball and exiting left too early, you’re training the club to move more through the shot.

Set a tissue box a short distance in front of the ball and angle it roughly 15 to 20 degrees to the right of the target line. If you’re indoors or the box is too light, place a golf ball inside it so it doesn’t slide around too easily. A yoga block can work too, but a tissue box is often more forgiving and easier to use at home.

Your goal is not to smash the box. The goal is to deliver the club so that the toe of the clubhead would contact and push the box in that slightly rightward direction. That gives you feedback on two important things:

• Path: the club is traveling more out toward right field instead of cutting across the ball.
• Face control: the clubface is rotating more naturally instead of hanging open.

If you normally slice, this matters because your usual motion tends to do one of two things: either the club would miss the box entirely by swinging too far left, or it would contact it more with the heel than the toe. Both are clues that the club is still working across the ball rather than extending properly through impact.

The toe contact idea is especially useful because many golfers who fade or slice have never felt the clubface closing enough through the strike. Feeling like you are pushing the box with the toe often creates the right amount of closure, even if the sensation feels exaggerated. In reality, what feels dramatically shut to you may simply produce a straight shot.

Step-by-Step

1. Set your target line. Pick a target and imagine a straight line from the ball to that target.

2. Place the tissue box ahead of the ball. Position it slightly in front of the hitting area and angled about 15 to 20 degrees to the right of the target line. If needed, put a golf ball inside the box to weigh it down.

3. Start with a short swing. Use a small 9-to-3 motion first, with the club moving from waist high back to waist high through. This keeps the drill manageable and lets you focus on the through-swing.

4. Picture the toe of the club reaching the box. Your intention is to strike the ball and then continue the clubhead toward the box so the toe would brush or push it.

5. Make slow rehearsal swings. Without a ball at first, rehearse the motion and notice whether the club exits toward the box or cuts left too early.

6. Hit soft shots. Now hit short shots while keeping the same intention. Don’t worry about power. Focus on the club moving through the strike and out toward the box.

7. Monitor your strike and ball flight. If the face has been too open in your normal swing, this drill may immediately produce straighter shots or even a slight draw. That is often a good sign.

8. Gradually add speed. Once the short swings feel solid, move toward a more normal motion. Keep the same exaggerated picture of swinging the toe toward the box.

What You Should Feel

Good drills create useful sensations, and this one gives you several. If you’re doing it correctly, you should start to notice the following:

1. The club keeps moving through the shot

Instead of feeling like the club glances across the ball and exits left immediately, you should sense more extension after impact. The club is traveling outward for longer.

2. The toe feels more active than the heel

You are trying to send the toe toward the box, not the heel. That usually helps the clubface rotate more naturally and can reduce the “held open” feeling that many slicers have.

3. Your arms extend better through impact

This drill can improve arm extension through the strike. Rather than collapsing or pulling the handle inward too quickly, you’ll feel the clubhead and arms reaching out toward the target line and slightly beyond it.

4. The face may feel more closed than normal

If you are used to seeing fades or slices, the correct motion may feel almost too shut. That’s normal. For many golfers, the sensation of “really closing it” only produces a straight shot.

5. The ball may start a little more to the right

Because the path is moving more to the right, the ball may begin slightly more right of your usual start line. If the face is matched better to that path, the shot can straighten out or gently draw back.

6. At higher speed, the exaggeration becomes more neutral

This is an important checkpoint. In slow practice swings, the motion may feel dramatically out to the right. But once you add normal body speed, that exaggerated feel often turns into a much more neutral and functional delivery.

That is why it’s usually smart to overdo the drill at first. If you only make a small correction in practice, your old pattern often returns as soon as you swing harder.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Setting the box on the target line instead of to the right: the whole point is to train a club path that continues outward after impact. If the box is not angled right of the line, you lose that feedback.
• Trying to hit the box with the heel: this usually means the club is still cutting across the ball. The feel should be more toe-oriented.
• Making the swing too long too soon: start with short swings. A 9-to-3 motion gives you better control and helps you learn the pattern before adding speed.
• Forcing a hand flip: the goal is not a frantic roll of the wrists. You want natural face rotation that comes from a better through-swing, not a last-second rescue move.
• Ignoring the ball flight: use the shot shape as feedback. If the ball still starts left and curves right, the path may still be too far left or the face too open.
• Expecting a hook immediately: many golfers worry that feeling the toe work more will send the ball screaming left. In reality, if you’ve been slicing, this feel often just gets you back to square.
• Not exaggerating enough: if your old slice pattern is strong, a mild version of this drill may not be enough to change it. Give yourself permission to feel extreme in practice.
• Only rehearsing and never hitting shots: rehearsals are useful, but you also need to see how the clubface and path affect real ball flight.

How This Fits Your Swing

The tissue box drill is more than a trick for one practice session. It gives you a clearer understanding of how club path and face control work together through impact.

If you tend to slice, your pattern often includes a club that moves too far left through the hitting area, with a face that doesn’t rotate enough to match that motion. That combination creates glancing contact, weak curvature, and often poor strike quality. You may also see contact drift toward the heel, which can make the slice even worse.

This drill helps you change that pattern by improving the direction of the club’s exit and the way the face behaves through the strike. When the club continues more outward and the toe works more actively, you often get:

• Less across-the-ball motion
• Better face closure
• More centered contact
• Stronger, straighter ball flight

It also fits nicely with other drills that train a better path, especially impact bag work. The advantage here is that the tissue box doesn’t stop the club at impact. It allows you to feel what happens after the strike, which is often where golfers need the clearest image.

That post-impact picture matters because your swing direction through the ball is heavily influenced by what your body is trying to do after impact. If your mind only sees the club cutting left, that is usually what it will produce. If your mind sees the club extending toward a box slightly out to the right, your motion starts to organize itself around that intention.

As you improve, you may not need the box every time. But the image remains valuable: strike the ball, extend through it, and let the club travel toward that slightly rightward exit instead of bailing out left. For many golfers, that one picture is enough to turn a weak slice pattern into a much more neutral, repeatable swing.

Use the drill first in slow rehearsals, then in short shots, then at fuller speed. Keep the feel exaggerated in practice, and let the ball flight tell you when the pattern is becoming functional. If the shot starts straighter, curves less, and contact improves, you’re moving in the right direction.