Ali Taylor: Stop slicing your driver

Ali Taylor is a PGA Professional based at Lytham Golf Academy, and coaches at St Anne’s Old Links.

He joined our Pro down at the Shack to talk about the best ways to stop slicing your driver and why it’s such a common fault..

The Pro wants to ask Ali first of all about the main issues with slicing the ball..

Most guys that come to us about the slice with the driver tend to have three big issues, one being the club face being open, the swing path going left and a strike towards the heel.

Ali then demonstrates a slice shot and they both analyse the data on the Trackman…

As you can see by the Trackman data, Ali’s club path is 13 degrees to the left, and with a face angle almost back to target this gives you the perfect characteristics of a slice.

So how does Ali suggest you tackle the dreaded slice?

Firstly, if the ball is going to shape left to right, we need to get the ball setting off a little further to the left and get the club face a little closer to the path.

With some guys it will be a problem with how they hold the club, with maybe a bit too much in the palm resulting in a week grip. If they have it in the fingers it gives you more purchase on the club and makes your hands a little more relaxed.

Ali hits a couple ore shots and tries to show you how having  more neutral face to path angle results in more of a draw than a slice..

As you can see the Trackman data is showing Ali’s ball flight being a lot more shaped as a draw, and both the club path, face to path and the face angle are all under one degree..

After digesting the data, the Pro and Ali sit down to discuss the three main points when trying to avoid a slice..

1- Work on the club face

2- Work on the path

3- Strike out the middle of the face.

The Shack

Come and join us at The Shack for all of the best instruction and equipment videos.

Our head Pro James Whitaker hosts regular guests from the NCG family to fix some of their most frustrating faults and take an in depth look at all the latest equipment releases with our very own James Savage.

Our anonymous big hitter then gives all the clubs a proper test with the two James’ watching on and analysing their data on Trackman.

With a state of the art ShackCart (based on the popular SkyCart) and Trackman software, The Shack is the ideal pace for instruction and challenge with Tour pros.