Most slicers are doomed from the get-go. On the takeaway, they roll their forearms and fan the clubface open, cupping the lead wrist (the left wrist for righties). Once they do that, the wrist will likely remain cupped and the face open at the top of the backswing, all but ensuring a poor downswing path and an open face at impact. Slice city.
JD Cuban
Fortunately, you can easily remedy this backswing-breaking mistake at home or on the range, and it doesn’t require hitting a single golf ball. All you need is another “set of eyes.” Tee up a ball at driver height and make a slow rehearsal of your takeaway. As you do that, imagine there’s an extra pair of eyeballs attached to the face of your driver and that they never leave the ball for the first three feet or so of your backswing (above). Practice this a bunch of times until you get a feel for how your hands and arms are working and where the club is tracking.
JD Cuban
As long as the clubface is looking at the ball throughout your takeaway, your lead forearm won’t roll, and the wrist will remain flat and angled down at the ground, as will the clubface, staying in a square position. Also, the clubhead will stay outside your hands on a much better path away from the ball. Simply complete your turn to the top, keeping that lead wrist in line with the forearm (above), and your days of flaring drives to the right will be over.
Todd Anderson is director of instruction at the PGA Tour Performance Center at TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
