If you’re a chronic slicer, try this simple drill from Scottie Scheffler’s coach, Randy Smith.
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Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series in which we’re sharing improvements, learnings and takeaways from amateur golfers just like you — including some of the speed bumps and challenges they faced along the way.
I slice, you slice, we all slice out on the golf course — and if you’re a mid-to-high handicapper, there’s a good chance that it’s causing all sorts of frustration during a round … and higher scores!
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But there’s more to a round of golf than hitting a shot and subsequently spending three minutes searching for your ball on the outskirts of the rough. While it might not feel that way at times, trust me, deep down, it exists for all of us.
While there are plenty of reasons why you’re a chronic slicer of the golf ball, when you can fix the root cause — opening the clubface — you’ll instantly see positive results and more fruitful outcomes. And thanks to Scottie Scheffler’s coach, GOLF Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Teacher Randy Smith, you can do just that.
Instead of doing wholesale changes in your golf swing, Scheffler’s long-time coach says there’s a simple drill that can eliminate your slice, get you to feel the proper takeaway and swing path, and will lead you to more natural draws — something every golfer strives for.
In the video above, Smith works with GOLF Top 100 Teacher Chris Como, explaining how this anti-slice drill works.
“[Being] a slicer is one of the most critical errors, and everybody feels terrible about it,” Smith says. “A few things we can do [to fix a slice], and this has been my go-to forever, is just a basic alignment stick in the ground.”
Smith then demonstrates how to set up the drill, showing Como where to embed the stick into the ground so that the opposite tip of it is right on top of the golf ball. The image below shows how it should appear.
Screengrab via Instagram/chriscomogolf
After setting things up, Smith has Como take a shot to show how easy this drill really is.
“Swing through the ball,” he says. “We’ll see if it draws a little bit.”
Como takes a shot and correctly keeps the club beneath the alignment stick, which is the proper swing path you want in order to maintain clubface control at impact. The result? The perfect draw — much to the delight of Smith.
“Just the sound that I was looking for,” Smith excitedly replies.
The top teachers then show a foolproof way to make sure you’re doing the drill correctly. Simply put, if your club is coming down toward impact and it hits the alignment stick, that means you’re still coming over-the-top, which is one common reason for consistent slicers.
“If we look at it from the bad standpoint, my hands would really be in jeopardy [when holding this stick],” Smith quips.
Smith, who has worked with Scheffler since the No. 1-ranked player was 7 years old, says this drill allows a player to create muscle memory in order to square the club at impact.
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“This stick staying here gives you a feel and kind of a ghost effect,” Smith adds. “So if you walk away after doing this for 10-15 minutes, try to recreate that same sensation [of hitting a draw] without the stick.”
This drill might appear basic at first, but it’s one that provides instant feedback with little effort — and allows you to feel where your swing path and clubface should be in order to hit it more pure. So bid farewell to those nasty slices and start impressing your playing partners once and for all.
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