Curing your slice may take nothing more than a Band-Aid

A simple drill using a piece of tape or a Band-Aid can correct your swing and cure your slice.

Golfers who slice have no idea of why they do so. Most think it's because their swing path comes from outside in, (the dreaded over-the-top move) while many even blame their equipment. The one area most overlooked is the angle of the clubface as it makes contact with the ball.

The plain and simple fact is that if the club face is open at impact, the shot will move left to right. The clubface must be square to the target upon impact. An easy way to achieve this is to rotate your left forearm through the impact zone.

To achieve the correct rotation, try this simple drill using a piece of tape or a Band-Aid:

Place a piece of tape or a Band-Aid on the underside of the wrist of your lead arm (the left arm for right-handed golfers, the right arm for left-handed golfers).

Allow your lead elbow to be a couple of inches from your side and rotate your forearm so you can see the tape or Band-Aid as you swing the club through the impact zone. Your left wrist should be flat, (if you are a right-handed golfer). This will help you visualize the proper rotation of the club head during your swing.

During your swing it is important to rotate your forearm, not just your wrist, so you can see the entire piece of tape or Band-Aid as you swing through the hitting area.

Try this drill with your lead arm alone before practicing with both hands on the golf club. Continue to work on this movement until you see the tape or Band-Aid consistently. If you do this properly your slice will be gone for good.

Proper weight distribution creates solid shots

Proper weight placement - starting from address and continuing through the entire swing - is one of the most overlooked parts of the golf swing.

One of the most overlooked parts of the golf swing is proper weight placement - starting from the address position and continuing through the entire swing.

When you address the golf ball, you need to have your weight set to maintain proper balance as you strike the ball. As I observe golfers, the first thing I notice is how far they stand from the ball at address.

Standing too far away: This causes the upper body to lose the proper frame, as you become hunched over the ball. The results can vary from hitting behind the ball, fat shots or standing up as you swing through, causing topped or thin shots.

Standing too close: This tends to force you to keep your weight on the heels and leads to an over-the-top motion, creating slices or pulls.

The number one sign that you're addressing the ball improperly? Losing your weight through the hitting area of your golf swing. During your swing, your mind is telling your body it has to move forward or back to hit the ball, so as you enter the impact zone you shift your weight to make contact. This excess movement causes you to lose your balance, which makes you move your head off the ball. If your head moves out or back in the hitting zone, it is almost impossible to strike a solid shot, no matter how good a golfer you are.

Next time you go to the range, experiment with hitting shots, first standing closer to the ball and the farther away from the ball. By this, I mean just an inch or two, no more. You should feel your weight shifting more to your toes as you move farther away and more on your heels when closer. The trick is to find a set-up distance that allows you the ideal weight distribution throughout your swing. Once you find that distance and that improved balance, you should start to notice improved ball striking.

Remember: When you make changes to your set up, it will feel awkward at first, so you'll need to experiment a few times until you find the best position for your swing.

Tips and drills to improve your ball striking

Achieving solid contact is what separates the pros and better players, from average to higher-handicap golfers.

Improving your golf game begins by improving your ball striking, as there's nothing in golf quite like making pure contact. A pure golf shot is truly a magical feeling! Once you experience this sensation, you'll be hooked, trying to repeat it over and over again.

Achieving solid contact tends to be difficult for many golfers; it's what separates the pros and better players from average to higher-handicap golfers. The good news is that, if you experiment with the accompanying tips and drills, you too can learn how to hit solid and pure golf shots more often.

Golf tip: Hands forward upon impact

As you strike the golf ball, the grip end of the club needs to be leading the hands and club head through the hitting area (a mandatory ingredient for hitting solid iron shots). This move causes the club head to compress the ball into the ground, which helps make your divot after the ball, not before. (Many times you hear golf instructors say strike the ball first on iron shots - this is what they are talking about.)

Golf tip: Correct posture

The second key to achieving solid contact is having correct posture throughout the swing, as this allows you to swing the club on the proper plane. The majority of golfers who struggle with making solid contact lose their posture as the club head connects with the ball. This leads to many miss-hits; fat and thin shots, hooks, slices and chunks. It is essential that you keep your posture, just as it is at address, throughout the swing.

Golf tip: Control the clubface

The final ingredient in the search for solid ball striking is controlling the clubface through impact. In other words, the face of your club must be square when it contacts the ball. Most golfers have the face of the club too open at impact, which leads to miss-hits that cause loss of power and distance. The clubface should rotate from open (prior to impact) to square (at impact) to slightly closed (after impact). The timing of this face rotation is what separates good ball strikers from not-so-good ball strikers. Proper practice will improve this timing.

Practice drills:

To help you achieve these three pure-contact goals, I've devised a series of practice drills that are as simple as they are effective.

Golf ball drill: By placing an extra golf ball behind your ball (12 to 14 inches behind the target line), you will learn to strike the ball with a descending blow and have your hands leading the club head through the hitting area. If you use a scooping motion (hitting the ground before you make contact with the ball), you won't be able to strike your ball without first hitting the extra ball.

Posture drill: Controlling your posture throughout the swing is something that all good players do and most amateur players don't. When the clubface strikes the ball, you must return to the same posture that you had at address. Practice by facing a mirror and taking a half backswing, then swing the club down to the ball, and stop. You should return to your address position. Keep repeating this motion until it starts to feel natural. On the range, run through this drill before you hit each practice shot.

Release the clubface drill: Put a Band-Aid on the back of your left wrist, (if you wear a glove, put the band aid over the back of your glove. On your down swing, turn your left hand over, so the band aid is pointing down toward the ground as you swing the club head through the hitting area. On your practice swings, do this slowly, so you experience the feel of the club head turning over upon impact. When hitting balls, try to just let this motion happen, and after a while it will become automatic.

Back To Basics

Step 1: Observe. As you approach your shot, take in the entire environment, including your lie, yardage, wind, hazards and your intended target. There’s a lot of info to process, but with a little practice, it’s easy to do.

Step 2: See. Analyze the shot’s given circumstances. Take my situation here: Teeing off from a severely elevated tee box (“Lombard Street” at Moorpark Country Club in Moorpark, Calif.), the yardage book says I have 240 yards to the rough. If I hit my 5-wood (which normally goes 240), I’ll drive through the fairway (remember, downhill shots go farther). Therefore, I must come up with a “hard” yardage, or what the shot actually plays. In this case, I’ve subtracted 15 to 20 yards to account for the elevation change and have selected a 3-iron instead.

Step 3: Feel. See how I’ve just made a practice swing? I’m rehearsing the shot exactly how I want to execute it. All too often, golfers take practice swings that don’t resemble how the actual shot is going to be played. Don’t underestimate the importance of a practice swing! They create a feeling of the shot at hand. Now I’m going to take that feeling to the next step: execution.

Step 4: Trust. At this stage, you’re actually hitting the shot, so narrow your focus to a specific target, like I’m doing here (in this case, the 150-yard marker). If you’ve completed the first three steps correctly, then you’ll be able to trust your shot. Stay focused on an external target and execute by just letting go. Maintain a focus on what you want the shot to do, not on where you don’t want the shot to go.

Resuscitating Your Short Game

WRONG!

Here, I’ve made a handful of mistakes. First, my body weight is still on my back foot, causing me to release my hands too soon. In this case, I’ll either hit it fat or blade it (which is what I’ve done here). Also, the second big flaw is my lack of rotation. By not rotating my body, my hands are going to reach the impact zone too soon, and by the time they reach the ball, I’ll be hitting too much on
the upswing.

CORRECT!

The right way to play this shot is to be aggressive and strike the sand on a downward blow. To do this, keep your weight forward and remember to rotate your body fully through the shot. Look at the difference in hip and knee positions here and on the opposite page. By “knocking my knees” on the followthrough, I know I’ve hit this shot from my forward side. As for the hands, they should release after impact.

How to hit draws and fades by making simple adjustments to the downswing

The hardest shot in golf is the one that flies in a straight line. It’s so difficult that even the best players in the world rarely try to hit it, mainly since this shot requires the utmost in timing and precision. Draws and fades are a lot easier to repeat, however, considering each has varying degrees from which one can produce a good result. Some fades and draws are more pronounced than others, but with the proper mechanics, any type of fade or draw can work to your benefit and can be much more repeatable than a shot that flies straight. The key is in knowing the difference between hitting a draw vs. a fade. And despite what you may have learned, the difference isn’t in how the club is taken back on the backswing, but instead how the club is initiated from the top of the swing, through the hitting area and into the finish. The backswing won’t be covered here; instead, we’re focusing on how the body initiates the downswing and what differences in positions and mechanics are made in hitting a fade and a draw with the driver. And although the differences may appear subtle, the effects on the golf ball actually are quite substantial. With these simple tips, you’ll never want to hit it straight again.

Fade: At the top of the backswing, the hands need to be high above my head, the gloved hand cupped and the left elbow flared out. All these positions indicate a steeper plane, which helps to hold the face slightly open at impact.

Draw: Hitting a draw means lower hands, a flat left wrist and a more rounded plane. As for the lower body, both swings should have the same turn and weight shift. The secret is the position of the upper body at the top.

Fade: If you’re in the right position at the top, it’s critical that you maintain a more upright plane midway through the downswing. Don’t get stuck dropping the club behind you or else snap hooks and big blocked shots will happen. In a mirror, the shaft should bisect your left arm, ensuring a steeper angle into the golf ball.

Draw: Hitting a draw means swinging the club from the inside, so it’s important you get it there. Leave the clubhead behind you to produce a flat angle, and let the shaft bisect your right shoulder (as shown). This means you’ll swing from the inside and start the ball to the right and draw it back toward the fairway.

Fade: Now is when the body needs to rev up! Since the upright angle is what’s used to get to the ball, it’s critical that the body rotate fully to help square up the clubface. You can’t hit it left to right if you never get to your left first! A strong lower-body rotation is key to avoid hitting blocked shots and instead hit those beloved baby fades!

Draw: Unlike the fade, the draw is an arms-driven swing, as long as you remember to swing from the inside. If so, the bottom of the arc is highlighted by less body movement and a more active rolling of the hands through impact. A draw never draws with an open clubface, so making sure that the face is square and the arms release is crucial.

Fade: A good swing thought to have when trying to hit a fade is to remember to keep the clubhead high through impact. Here, you can see my weight has transferred to my forward side and I’ve retained the same plane angle I had at the top of my backswing. As for my lower half, it’s in the same position for both swings.

Draw: The strong overlap of my hands tells me I had no problem closing the face through impact. When this happens, the swing plane flattens, and like the fade, it mimics the position I was in at the top and midway through the backswing. Just remember that a draw is an arms-dominated swing and the fade is more of a body-rotational move.

Fade: The finish position for a fade is what you might expect. The hands are high, the torso is fully rotated and the head is facing the target. If you want to adjust the degree of fade that you put on the ball, all you need to do is make a few simple adjustments to the clubface position at address. For more fade, open the clubface more. Just remember not to overmanipulate the body. The last thing you want is to get too upright and too steep into the ball. That will cause slicing and eventually make it difficult to hit the golf ball with any consistency. Also, remember that fades typically don’t travel as far as draws due to the ball’s added backspin. Nevertheless, more backspin means it’s likely the ball will stay in the fairway rather than roll off it.

Draw: Check out my arms in the photo (above, right). They’re lower and my finish is more rounded. This is because my upper body outrotated my lower body through impact. Unlike a fade, where my whole body rotates, my arms have led the move. Now, look at my left elbow. It’s behind me, as opposed to at my side after I’ve hit a fade. This proves I’ve turned the club and my arms/hands have released and rotated through impact. If you want to adjust how much your ball draws, all you have to do is close the face more. Still, the key is that a draw must be executed from the inside-out. Any other way will produce pulls and severe hooks. Remember, draws go farther than fades, so be sure to expect some added roll to the left.

A big week for Woods between majors

Tiger Woods' tee shot was headed for the front pin when it turned hard to the left and settled at the back left corner of the par-3 fifth green at Aronimink Golf Club.

"That'll work out well for one of these days," caddie Steve Williams told him. "Just not this one."

They shared a quick laugh and walked off the tee box, resuming the pro-am round Wednesday at the AT&T National. Woods is the defending champion, yet he is somewhat in the dark.

His game remains a mystery.

The tournament falls between two of the biggest events on his golfing calendar - the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St. Andrews, his favorite golf course in the world. Woods tied for fourth at the U.S. Open with a spotty performance. He matched a tournament-low 66 in the third round to get into contention, only to close with a 75.

Even so, it was his best week since he tied for fourth at the Masters.

"Things are starting to come around, which is nice to see," Woods said. "It's just a matter of getting more and more consistent with what I'm working on and putting together better rounds."

Another mystery is the course.

The AT&T National, where Woods no longer is the official host, is taking a two-year hiatus from Congressional Country Club, which is preparing to host the U.S. Open next year.

It found a welcome vacation home in Aronimink, which originally was designed by Donald Ross and once hosted premier championships. This is where Gary Player won his first PGA Championship in 1962, by one shot over Bob Goalby.

Aronimink was supposed to hold the PGA Championship in 1993 until the Shoal Creek episode led the PGA of America to demand its golf courses have minority members. Aronimink, which had an all-white membership, gave up the chance to host another major. It did not have a black member until 1998, and now the club says it has multiple minority and female members.

It is a course with sharp changes in elevation and bends in the fairways, relatively large greens and minimal water. It is not a classic Ross course from redesigns over the years, yet it has a storied history.

And while the rough has been minimal on the PGA Tour this year, especially with the shallow grooves now required, this rough is nearly as thick as players found two weeks ago at Pebble Beach.

"I'm probably taken back by its difficulty," said Jim Furyk, who played junior golf in the Philadelphia area. "I think it's a very tough golf course. It's tough to get the ball in the fairways. They're pitched at a lot of angles. You have to work the ball well off the tee. The greens are very big, but are cut up into smaller sections. There's a lot of slope, a lot of undulation, and they're already quite firm."

Walking down the fairway on the 605-yard ninth hole, Woods wondered aloud what kind of score it would take to win. The forecast is for sunshine throughout the week, and without wind, any course is vulnerable. He also noticed, however, that the greens already were firm enough for the ball to bounce instead of sticking where it lands.

"This is a golf course that has hosted major championships," Woods said. "There's no reason we can't play it tough."

More than the course, the AT&T National marks a return to the Philadelphia area for the first time since 2002, the final year of the short-lived Pennsylvania Classic held that year at Waynesborough Country Club. Based on the gallery earlier in the week, and the crowd that gathered around tee boxes and greens for Woods' pro-am group, they are expecting a big week.

"We have great confidence it's going to be a very successful event," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "We're back here next year, and after that, we'll look for opportunities. But certainly, this is a market we'd like to play longer term.

Woods won last year at Congressional with a 13-under 267, outlasting Anthony Kim in the final group and holding off a late charge from Hunter Mahan. Neither of them are here this week, as Kim recovers from thumb surgery and Mahan withdrew.

It is not nearly as strong a field as some other events, such as the Memorial or Quail Hollow Championship, as the European Tour returns to the continent and players gear up for the British Open.

Even so, it has attracted Furyk and Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III, Lucas Glover and Sean O'Hair, who makes his home in the Philadelphia area and recently joined Aronimink.

While he no longer is the host, Woods still took part in the opening ceremonies, which featured Bon Jovi. He says he is still working hard "behind the scenes," as proceeds benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Most of the work, however, is on his game.

He has played only 17 rounds on the PGA Tour this year, not returning to competition until the Masters after five months of coping with the fallout from extramarital affairs. He has only two top 10s, both coming in the majors. He has posted consecutive rounds in the 60s only once this year, at the Memorial, where he was never a factor.

The circumstances have changed, but this is the longest stretch Woods has gone without winning at the start of a season since 2002.