A closed clubface design can significantly reduce a slice.

Reducing Your Slice – Lessons or Proper Clubfitting?

By Master Clubmaker, Tom Wishon

Despite the fact I am a 20+ yr club designer with 30+ years in clubfitting research, when it comes to poor shotmaking, you’ll find me on the side of telling you to first see what you can to change the swing faults that cause the bad shots before you go whole hog into using custom fitting changes in the clubs to overcome the problem.

However, with those 30+ yrs in my field also comes an equal number of years in observing golfers of ALL different athletic abilities from klutz to king. Since I have also spent time acquiring as much swing knowledge as possible, I know there are some swing changes that are FAR easier than others for golfers to achieve. One of the most difficult swing changes for golfers to make is to get rid of a chronic “over-the-top,” outside in swing path that causes a slice to one that delivers the club to the ball on a nice inside out swing path and eliminates that ooh-so-nasty banana ball.

If you have the time, money, commitment to proper practice and the athletic ability to re-train that over the top move into an inside out swing, do it. But since the vast majority of slicers can’t or won’t be successful in such a task, please do take a moment to think about how these clubfitting changes can and will reduce that slice to the point you won’t spend as much money on balls or time in the trees and rough.

1. Woodhead Face Angle

Ever put a driver or fairway wood on the ground and noticed the face doesn’t point straight? If so, you’re looking at an intentional design element for woods called the Face Angle. To a slicer, a closed or hook face angle that allows the face to point to the left (OK, to the right for you southpaws) when you address the ball with the driver can reduce your slice to the point you’ve got an unobstructed second shot. For a carry distance of 200 yards, for each 1 degree the face angle is more closed than the face angle of your present driver, you’ll erase 6-7 yds of that slice.

2. Woodhead Offset Hosel

Most drivers and fairway woods are made so the face sticks out in front of the shaft. However there are some in which the shaft is out there in front of the face. This is what is called an offset hosel design. One reason you may slice the ball is because you’re hands/arms have not yet rotated the face from open to square by the time the face meets the ball. With offset your swing has a split second more time for your hands/arms to continue rotating around to get to impact less open. Really bad slice? Use a more closed face angle AND an offset woodhead design and you’ve definitely got some slice correction on your side.

3. Shorter Driver Length

For slicers, face angle and offset are the two most powerful fitting weapons you have to reduce that banana. The 45” and 46” length of all men’s drivers bought off the rack is a sure way to make it hard to reduce the severity of an over the top, outside in swing. When a slicer gets smart and moves to a closed face angle and/or an offset hosel design, give that slice another whack in the butt by also being custom fit into a shorter driver.

Tom Wishon

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Biography

Tom Wishon is a golf club designer and researcher. Tom Wishon is a former member of the PGA of America who chose to pursue a career in golf equipment design and clubfitting research. While he has been offered the chance to head up golf club design for some of the largest golf club companies in the world, he has chosen to remain within the lesser known segment of the golf equipment industry that focuses on fitting golfers one at a time and building their golf clubs from high quality clubhead, shaft and grip component designs.

During his career he has designed more original golf clubhead models than any other person in the 500 year history of the game. He is also author of two best-selling consumer-oriented books, The Search for the Perfect Golf Club and The Search for the Perfect Driver.

He is Premium Golf Consultant and visits the UK regularly to train professionals in custom fitting and clubmaking.