During my early years of golf, I played with a terrible slice. I would aim left of the fairway into the woods with the hope that my ball would shape back into the middle of the short grass. At that time, I adjusted my aim instead of taking the time to fix my terrible flight path. The worst part of my dilemma was I thought that aiming way left was the best way for play golf and as you can imagine, it only compounded my woes. Fast forward many years and I do not slice the ball very often (rarely in fact), but my path to where I currently play was painful and frustrating. I wish I had found Rick Sheils fix 30 years ago!
I was definitely an over the top players. My swing path was out to in and I tried all kinds of quick fixes to counter this movement. I tried closing my club face, changing my grip, my ball position and my stance just to name a few. It never really occurred to me to change my swing path. To be fair, 30+ years ago, I did not have access to so much information about the golf swing, nor did I have the money for a lesson. So, I employed the hunt and peck method for about 10 years until I stumbled across the idea to fix my swing plane. If I had found the following video earlier, who knows where my game would today.
I feel that my swing path is better, but will always need a bit of reinforcement to keep it on track. The funny thing about my swing, when I try to step up a gear and hit the ball harder, my habit of over the top comes back. The results are never what I want. I guess old habits die hard.
Watching the video now, it makes perfect sense. As a matter of fact, next time I hit the range, I am going to use this simple, easy and repeatable drill in order to cement my swing movements. I think one part of the video where Shiels could expand more is the transition portion. I do not think that we need to move the club head into a slow, but just let the swing naturally fall into position. Personally, my right elbow is the key; by ensuring it is tucked into my side, my club falls into the proper position for an in to out swing plane. Regardless of how you actually perform the mechanics, I think you get the gist of how to fix a slice.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
For several years despite knowing about the “over the top move” I continued to compensate with pretty good results. My driver setup was 1. Aim way left 2. Shut clubface at address. 3. Swing HARD.
Even today when I have lost confidence with the driver I revert to this setup.
BMC
all these notes are from a south paw
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BMc
You have a mature swing and you skill allows you to make these successful adjustments. I am less successful, if I swing hard only bad things happen. Funny how it works for one player, but not the other.
Cheers Jim
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For a slicer, the club head follows a big circle through the swing. Rick’s lesson here attempts to train you to change the direction of that circular path from under and over to over and under. That also helps solve things like feeling stuck and chicken winging it. But it’s not really the full story. You can swing on an in to out path and still slice the ball. Just like you can swing over the top and hook it.
It’s all about face control. What your hands and arms do through the swing determines the angle the face is compared to the path. We want 90 degree’s for a perfectly straight shot. But at 90, an in to out swing produces a push and an over the top swing produces a pull. This is interesting stuff because if you swing 2 degree’s in to out and close the face 1 degree, you’ll basically send the ball right of the target line 1 degree and it will curve back to the target line. If you hit 2 degrees in to out and open the club face 1 degree you will send the ball 3 degrees right of the target line and watch it fade farther right another degree or so.
The tolerances are small. Oh, and it’s ok to swing out to in too. I’ve watched Tiger practice it 1000 times before trying to fade an iron shot to the green or bend a drive around a dogleg right.
That doesn’t make what Rick is teaching useless. It’s a good point to start with. But you really need to learn face control to end the slices and hooks or get them on demand.
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Kevin,
Your points are well taken, however it think it is for a more experienced player. All players need to start somewhere and I think that Shiels tip is a great place to start.
Cheers Jim
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I did suggest as much in my last sentence. This morning’s youtube video from Danny Maude though will take you through 3 steps to “tune the radio”. An apt comparison for finding the right path. He uses nothing all golfers already have to do it. A tee, and three ball sleeves. His instructions are created to progress you from over the top, hitting down on the ball all the way through to learning face control. All the pieces needed to stop the slice and actually control your ball flight if you put in the time.
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Kevin
This is a very interesting video. A variation from the one Rick Shiels uses, but with the feedback tools a the back of the ball. Tuning the radio is a good analogy for sure.
Cheers Jim
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