How to Fix a Push in Golf

Watching your golf ball sail dead-right of your target without a hint of a curve is one of the most frustrating feelings in golf. That’s the classic push, and it can turn a great drive into a recovery shot from the trees in an instant. This article lays out the most common causes of the dreaded push and gives you practical, easy-to-understand drills to get your shots starting on target again.

First Things First: Is It a Push or a Slice?

Before we go any further, let's be certain we're talking about the same shot. This is important because the fixes are very different.

• A push is a ball that starts to the right of your target line (for a right-handed golfer) and continues flying on that straight line. It doesn't curve.
• A slice is a ball that starts on or left of the target line and then curves significantly to the right during its flight.

If your ball is starting right and flying straight, you're in the right place. This shot tells us something specific: at impact, your clubface was square to your swing path, but your entire swing path was directed out to the right of your target. Our job is to figure out why your swing is traveling so far from the "inside" and get it pointing back toward the fairway.

Cause #1: Your Aim Is Not What You Think It Is

This is the most common cause of a push, and happily, it's also the easiest to fix. Many golfers who hit a consistent push are not actually making a bad swing. Instead, their body is simply aimed in the direction the ball is going. Their swing feels good and the ball flies straight because, relative to their body, they’ve hit a perfect shot. The problem is their body was aimed at the right-hand rough all along.

It’s easy to get misaligned. You might set the clubface down correctly, but then as you take your stance, your feet, hips, and shoulders shuffle into a position that aims well right of the target. Your arms have no choice but to swing along the line your body has set.

How to Check and Fix Your Alignment

You can't trust your eyes alone from the address position, you need an objective reference. Grab two alignment sticks or, if you don't have them, two other golf clubs from your bag.

1. Target Line: Lay the first alignment stick on the ground a few feet in front of you, pointing directly at your target. This is your reality check - the line the ball needs to start on.
2. Body Line: Place the second alignment stick on the ground parallel to the first one, just outside where your golf ball would be. This is your body line. When you take your stance, your toes, knees, hips, and shoulders should all be parallel to this stick.
3. Take Your Stance: Address the ball and check your alignment. Look down at your feet. Are they parallel to the body line stick? Now, place your club across your shoulders. Are your shoulders pointing down the body line, or are they aimed way out to the right (a common fault)?

Many golfers are shocked to find just how far right they are regularly aiming. Performing this drill for just 5-10 minutes at the start of every practice session will retrain your eyes and body to understand what "square" actually looks and feels like.

Cause #2: Your Swing Path is Too Far "In-to-Out"

If your alignment is spot on but you're still pushing the ball, the issue is likely rooted in your swing path. As we mentioned, a push is the result of a club path that tracks too far from inside the target line to outside the target line through the impact zone.

Imagine a straight line extending from the ball to the target. An ideal swing path approaches the ball from slightly inside this line, strikes the ball, and then moves back to the inside of the line. An "in-to-out" swing that causes a push approaches from way inside that line and exits way outside of it. The club is literally traveling out to right field at the moment it strikes the ball.

What causes this? Often, it's a downswing that gets "stuck." This happens when your lower body (hips) spins open too quickly or stalls, while your upper body and arms get left behind you. Because your body is now in the way, you have no room to swing the club down correctly. Your only option is to throw your arms and the club out and away from your body to the right, leading to that push.

Drill: The Headcover Gateway

This is a classic drill to give you instant feedback on your swing path. It forces you to swing the club down on a more neutral path, because an in-to-out swing will get punished immediately.

1. Place your golf ball down on the turf.
2. Take a headcover from your driver or wood and place it on the ground about a foot behind and just outside your ball. It should be sitting diagonally outside the target line.
3. Set up to the golf ball. Your goal is to make a swing and miss the headcover entirely.
4. If you have a strong in-to-out path, you will hit the headcover on your downswing. This powerful feedback forces your brain to re-route the club.
5. To avoid the headcover, you’ll naturally have to let the club drop more down a neutral plane instead of getting stuck behind you. Focus on feeling your arms swinging more "in front of" your chest on the way down, rather than "behind" it.

Start with slow, half-swings without a ball to get the feel. Once you can consistently miss the headcover, add a ball and build up to full speed.

Cause #3: The Lower Body Stall and Poor Weight Shift

This cause is directly linked to the "stuck" feeling we just discussed. A proper golf swing involves a seamless a-synchronous sequence. On the downswing, your slight lateral bump-shift of the hip should initiate the entire movement by your lower body starts, a slight-lateral movement followed by a dynamic rotation, pulling your torso, which then pulls your arms. A push often materializes when this sequence breaks down due to a lower body ‘stall’.

The ‘stall’ comes in two flavors:

• Hanging Back: The golfer fails to shift their weight onto their front foot in the downswing. Their weight remains on the back foot, which stalls hip rotation. The hips stop turning, the arms get trapped, and the path is shoved out to the right.
• Spinning Out: The opposite problem. The hips rotate so fast and aggressively from the top that the arms can’t keep up. The hips "spin out" from under the golfer, leaving the arms far behind and, you guessed it, stuck. The only path forward is again, out to the right.

Drill: The Step-Through Drill

This fantastic drill synchronizes your lower body and upper body and guarantees a proper weight transfer through the ball. It almost entirely eliminates the possibility of hanging back.

1. Address the ball with your feet together.
2. Begin your backswing as you normally would.
3. As the club approaches the top of your backswing, take a step forward with your lead foot (your left foot for a right-handed player), planting it in its normal stance position.
4. Feel how this step naturally pulls the rest of your body through the shot. As your front foot plants, it initiates the downswing, and all your momentum moves toward the target.
5. Swing through to a full, balanced finish.

You’ll feel a powerful sense of connection and flow. The "step" forces your weight forward and encourages your body to rotate through impact, creating room for your arms to swing down the correct path.

Final Thoughts

The push is a stubborn but fixable problem that usually boils down to one of three things: flawed alignment, an excessively in-to-out swing path, or a breakdown in your weight shift and lower body rotation. By systematically checking your setup and using queste allineamentodrills give instant feedback we help to you to realign your swing path and motion on all different fronts. Consistency is your best friend here, so commit to these drills, keep swinging easy, and the ball flight will return and fly strong down the target-line.

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