Seeing your golf ball start right of the target and stay there, obediently flying directly into the right-side rough, is one of golf’s most frustrating sights. A push shot can wreck a scorecard and your confidence, but the good news is that it’s almost always born from a handful of identifiable and correctable habits. This guide will walk you through exactly what causes a push, how to check your fundamentals at setup, and provide simple, actionable drills to get your swing path and clubface working together to send that ball straight down the fairway.
Before we go any further, let's be clear on the terminology. A push is a shot that, for a right-handed golfer, starts to the right of the target line and flies relatively straight on that incorrect path. It doesn't have the significant rightward curve of a slice. Think of it as a straight shot, just aimed in the wrong direction from the moment of impact.
What causes this? The physics are actually quite straightforward. A push happens when two conditions are met at impact:
The open clubface determines the initial starting direction of the ball, sending it right. The in-to-out path ensures it doesn't have much of a slicing spin, so it continues on that pushed line. Your swing might feel powerful, but if the clubface isn't square to the path and the path isn't aimed correctly at the target, the result is predictable. Our job is to fix one or, more likely, both of these issues.
More often than not, the foundation for a pushed shot is laid before you even start the takeaway. Your grip, alignment, and ball position are the biggest influencers on your clubface and swing path. Getting these right can often solve the problem without a single swing thought.
Your grip is the steering wheel of the club. If your hands are positioned in a way that encourages the face to stay open, you're fighting an uphill battle from the start. The most common grip fault leading to a push is a "weak" grip.
A weak grip for a right-hander means the left hand is turned too far to the left (counter-clockwise), so you might only see one knuckle, or even none, when you look down. The "V" formed by your thumb and index finger points more toward your left shoulder or chin. This position makes it very difficult for your forearms and wrists to naturally rotate and "release" the club through impact. The result is a clubface that arrives at the ball still pointing to the right. To learn more about how to improve your grip for straighter shots, visit our resource on how to improve your golf grip for straighter shots.
This will feel strange at first, maybe even like you're going to hook the ball. Trust it! For many golfers, this small change alone is enough to let the clubface square up naturally, transforming that push into a powerful draw.
Here’s an ironic twist: many golfers who push the ball have fantastic alignment - they’re just aligning their body for the push they expect. Over time, you subconsciously learn to aim your feet, hips, and shoulders well left of the target to compensate for the ball flying right. This "open" alignment actually encourages an in-to-out swing path, cementing the very problem you’re trying to fix.
If your ball position is too far back in your stance (closer to your trail foot), your club will make contact with the ball too early in the swing arc. At this point, the club path might be traveling correctly from the inside, but the clubface hasn't had enough time to rotate back to square. It’s still 'open' on its way to the bottom of the arc. This most often happens with mid-irons and longer clubs.
By moving the ball to its proper position, you give the clubface time to complete its rotation and meet the ball at the correct point in the swing arc: squarely.
If your setup is solid but the push persists, the problem lies in your swing sequence. The classic cause of a big push is when the lower body outraces the upper body on the downswing. Golfers obsessed with "power from the ground up" often spin their hips open aggressively from the top. To understand the proper sequence, read our article on how to start the downswing in golf.
When your hips spin open too fast or slide too far toward the target, your arms and club get trapped or "stuck" behind you. From this trapped position, the only path the club can take to the ball is from way inside the target line. This leads to that aggressive in-to-out path, and because your arms are lagging so far behind, there’s no time to square the clubface. It feels powerful but it’s an uncontrolled, push-producing motion.
This is a fantastic drill to give you instant feedback on your swing path.
This drill helps you sync up your arms and body turn, preventing the arms from getting disconnected and stuck behind you.
Finally, you can have a perfect setup and a great swing path, but if you don't allow the club to release through impact, the face will remain open. Many amateurs misunderstand "release." They think it means consciously flipping their hands at the ball. In reality, a proper release is a passive, natural rotation of the clubface caused by good body mechanics and loose forearms.
Think of it like throwing a frisbee. You wouldn't throw it with a stiff, locked wrist. You let the frisbee "un-hinge" and release naturally from your hand. The same idea applies here. Tension is the enemy of release. If you're gripping tightly and trying to "steer" the club through impact with your body, you're preventing the club from doing its job. For a deeper dive into this concept, check out our resource on how to release the golf club.
This is a phenomenal way to feel the clubhead turn over.
Stopping the dreaded push shot is a process of elimination. Start with the basics: check your grip, alignment, and ball position at setup, as these pre-shot factors are the most common source of the problem. If everything there looks good, move on to your swing mechanics, ensuring your arms and body are staying connected so you don’t get stuck, and work on drills that encourage a natural release of the clubhead.
Fixing issues like this on your own can feel like guesswork at times. We're developing Caddie AI to take that uncertainty out of the equation. Imagine being unsure about your grip mid-round, you could simply ask about the checkpoints for a neutral grip and get an instant, clear reminder. If you're working on the range, you could tell our AI you're pushing the ball, and it can suggest the exact drills mentioned here, providing guidance that's personalized to help you understand and fix your fault, fast.
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