How to Stop a Left-Handed Golf Slice

That infuriating golf shot that starts out with promise only to veer wildly to the right is the bane of many left-handed golfers. You're not alone in this battle. A slice is one of the most common and confidence-sapping misses in golf, but the good news is that it’s entirely fixable. This guide will walk you through, step-by-step, the real reasons your ball is slicing and provide you with concrete drills to straighten out your ball flight for good.

What a Left-Handed Slice Really Is (And Why It's Happening)

Before we can fix it, we have to understand it. Your left-handed slice is a ball that curves excessively from left-to-right in the air. This happens as a result of a specific combination of two factors at impact: your Swing Path and your Clubface Angle.

Think of it like this:

• Your Swing Path: For almost every slicer, the club is traveling on an out-to-in path. This means as you swing through the impact zone, your clubhead is moving from outside your target line to inside your target line. You're essentially "cutting" across the golf ball from the top side.
• Your Clubface Angle: At the moment of impact, your clubface is open (pointing to the right) relative to that out-to-in swing path. The combination of cutting across the ball with an open face puts a massive amount of clockwise sidespin on the ball, causing it to peel off to the right.

The solution, therefore, isn't some magic tip. It's about systematically correcting your fundamentals to neutralize your path and your clubface. We'll start with the two things you control before you even start your swing.

Building a Slice-Proof Foundation: Grip & Setup

Too many golfers immediately jump to complicated swing thoughts instead of checking their foundation. More often than not, the slice begins before you even move the club. A poor grip and improper alignment can pre-set the slice into your swing.

Your Grip: How to Hold the Club for a Straight Shot

Your hands are your only connection to the club, making them the steering wheel for your clubface. A "weak" grip is a major cause of a slice because it makes it very difficult for your hands and forearms to naturally rotate and square the clubface through impact. For a left-handed golfer, a weak grip typically means your right hand is positioned too far underneath the club and your left hand is too much on top.

To fix this, we need to create a stronger, more neutral grip:

1. Check Your Right Hand (Bottom Hand): Take your normal grip. Look down. How many knuckles can you see on your right hand? If you can only see one, or maybe even none, your grip is likely too weak. Rotate your right hand more to the left on the club, so that it feels more "on top." You should now be able to see at least two, or even three, knuckles on your right hand.
2. Check Your Left Hand (Top Hand): A companion move to strengthening your right hand is to adjust your left. Rotate your left hand slightly to the left as well, so it feels more like it's on the side of the handle rather than purely on top.
3. The "V" Checkpoint: When you've adjusted both hands, look at the “V” shape formed by your right thumb and index finger. It should now be pointing up towards your left shoulder or even your left ear, not straight up your body or toward your right shoulder.

A Quick Warning: This new grip will feel strange. It might even feel "wrong" or like you're going to hook the ball. Trust it. You are rewiring years of muscle memory. Stick with it for a couple of range sessions, and it will start to feel normal while giving your hands a much better chance to deliver a square clubface.

Your Setup: Aim for Success

Here’s a classic Catch-22 for slicers. Because you know the ball is going to curve to the right, you start aiming your body and feet far to the left of the target to compensate. Makes sense, right? Unfortunately, aiming left only encourages your body to swing even more out-to-in as you "pull" your arms back toward the target line. You're essentially reinforcing the very path that causes the slice.

We need to stop aiming for the slice and start aiming for a straight shot.

• Use Alignment Sticks: The best way to recalibrate your aim is to use two alignment sticks (or two of your golf clubs). Place one stick on the ground pointing directly at your target. Place the second stick parallel to the first, just inside where your feet will go. Now, set up so your feet, hips, and shoulders are all parallel to that second stick. This ensures your entire body is aimed squarely down your target line, not off to the left.

Correcting Your Path: From Over-the-Top to From-the-Inside

With your grip and alignment fixed, we can now tackle the swing path itself. The "out-to-in" move is also known as coming "over the top." This is when your first move on the downswing is to throw the club out and away from your body, causing it to get steep and cut across the ball. To hit a straight shot or a gentle draw, you need to feel the opposite: an in-to-out path where the club approches the ball from behind you and travels out toward the target.

Here are a few fantastically effective drills to help you feel this new path.

Drill 1: The Headcover Drill

This drill provides immediate, unmissable feedback. If you swing over the top, you'll hit the headcover.

• How to do it: Address the golf ball as you normally would. Take your driver's headcover (or an empty sleeve of balls) and place it on the ground about two feet on the outside of your golf ball. From your perspective, it should be just ahead of the line of your ball. To miss the headcover on your downswing, you are forced to drop the club into the "slot" and approach the ball from the inside. It makes an outside-in path practically impossible.

Drill 2: Tuck a Towel

The "over the top" move is often caused by your back arm (your left arm for a lefty) disconnecting from your body in the downswing. This drill forces you to keep things connected.

• How to do it: Take a small golf towel and tuck it firmly into your left armpit. The goal is to make full practice swings, and eventually hit shots, without that towel falling to the ground. To keep it in place, your left arm has to stay closer to your torso as you start the downswing. This prevents it from "casting" outward and promotes a more rounded, inside swing path.

Mastering the Release: Let the Clubface Turn Over

Fixing the path is half the battle. If you swing from the inside but still leave the clubface wide open, you'll simply hit a "push-slice" - a ball that starts to the left of your target and then curves even further right.

The final piece is learning to release the club, which means allowing your hands and forearms to naturally rotate through the impact area. A slicer often has a very passive "blocking" motion with their hands, trying to hold the face square. A great player allows it to release.

Drill: Split-hands Swings

This is a an amazing drill for feeling a proper release.

• How to do it: Take a mid-iron and grip it normally with your top (left) hand. Then, slide your bottom (right) hand down the shaft so there are about 3-4 inches of space between them. Make some slow, half-speed swings. With your hands separated like this, you will immediately feel how your left arm has to pull the handle through while your right hand and forearm have to rotate over your left through the hitting zone. It feels like throwing a frisbee or skipping a stone with your right hand. This feeling of the bottom hand rotating over the top hand is the release you're trying to achieve in your normal swing.

Final Thoughts

Beating your left-handed golf slice comes down to a clear, systematic approach. It starts with building a solid foundation using a stronger grip and square alignment. From there, you can use targeted drills to retrain your swing path from out-to-in to in-to-out, while learning to release the clubface so that it squares up to that new path. It takes time and patience, but it’s a proven formula for success.

Mastering these changes happens faster when you get reliable feedback. To help golfers do just that, we created Caddie AI. Think of it as that constant expert opinion in your pocket, helping you diagnose the cause of a bad shot and stay on the right track with your swing practice. Instead of just guessing, you can ask for pointed feedback and get actionable advice to reinforce what you're working on, making every practice session more productive.