Nothing is more frustrating than hitting a shot that feels decent, only to watch it start left of your target and then slice weakly back across the fairway. That unwelcome-ball flight, known as a pull cut or a pull slice, can drain your confidence and add strokes to your score. This article will break down exactly what a pull cut is, the common reasons it happens, and most importantly, how to fix it with simple adjustments and effective practice drills.
Before you can fix a problem, you have to understand it. In golf, ball flight is governed by two simple factors at impact: the path of your club and the angle of your clubface. A pull cut is the direct result of a specific mismatch between these two elements.
Here’s the breakdown for a right-handed golfer (lefties, just reverse the directions):
Think of it like this: your swing path dictates where the bus starts its journey, and the clubface decides which direction the bus is pointing as it leaves the station. With a pull-cut, the bus starts veering left out of the station but is pointing to the right, causing it to swerve across traffic. Our goal is to get the club path and clubface working together to send the ball toward our intended target.
That out-to-in path and open face don't just happen by accident. They are usually symptoms of a deeper issue in your setup or swing. Let's peel back the layers and look at the most common reasons golfers develop a pull cut.
This is easily the most common cause, and luckily, it's the simplest to fix. Many golfers who hit a pull cut don’t realize that their entire body - feet, hips, and shoulders - is aimed significantly left of the target at address. Your body is naturally athletic, it wants to swing the club along the line your shoulders and feet are pointing.
So, you set up aiming left. Your swing instinctively follows that line, creating an out-to-in path. Then, at the last millisecond, your subconscious brain says, "Whoops, the target is over there!" Your hands and wrists make a desperate compensation to get the ball back toward the target, which often involves holding the face open. The result is that classic pull start with a weak slice.
If your alignment is good, the next place to look is the transition from backswing to downswing. The "over-the-top" move is the slicer's trademark. It happens when the first move down is led by your arms and right shoulder instead of your lower body.
Your right shoulder lunges forward and outward, pushing the club outside the ideal swing plane. This forces the club onto a steep, out-to-in path. This differs greatly from the desired "rounded" swing motion where the club works around the body. An over-the-top move is more of an up-and-down "chopping" action, driven by a desire to smash the ball with the upper body. When you swing over the top, the club head cuts aggressively across the ball from the outside, almost guaranteeing a pull and leaving the clubface trailing open.
A golf swing is a kinetic chain. Power and proper sequencing start from the ground up. The "over-the-top" move we just discussed is often a side effect of lower body inaction. If your hips don't start the downswing by turning and clearing out of the way, your upper body is left with no choice but to take over.
Think of your hips as the key that unlocks the downswing. By rotating them first, you create space for your arms and the club to drop down "into the slot" on the correct inside path. When your hips stall or slide laterally instead of rotating, the arms get thrown outward, and you get stuck in that over-the-top pattern. The body is an engine, and if you’re only using the arms, you’re missing out on the power and consistency generated by turning your torso.
We've identified the problems. Now, let's get to the fixes. The key here is not to try and change everything at once. Work on these one at a time, starting with your setup.
Never underestimate the power of proper alignment. A consistent routine makes aiming correctly almost automatic.
Stopping the over-the-top move requires changing your swing thought from "hit the ball" to "swing the club."
As you finish your backswing, initiate the downswing with a gentle bump of the hips toward the target, followed by rotation. Your first feeling should be your hands and arms simply "dropping" vertically at the start of the downswing. Imagine the butt-end of the club pointing down toward the ball, rather than out toward it.
A great swing thought is: "keep your back to the target as long as possible." This encourages your lower body to initiate the downswing, letting the club shallow naturally onto an inside path. This feeling allows the club to swing "around" the body like we want, rather than "at" the ball.
Understanding and feeling are two different things. These drills give you immediate feedback, helping you turn concepts into concrete skills.
This is a fantastic drill for retraining your swing path from out-to-in to in-to-out.
If you swing over the top, you will hit the outside ball. The only way to hit the golf ball and swing through the gate cleanly is to approach the ball from the inside. Start with half swings until you can consistently miss both objects, then progress to full swings.
This simple drill quiets your aggressive upper body and forces you to find balance and rotation.
Because your base is so narrow, you cannot lunge with your shoulders or you'll fall over. This drill forces you to use the rotation of your torso as the engine of your swing, just like you should in your normal swing. It trains better sequencing and will help you feel how the arms and body can work together in a more "rounded" and connected fashion.
The pull cut can be a stubborn miss, but it is not a life sentence. It is almost always a result of an out-to-in swing path paired with a clubface that's open to that path, typically caused by faulty alignment or an over-the-top transition. By building a solid pre-shot routine and practicing drills that promote an inside-out swing, you can turn that weak slice into a powerful a draw.
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