Why Do My Golf Drives Go to the Right?

Standing on the tee box, you make what feels like a powerful swing, only to look up and see your golf ball curving helplessly to the right, landing in the trees or the next fairway over. This incredibly common and frustrating shot, known as a slice, can plague golfers of all levels. This article will break down the common reasons your drives go right and give you clear, understandable fixes to start hitting straighter, more powerful tee shots.

Deconstructing the Dreaded Slice

Before we can fix it, we first need to understand why it happens. A golf ball flying to the right (for a right-handed player) is almost always the result of two interconnected factors: your club path and your clubface angle at impact.

• Club Path: This is the direction the clubhead is traveling as it strikes the ball. For most slicers, the path is "out-to-in," meaning the club approaches the ball from outside the target line and cuts across it towards the inside. This path imparts left-to-right sidespin on the ball, causing it to slice.
• Clubface Angle: This is where the clubface is pointing at the moment of collision. An "open" clubface is pointing to the right of your swing path. If your path is straight but your face is open, you’ll hit a "push" that goes straight right. Combine an out-to-in path with an open face, and you get the brutal push-slice that starts right and curves even farther right.

The good news is that we can address both of these issues by working on a few fundamental parts of your swing, starting with the only connection you have to the club: your hands.

Your Grip: The First Checkpoint for a Straight Drive

Think of your grip as the steering wheel for the clubface. An improper grip makes it incredibly difficult to deliver a square clubface to the ball, no matter how good the rest of your swing is. The most common culprit for slicers is a "weak" grip.

The Problem: A "Weak" Grip

A weak grip doesn't mean you aren't holding on tightly enough. It's a technical term describing how your hands are positioned on the club. In a weak grip, the hands are rotated too far to the left (toward the target). A common sign is looking down at your left hand and seeing only one knuckle, or perhaps none at all. This hand position makes it very natural for the clubface to rotate open on the downswing and stay that way through impact.

The Fix: Finding a "Neutral" to "Strong" Grip

To give yourself a fighting chance at squaring the clubface, you need to adjust your hold to a more neutral, or even slightly "strong" position. It will probably feel strange at first, but stick with it. This single change is one of the fastest ways to tame a slice.

1. Rest the club on the ground with the face aimed squarely at your target.
2. Take your lead hand (left hand for righties) and place it on the handle. Rotate it to the right until you can clearly see at least two, preferably even two-and-a-half or three, knuckles.
3. Check the "V" formed by your thumb and index finger. It should be pointing somewhere between your right ear and your right shoulder. This is a "stronger" position.
4. Now, place your trail hand (right hand) on the club. The "V" on this hand should also point toward your right shoulder, and the palm should fit comfortably over the thumb of your lead hand. Your palms should now be essentially facing each other.

This stronger grip presets your hands in a position that encourages the clubface to rotate and close through impact, turning that slice into a straight flight or even a gentle draw.

Address and Alignment: Setting Yourself Up for Success

It’s impossible to hit a straight shot to your target if you aren't aimed at it correctly in the first place. Many slicers develop alignment habits that accidentally make their slice worse.

The Alignment Trap

Out of frustration, many players start aiming their body far to the left of the target, hoping this will counteract their slice and bring the ball back to the fairway. Unfortunately, this makes the problem worse. By aiming your shoulders and hips to the left, you are pre-setting an out-to-in swing path, virtually guaranteeing a slice. You're telling your body to swing across the ball.

The Fix: Set Up Like You're on Train Tracks

Use an alignment stick, or even another golf club, to help you visualize proper alignment. Place one stick on the ground pointing directly at your target. Now, place another stick parallel to the first one, where your feet will go. Your body - feet, hips, and shoulders - should be square to the second stick. This ensures your body is aimed parallel to your target, not at it. Only the clubface should be pointing directly at the target.

Always set the clubface behind the ball first, aiming at your target. Then, build your stance and posture around the club. This simple routine prevents your body from drifting open and encouraging that dreaded swing path.

Incorrect Ball Position

With a driver, the ball needs to be positioned far forward in your stance. Playing it too far back makes it extremely difficult to hit the ball straight. A ball positioned toward the middle of your stance doesn’t give the clubhead enough time in its arc to naturally rotate and square up. By the time it reaches the ball, the face is still open, leading to a push or slice.

The Fix: Driver Off the Lead Heel

This is a foundational setup key. When hitting your driver, place the ball so it's in line with the heel or even the instep of your lead foot (your left foot for right-handed players). This forward position allows the club to reach the bottom of its arc before it makes contact. As the clubhead begins to ascend slightly, it has the maximum amount of time to rotate naturally and meet the ball with a square face.

The Root of Most Slices: The "Over-the-Top" Swing Path

This is the big one. Almost every chronic slicer has an "over-the-top" swing. This happens when the downswing is initiated by the upper body - specifically the right shoulder and arms lunging forward. This action throws the club outside the proper swing plane, causing it to travel from out-to-in as it slashes across the ball. It's often an instinctive lunge in an effort to generate power, but it actually robs you of both power and accuracy.

To fix this, we need to retrain our downswing sequence and swing path. The feeling you want is the opposite: you want the club to drop to the inside and approach the ball from an "in-to-out" direction. Here are a couple of excellent drills to feel this.

Drill 1: The Step-Through Swing

This drill is fantastic for teaching your body to lead the downswing with your lower half, not your upper half.

1. Set up to a ball as you normally would.
2. Take your regular backswing.
3. As you start your downswing motion, just before your hands start to drop, physically take your back foot (right foot) and step it forward, so it crosses over your lead foot, like you’re walking toward the target.
4. Complete your swing, finishing with your feet crossed and your body facing the target.

It's physically impossible to spin your shoulders "over the top" when your lower body is leading the way like this. It forces you to drop the club to the inside to make solid contact.

Drill 2: The Headcover Drill

This drill gives you instant, undeniable feedback on your swing path.

1. Place a ball on a tee.
2. Take a spare headcover and place it on the ground about a foot outside of your golf ball and a few inches ahead of it.
3. If you make an over-the-top, out-to-in swing, you will hit the headcover after you hit the ball.
4. The goal is to swing in a way that you miss the headcover entirely. To do this, you _must_ swing the club more from the inside, naturally promoting an in-to-out path.

Final Thoughts

Curing that drive to the right boils down to straightening out your impact fundamentals. Start by ensuring your grip and setup aren't working against you. From there, your main goal is to transform your swing path from the arm-driven, "over-the-top" slash to a body-powered swing that delivers the club from the inside, allowing it to square up naturally and a send the ball down the fairway.

Tackling a persistent issue like a slice can be a challenge, but progress comes from understanding the cause and applying a clear fix. Having that knowledge in your pocket can make all the difference. That's why we built Caddie AI. Our AI golf coach is designed to give you instant, simple answers anytime, anywhere. You can ask it for a personalized drill to fix your slice at the range or get a quick swing thought to help you find the fairway under pressure. We're here to give you that expert second opinion 24/7, turning frustrating habits into confident shots and making the game simpler and more enjoyable.