Nothing in golf is more infuriating than watching your ball sail helplessly to the right of your target, hole after hole. You stand over the ball with the best intentions, but that slice or push seems to have a mind of its own. This article will break down exactly why your golf ball goes right and give you the clear, actionable steps you need to straighten it out and find more fairways.
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First, Let's Understand Ball Flight 101
Before we can fix the problem, we need to understand what's causing it. For a right-handed golfer, a ball that flies to the right is almost always a result of the relationship between two things at the moment of impact: your club path and your clubface angle.
Club Path: This is the direction the clubhead is traveling as it strikes the ball. You can swing "out-to-in," "in-to-out," or "square" to the target line. The path has the biggest influence on the ball's starting direction.
Clubface Angle: This is the direction the clubface is pointing when it makes contact with the ball. It can be "open" (pointing to the right of the target), "closed" (pointing to the left), or "square." The clubface angle relative to your path is what creates spin, causing the ball to curve.
When the ball goes right, one of these elements - or more often, a combination of both - is to blame.
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Is It a Slice or a Push? Diagnosing Your "Right" Miss
Not all "right" shots are created equal. It's important to identify which type of miss you’re struggling with, as the causes and fixes are different. Grab your phone and record a few swings down the line at the range to see which description fits you best.
The Slice: This is the big, banana-shaped curve that’s plagued millions of golfers. The ball typically starts left of your target or close to it, then curves dramatically to the right. This is the product of an out-to-in club path combined with a clubface that is open relative to that path.
The Push: This shot starts right of the target and flies relatively straight on that line, often ending up further right. This is caused by an in-to-out club path where the clubface is open relative to the target line (but often square to the path, which is why it doesn't curve as much).
Most amateur golfers struggle with the slice, so we’ll spend most of our time there. But an undiagnosed push can be just as frustrating.
Fixing the Slice: Overcoming the Dreaded "Over-the-Top" Move
The slice is almost universally caused by an "over-the-top" swing. This is where, during the transition from backswing to downswing, your shoulders and arms lunge forward toward the ball, throwing the club outside the correct swing plane. This creates that steep, out-to-in path that cuts across the ball, generating massive sidespin. Here's how to fix it, step-by-step.
1. Check Your Hold: The Steering Wheel of Your Swing
Your grip has the single biggest influence on where the clubface points. If you hold the club incorrectly, you’ll spend your entire swing trying to make compensations. A "weak" grip, where your hands are rotated too far to the left (for a righty), makes it almost impossible to square the face at impact.
Here’s how to build a neutral, more powerful grip:
The Top Hand (Left Hand): Place your left hand on the grip so you can look down and see at least two knuckles. Think of holding the club more in your fingers than your palm. The "V" formed by your thumb and index finger should point toward your right shoulder. If that "V" points at your chin or left shoulder, your grip is likely too weak and promoting an open face.
The Bottom Hand (Right Hand): When you add your right hand, its palm should face the target. A great checkpoint is to have the palm of your right hand cover your left thumb. The "V" formed by your right thumb and index finger should also point generally toward your right shoulder.
Heads Up: A good grip will feel strange at first. It's unlike how you hold almost anything else. Trust the process. This one change is powerful enough to dramatically reduce your slice.
2. Check Your Setup: Building a Foundation for a Better Swing
Your setup dictates the kind of swing you can make. If you’re crowded or aligned poorly, your body will default to its only option: coming over the top. Many slicers subconsciously aim their shoulders left to account for their miss, which only encourages the out-to-in path.
Posture: Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Bend forward from your hips, not your waist, while keeping your back relatively straight. Your bottom should stick out slightly, creating an athletic position.
Arm Position: Let your arms hang naturally down from your shoulders. There should be a hand's-width or so of space between the end of the grip and your thighs. If your arms are jammed against your body, you have no room to swing from the inside.
Alignment: Use alignment sticks. Place one on the ground pointing at your target and another one parallel to it for your feet. Your feet, hips, and shoulders should all be parallel to your target line, like railroad tracks. It might feel like you’re aiming right at first, but this is a much more neutral starting point.
3. Check Your Swing Sequence: Unwinding from the Ground Up
The over-the-top move is a sequencing error. It’s what happens when the first thing to move from the top of the backswing is your upper body (shoulders and arms) instead of your lower body.
The Takeaway: In the first few feet of the backswing, focus on turning your chest, hips, and shoulders together as one piece. You're not just lifting your arms, you're rotating your core.
The Transition (The Key!): This is at the very top of your backswing. Before you do anything else, feel your weight shift slightly toward your front foot. The first move down should be your hips starting to unwind and turn toward the target. This creates space for your arms and the club to drop down on an inside path. Slicers do the opposite: their shoulders lunge forward, pushing the club outside.
The Downswing Feel: A good thought is to feel like you’re keeping your back to the target for as long as possible as you start down. This promotes the lower body firing first and helps the club "shallow out" instead of coming over the top.
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Tackling the Push: When You're "Too Much from the Inside"
A push happens for the opposite reason as a slice. Your path is actually coming from the inside (which is good!), but your clubface is wide open to the target line, so the ball starts right and stays right. This can happen when players aggressively try to fix a slice and overdo it.
The primary cause here is often a problem with hand and arm rotation. The body rotates nicely, but the hands fail to "release" and square the clubface through impact.
Check Release Timing: For a push, the fix is often feeling your forearms rotate through the hitting area. As your right arm straightens after impact, feel your right palm facing down towards the ground, not up at the sky.
Practice Drill: Hit gentle half-swings focusing only on this feeling of forearm rotation. You should start seeing the ball begin to draw (curve left) instead of push right. Gradually increase the swing speed and length once you get the hang of it.
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Theory is great, but feeling it is what matters. Here are two simple exercises for the range.
The Gate Drill: Set up to your ball as normal. Place two headcovers on the ground, creating a "gate" for your club to swing through. For a slicer, place one headcover about a foot outside and ahead of the ball, and another about a foot inside and behind the ball. To miss the headcovers, you are forced to swing more "in-to-out." For a pusher, you'd do the opposite to encourage a more neutral path.
The Feet-Together Drill: Hit short iron shots with your feet touching. This will feel strange, but it dramatically reduces your ability to lunge with your upper body. It forces you to stay balanced and rotate your core to advance the ball, which teaches a proper body-driven sequence.
Final Thoughts
Ending the frustration of a ball that constantly goes right is a process of first correctly identifying your miss - whether it’s a slice or a push - and then systematically checking the root causes in your grip, setup, and swing motion. By focusing on a neutral start and a proper sequence where the lower body leads the downswing, you can build a more reliable swing path and learn to control your clubface.
Understanding why a shot goes wrong is half the battle, but getting real-time feedback when you’re standing over a tricky shot on the course is a game-changer. Sometimes that right miss is caused by an awkward lie in the rough or a weird sidehill stance you're not sure how to handle. With technology like Caddie AI, you can snap a photo of your ball's lie and get instant, expert advice on the best way to play the shot, removing the guesswork and letting you swing with a clear, confident plan.
Spencer has been playing golf since he was a kid and has spent a lifetime chasing improvement. With over a decade of experience building successful tech products, he combined his love for golf and startups to create Caddie AI - the world's best AI golf app. Giving everyone an expert level coach in your pocket, available 24/7. Caddie's mission is simple: make world-class golf advice accessible to everyone, anytime.
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