Is a lack of pivot causing your slice?

August 11, 2022

The short answer is yes, probably. But today, we’re going into detail about why pivot is so important for your golf swing and our best tips for avoiding that destructive slice.

In this application when we refer to pivot, we are referring to the amount of shoulder and hip turn in the backswing, and it’s a super important element in creating ball flight. When you think about a slice, it’s likely that your mind goes to that over-the-top swing path that is so common for slicers of the ball.

Unfortunately we tend to find that they do this due to a lack of pivot in the backswing, meaning that their body is actually in the way of the hands and club on the downswing. Therefore they have to swing across themselves to avoid this.

Also, a lack of pivot creates a short, more inhibited backswing and again this is a cause of the over-plane slicer swings that we see so regularly. So what can you do to stop this?

Here is a great pivot practice motion that all players can do in their warm-ups and practice!

• Set up with a club laid on the floor just inside your trail foot.
• Pretend to address the ball, whilst holding another club across our shoulders with your arms crossed over.
• Swing to the top of your backswing, and check where the butt of the club that is across your shoulders is aiming- it should be pointing directly down at the other club that is laid across the floor.

Stay in this position for a couple of seconds, and then go back to the ball at address. Repeat this a few times in between hitting balls during practice.

We think this is such a great drill, as you don’t require anyone else to be with you (professional or playing partner) to tell you whether you got your body into the correct position, as you have a really clear visual cue to tell you whether or not you pivoted correctly.

As you can see from the image below, we’ve used this drill in our lessons with Jason and you can see a huge improvement in his backswing from the beginning to the end of the lesson.

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