The golf swing is a complicated series of coordinated movements, it is also the physical part of sending the golf ball on it's way. It's little wonder then that the golf swing is the most criticised part of golf. Mistakenly, most golfers concentrate on this part of golf whenever they want to improve their score and reduce their handicap.

I say mistakenly because there are many other parts to playing golf that can have a very beneficial effect to reduce a golfers overall score. Physical fitness is often overlooked, but following a golf dedicated exercise program gives good results that not only reduces fatigue but increases suppleness and strength which makes longer drives more achievable. Another often overlooked aspect is the mental side of golf, we talk ourselves out of good shots a lot of the time and our confidence can crumble at crucial moments. Course management can produce surprisingly good results if done properly.

The point is that the golf swing is not all there is to playing golf well, but having said that, this article will concentrate on advice for golf swing faults, and the golf slice in particular.

A golf slice seems to be the hardest swing fault in golf to rectify, most golfers, especially beginning and weekend golfers will, at some time, have to deal with it. It is most obvious on the tee with a driver, but almost any golf club (except the putter) can produce a golf slice.

There are two main swing faults that produce a golf slice, the first fault is by getting the golf club on the wrong swing plane during the downswing. Usually, the backswing follows the correct swing plane, it's the downswing where things go wrong and gets into an outside-to-in swing plane. This causes the club face to come across the <i>golf ball</i> at impact and this puts sidespin on the ball and hence a slice.

The other common fault that produces a golf slice is when the clubface is in an open position at impact, this also puts sidespin on the ball and has the same effect as an out-to-in swing plane. Have a look at How To Hit The Golf Ball Straight, for a more indepth explanation.

I said there are two main ways to produce a golf slice, and that's true, but there are many ways to produce the two golf swing faults mentioned above. Sometimes it's just one of the faults that cause the golf slice, but at other times both faults are present at the same time, this gives a really bad golf slice, some golfers spend years trying to correct a golf slice and some never manage to cure it consistently, it goes for a while but then returns again. This is usually because they don't understand what causes a golf slice so they never take the necessary steps to cure it.

If your swing plane is too vertical, not swinging round your body enough, then the clubhead will follow an out-to-in swing plane on the downswing. This is an easy one to correct and it usually only occurs with the driver on the tee. Probably because the driver is the golf club with the longest shaft. You need to stand a little further from the ball and make the swing more around yourself, it follows a little shallower path than the other woods.

Gripping the club wrongly can also cause you to slice, a strong grip is when your hands are behind the club, a week grip is when your hands are in front of the club, it's the week grip that can cause the problem, during the down swing your hands re-align to the perpendicular, this opens the face of the club and a golf slice is the result. Various other combinations can cause this as well, a week left hand grip and a strong right hand grip can cause all sorts of problems, mainly because most of us have one hand stronger (in actual strength) than the other and when your hands are badly aligned the stronger hand usually takes over. This article, The Golf Grip, describes the correct golf grip in more detail.

Getting huge distance from your golf shots seems to be the single aim of a lot of golfers, they do tend to be high handicappers. The golfers that produce the long shots have learned that control and balance is crucial to hitting a good golf shot. Speed of the club head through the impact zone determines distance, not power. New golfers, weekend golfers and high handicap golfers seem to have trouble with this concept.

Trying to hit the golf ball hard in order to get greater distance from your shots pulls your golf swing off plane and can also cause your hips to slide forward. The result is usually a wild golf slice.

The cure for the golf slice, in this case, is to keep your swing under control, accelerating the clubhead through the impact zone, hitting a solid shot with the clubface square at impact is how to hit the golf ball correctly, and then just let the golf club do the work it was designed to do. If your driver is the only golf club causing your slice then perhaps your basic golf swing is not yet ready for the driver, keep it in your golf bag for a while and use your 3 wood, it will go further than the sliced shot will and it will, more than likely, produce a straighter shot. Also bear in mind that a 10.5 degree (or less) driver is a less forgiving club than a 12 degree driver, maybe just changing to a more lofted driver will help to cure your golf slice.

If you keep your right elbow (right-handers) close to your side during the golf swing, especially the downswing, it will help to promote an in-to-out swing path, and a slightly closed stance has also been known to help some players say goodbye to their golf slice problem.