BETTER BY SATURDAY
The first few feet going back really make a difference BY TODD ANDERSON Cure Your Slice at the Start
MOST SLICERS ARE DOOMED from the get-go. On the takeaway, they roll their forearms and fan
the clubface open, cupping the lead wrist (the left wrist for righties). Once they do that, the wrist will likely remain cupped and the club fanned at the top of the back- swing, all but ensuring a poor downswing path and an open face at impact – slice city. Fortunately, you can easily remedy this backswing-breaking mistake at home or on the range, and it doesn’t require hitting a single golf ball. All you need is another set of eyes, so to speak. Tee up a ball at driver height and make a slow rehearsal of your takeaway. As you do that, imagine there is an extra pair of eyeballs attached to the face of your driver and that they stare at the ball for the first few feet of your backswing ( top photo, right ). Practice this a bunch
of times until you get a feel for how your hands and arms are working and where the club is tracking. As long as the club- face is looking at the ball
STARE IT DOWN As you start back, keep your club “looking” at the ball.
during the first few feet of the takeaway, your lead forearm won’t roll, and the wrist will remain flat and angled down at the ground. So will the clubface, staying in a square position. Also, the clubhead will stay outside your hands on a much better path away from the ball. Simply complete your turn to the top, keeping that lead wrist in line with the forearm (right), and your days of flaring drives will be over. – WITH DAVE ALLEN TODD ANDERSON, one of Golf Digest’s Legends of Golf Instruction, teaches at the PGA Tour Performance Centre at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY J D CUBAN
42 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
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