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The driver is one of the most important clubs in the golf bag. But, for a lot of golfers, a slice can stop them from getting the most out of the club.

Hitting fairways and getting yourself into a good position off the tee is crucial for scoring well and if you can’t do that with the driver, you’ll struggle.

Something you can do to improve your dispersion and ball flight is keep an eye on your clubface position in the takeaway.

What happens when you open the driver face

Far too often, I see players roll their wrists too much in the takeaway in the hope of encouraging more loft on the clubface for higher flighted drives. However, this doesn’t always work.

When the clubface is too open in the takeaway, it is likely to remain open at the top of the backswing and, unless you make a compensation in the downswing, it will be open at impact.

Ailsa driver open face — If your clubface looks like this on the way back and is pointing to the sky, you’ll struggle to hit strong drives. (Credit: bunkered/Eve Conroy)

An open clubface at impact for a right-handed player will result in the ball curving right of the target. Depending on the swing path this can result in either a slice or, worse, push-slice.

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The solution to the slice

A drill I like to use is swinging to waist height with the hands in the takeaway and stopping to check the clubface. Ideally, for a square or neutral clubface, you are looking to see the toe of the club slightly in front of the heel, as you can see in the main image at the very top of the page.

Another great checkpoint is to ensure the leading edge on the clubface matches your spine angle.

When the clubface is too open, the toe of the club will sit behind the heel and this is usually caused by too much wrist roll. If you rehearse this takeaway ‘stop drill’, it will begin to feel more natural over time. It won’t guarantee straight shots, but it gives you a much better chance of them.

Ailsa Murphy is a PGA Professional at Peebles. You can book a virtual lesson with her through Skillest and follow her on TikTok.