Taking a break from the video-editing – Golf Digest just gave me an excellent article to use to point out how Modern Golf Swing instruction is just… pretty much useless.

Instead of giving some really good advice (in my opinion), they are compounding the problem by not really explaining what causes a slice.

It is not, as they state, the simple matter of one’s club face being open at impact – in fact, club path has a good deal more to do with slicing that the simple open face.

Says Maddy MacClurg in the article:

As McCormick demonstrates in the clip, the simple act of wringing out a wet towel is an effective drill for learning to close your clubface through transition — which is key for golfers struggling who struggle with a slice.

The feel works because it encourages your lead hand to rotate naturally. Your knuckles and palm move in a way that mirrors the hand action needed to square the clubface at impact.

Sorry to say, this is useless – in fact, it may actually make one’s problem worse, because if one is trying to twist the grip to close the face, I can see them coming over the top doing so, if they aren’t already doing it.

And the club path determines whether you slice or hook, as I’ve just said, perhaps even more than the face.

For example, I used to have a really strong, like 3 or 4 knuckle-strong grip (I could see 3, even 4 knuckles on my left hand at address when I looked down at my hands).

So I used to hit pull-fades – my outside-in path would start the ball to the left and, because my club face wasn’t as closed to the target line as the path, the ball would come back fading, and with a bad over-the-top move, I got so I could knock flagsticks down with that pull-fade.

However, I could still viciously slice the ball into the adjoining fairway at times, and it was because of the club path as I was coming down severely over the top with a hard outside-in action at impact.

Sometimes, I had near to 45 degree angles on my divots.

Even if your club face is closed to the target line at impact, say 3 or 4 degrees closed, and your club path is 10 degrees outside-in, you’re still going to slice that ball insanely.  I know, I’ve been there.

What I figured out through years of research and experimentation was that you should never open or close the club face at all with your hands during the actual swing.  The face should always be square, and I’ve explained it in previous videos (and of course will in this next one).

You’ve seen me (those of you who have downloaded previous videos) that I say “square to square to square…” in describing how the club face never opens to then have to close, as will the Iron Byron machine:

---

You’ll see how the Iron Byron machines don’t have wrists that turn – the machine cocks the club on the back swing and releases it down and through – the club face never twists or turns in relation to the arm swinging it.

“Square to Square to Square…”

---

In this clip from my “E = MCS” golf swing video back in 2017, I explained that if the face is square at address, and the toe of the club points up at horizontal going back and again halfway through the post-impact, you’ve kept your face square and your only worry is club path and ball position in the stance.

The last thing you should be doing, if you want to be a consistent ball-striker, is to try to manipulate the face of the club when swinging.

Open it or close it in the grip at address if you want to fade or draw the ball, but never try fiddling with the face during the swing.

But of course, the last thing Modern Golf Swing industry wants is for you to actually learn how to swing properly, because… well, we know that reason, don’t we?

It rhymes with “money.”