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Turn a Slice Into a Draw By “Reversing The Loop”

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The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. As a golfer, you must change something in your golf swing to change your ball flight. Grip, stance, alignment, and posture are extremely important in the setup, but I consider them variables, not fundamentals. You see phenomenal golfers with all type of setups, grips, alignments, and postures.

Can you change your ball flight and make impact conditions different with grip, stance, alignment, and posture changes? Absolutely, but in my experience one of the worst things you can do is change a golfer’s grip without determining what the outcome needs to be. I have seen golfers with strong grips slice the ball and golfers with weak grips hook the ball, so as a golf instructor I have to be very careful.

My goal for the majority of my students is “getting the car out of the ditch,” so to speak. I want to get them back on the road to competent golf as quickly as possible. Watching ball flight and listening to impact is the best way to help a golfer improve, and my diagnosis of a golfer always starts with the ball flight. Then I go to the club face, then to the shaft, and then what the body is doing in the motion to create the golf shot.

Golfers do not need to change their entire golf swings to improve their ball flight, but if the goal is to change ball flight — hit the ball higher, farther, and make the bottom of the swing more consistent — we need to find a way to improve impact, face angle, and angle of attack.

The first few feet in the takeaway is crucial to have a repeating swing, and the majority of golfers I give lessons to or watch on the range have a distinct movement in their takeaway that directly affects their downswing. In an effort to create power, the golfer whips the club too far inside and usually opens the face way too early in the backswing. Compensations abound from creating this type of position with the club face and shaft. The handle of the club will move up and out, making the front arm become disconnected from the body, and golfers experience an automatic loss of power.

Doing this, the club head will also move too far behind the body in the backswing. At the halfway-back point in the backswing, golfers are doomed to an over-the-top, out-to-in downswing, which causes the ball to curve to the right (slice) for a right-handed golfer. The club face is now way too open, and the golfer has created a steeper angle of attack. It’s no wonder most golfers have never hit a real draw in their life.

In the video at the top of the story, you will see the shaft is above the shoulder in the start of the downswing. It creates an in-and-over motion with the club head and shaft that leads to a slice. Now, there have been some very successful golfers with this type of motion: Bruce Lietzke, Hale Irwin, Raymond Floyd, and Colin Montgomerie to name a few, but these are professional golfers who have perfected their technique. They are swinging on a path with a club face that works for a ball flight they want to see, and they also have awesome wrist, hand and body action.

The following motion will have golfers picking the club up with their arms and not completing their pivots. They are lifting their arms up and not tilting properly, which may cause them to lose balance.

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These golfers will most likely have an open club face at the top of the swing, too. Having an open club face at the top of the swing leads to many swing faults, including hitting behind the ball, too much weight on the trail foot at impact, and casting the club, which adds way to much loft to the club face. The golfers will generally have a major, backward shaft lean at impact with the handle leaning back to their trail leg.

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On the downswing, the golf club will start moving across the ball like a butter knife. The club face will be slicing across the ball, resulting in pulls, slices, and weaker shots. Loss of distance and accuracy will be a huge factor with this type of motion. The arms will be pulling apart, usually having the chicken-wing look after the ball. Topping can also occur with this type of motion because the head of the club is swinging too much up and in toward the body. The trail arm will also have space in between the trail elbow and the body during the downswing.

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Reversing The Loop

How can we fix this type of motion? Very simple! Reverse the loop! What I mean is that golfers can reverse engineer their entire motion to create a very effective swing with the desired ball flight. For your backswing, take the club up the path of the faulty downswing, and then bring the club back into the ball on your original backswing path. This is called “reversing the loop.”

Your golf swing will feel as if you are swinging way up and outside, but this is what you need to feel and create to change your ball flight. You can even feel an early hinge in your backswing, making your takeaway and backswing steeper and having the shaft shallow on the downswing. You will start to create a swing path that travels out on the downswing, not in to your body, which jams you up.

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The shaft will now be working properly and not coming down over your neck in a steep fashion. You can keep swinging back up and around on your follow through, because the golf club will be swinging around in a circular motion. This is an excellent way to change your impact conditions and path.

Now your club face will be looking slightly right of your target with a path that is farther to the right, creating a perfect drawing opportunity. Make sure you do this slowly at first before you build speed.

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8I always recommend 10-15 minutes per day of slow motion swings that are 10 percent speed of your normal golf swing. Begin practicing with a ball on a small tee and gradually move the tee down until you’re ready to start hitting shots off of the turf. You will have completely changed your impact, the bottom of your swing, your contact and ball flight.

Reversing the loop is a change you can do!

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Jess Frank is a PGA Teaching Professional at Deer Creek Golf Club in Deerfield Beach, Florida. He's owner of the Jess Frank Golf Academy, and his passion is to help golfers play better and have more fun on the course. Students have described his instruction style as non-intimidating, friendly and easy to understand. Jess works with every level of golfer, and his lesson tee includes complete beginners and high-level golfers. Playing lessons are also a very important part of his lesson program. His greatest joy is seeing his students smile and get excited about playing golf! Please feel free to email him at [email protected] or contact him directly at 561-213-8579.

30 Comments

30 Comments

  1. Harry

    Sep 8, 2017 at 9:32 am

    Hi. Seems like I tend to tilt my shoulders rather than turning them when practicing this drill. I then return slightly from outside the target line. I am having a hard time “feeling” the move from the backswing to the finished shoulder turn position. With this being said, this is one of the best drills to help me shallow out. Any comments would be appreciated.

  2. Jo

    Aug 25, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” You mean just like all these one hit wonder “fixes” for your swing. Yup. Doing these quick fixes over and over expecting a different result is in fact insane….

  3. Ted

    Jul 30, 2017 at 9:37 am

    I don’t think this drill is only for slicers. I am a drawer of the ball, but I tend to get v steep in transition which ends up in pull hook stuck flip vortex. I always struggled with the steep to shallow concept and doing a drill similar to this move was the only thing that ever got me to produce that steep to shallow move on video.

    Problem is taking this loop swing to the course was near impossible and I struggled with finding a back and thru type thought to replicate this continuous loop drill when playing golf. But when I go back to just a back and thru thought, I always end up back to steep.

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 30, 2017 at 7:17 pm

      Hey Ted! Thanks for your comments and reading my article! I have also struggled from steepening and then shallowing with too much lateral movement. You have to spend a lot of time to get rid of a movement that you are speaking about and then taking it to the course is even more of a journey. However, one of the best swing thoughts is pushing the club out away from your body. If you push your hands away from your body this will keep width in your swing and will shallow with out steepening. Thanks again!

  4. Jess Frank

    Jul 28, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    The changes usually will occur pretty quickly because of my hands on approach to teaching. I will move a student through the motions over and over again. And I will use obstacles to make sure the shaft and club head move in the direction I know will help a student. Nothing is guaranteed but I have had a lot of success with golfers looking to improve. I see students regress too. Changing movement patterns is difficult for a lot of people so if I can improve contact and ball flight in a non-invasive manner that is my goal:)

  5. Jess Frank

    Jul 28, 2017 at 8:39 pm

    Hey ooffa! You are correct each student is different:) Thanks for your comments!

  6. beachsideandy

    Jul 28, 2017 at 1:34 pm

    It’s a drill people! I have worked for while keeping the clubhead outside the hands after years of yanking it real quick… It always helps me to exaggerate the motion a few times on the range to get the feeling… When I play an actual round I don’t hit the ball doing any kind of “feel” drills but I may take a few practice swings to make sure I know what I am trying to do when I get up to the ball… This type of people would greatly benefit major slicers (like my Dad) because the path and motion are just so over the top.

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 28, 2017 at 8:31 pm

      Thanks for the comments beachsideandy! I agree, once you are on the course you have to believe in what you have practiced and the positive results you have seen. You can absolutely rehearse this type of motion in your practice swings and during the round.

  7. Lloyd

    Jul 28, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    You are worthless. Your only here to personally attack Obs. You are a troll. sooo obvious

  8. Harley

    Jul 28, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    Jess frank is an awesome teacher. my personal experience.

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 28, 2017 at 8:37 pm

      Harley! You are the man! Come see me soon and thanks for reading and commenting!

    • Simms

      Jul 29, 2017 at 1:43 am

      I know back around 1996 or so I watch John Daly hitting pitch shots pulling the back swing in but it seems he just came back around to the ball and hit it straight without going over the top…I did notice years later he was not doing it that way….I think that was back when they talked about how good his hands and short game were (Were is the message here).

      • Jess Frank

        Jul 30, 2017 at 9:07 am

        Hey Simms! John Daly is one of the most talented golfer to play the game. His short game and putting was simply the most under rated of all time. Watch him on the Champions Tour!

  9. Gorden

    Jul 28, 2017 at 1:21 am

    Pulling club inside and looping back straight into the back of the ball also works there have been a few Pros make good money doing it that way, I believe the term is called getting the club back into the slot….knowing what the club face is doing is the key.

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 28, 2017 at 8:52 pm

      You are correct Gorden! Especially, what the club face is doing. Ball flight and club face:)

  10. surewin73

    Jul 27, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    Invest in a better camera.

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 27, 2017 at 6:37 pm

      Thank you for your comment surewin73. I will make needed adjustments for the next time.

  11. M S m i z z l e

    Jul 27, 2017 at 11:43 am

    Turn a slice into a push slice by “reversing the loop”

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 27, 2017 at 6:38 pm

      Hey MSMizzle thank you for you comments. You are correct you also have to fix club face but what I find is that slicers already have a club face pointing left at impact a large majority of the time. So if you fix the path this usually will help a slicer.

  12. larrybud

    Jul 27, 2017 at 9:14 am

    Why not just teach the proper path, rather than another bad loop that the player will have to fix again later?

    • timbleking

      Jul 27, 2017 at 9:39 am

      Perfect comment.

      • Jess Frank

        Jul 27, 2017 at 6:43 pm

        Thank you for you comment timbleking. But when you are in the trenches and need to get a result sometimes exaggeration is necessary.

        • Timbleking

          Jul 28, 2017 at 4:04 pm

          Hi Jess.

          Why not teaching a simple drill such as: one ball ahead of the ball you hit inside the target line, one grip length; one ball back in the stance outside the target line, one grip length from the ball you hit. Of course, the ball you hit is in the target line. From there you have to swing in to out, otherwise you hit the wring balls as well. Now…loop or not loop, my drill against yours, if the rythm of your swing is not good then you will mess it anyway. How do you fix that rythem issue from there?

        • ooffaa

          Jul 31, 2017 at 9:48 pm

          ooffaa strikes again … wotta loser am I

    • Bryan

      Jul 27, 2017 at 9:43 am

      Since we are so used to our “bad” swing sometimes it is helpful to do something drastically different, to shake up the way the body feels during a swing to get a different result. If you stick too closely to your “bad” swing you probably won’t get too far away from it, while if you can start to feel what a wild hook swing feels like versus your own slice swing you can work back to the middle where you’ll hit is straighter. I had read that before and thought it was crazy, but it worked for me.

      I still play a little bit of a fade with most clubs, but rarely hit the high banana ball off into the woods anymore. And when I do, I can usually feel it and understand what I did, where if I had not forced myself to swing the other way I’m not sure I would notice as much.

      • Jess Frank

        Jul 27, 2017 at 6:51 pm

        Thank you for your comments Bryan! You have hit the nail right on the head! I have been teaching for nearly 20 years and have had a lot of success with students getting better quickly with this type of motion.

    • lopey986

      Jul 27, 2017 at 10:44 am

      You could read the article to understand why.

      “My goal for the majority of my students is “getting the car out of the ditch,” so to speak. I want to get them back on the road to competent golf as quickly as possible.”

      This is a quick way to do so and then you can work from there on getting the path straightened out to a more normal approach.

      • Jess Frank

        Jul 27, 2017 at 6:53 pm

        Yes sir Lopey986! You have to improve impact to get the ball flight better and different. That’s the key to golf instruction. Make a student have a better ball flight and more solid contact and your book is full:)

    • Jess Frank

      Jul 27, 2017 at 6:42 pm

      Hey Larrybud! Thank you for your comments. I totally agree with you but sometimes you have to a mile to get an inch. Most golfers who don’t practice need to feel an exaggeration or else they just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over.

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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