Best Golf Ball to Cure a Slice or Hook?
So, you are struggling with a slice or a hook when you hit your golf shot. Is there a golf ball in the market that can cure your slice or hook, and the short answer is maybe?
In this article we will discuss if there is a golf ball that can help you cure a slice or a hook, we will also recommend various other golf balls which will help you straighten your golf flight.
What is a Slice in Golf?
If we look at this from a right-handed golfer perspective, so for left-handed golfers it will mirror.
The slice is definitely the most common shot shape for beginners or amateur golfers.
What the slice will look like you, is the ball will move very quickly from left to right, and in some circumstances it can go in quite a violent fast manner.This is caused, when the golf club hits the ball, it is putting a lot of side spin on to the golf ball, which results in it moving from left to right.
Without getting too technical the golfer will normally be hitting the golf ball with an outside to in swing path, which will normally send the ball to start with left, with the added spin the club face has put onto the ball it will then move right very quickly.
Normally a lot of beginners will have this problem, so what can we do about it?
A big misconception with a lot of amateur golfers, is they want to have a golf shape which will start right of the target and move back to the left, this golf shot is called a ‘Draw‘, the drawing ball has a left to right spin and usually is also rolling forward, what we call ‘top spin‘. The topspin will make the golf ball roll forward, which also helps the ball achieve more distance, the drawing golf ball is very similar to a forehand shot in Tennis.
A lot of professional golfers prefer to have a fade as there preferred golf shot, which has the same characteristics as that of a slice, the ball moves from left to right, but much less severe, the fade is a very controlled golf shot and can be extremely accurate.
We will discuss the equipment available to fix a slice, but the best way for all golfers to fix a slice is to have professional instruction, which will help you understand what you are doing wrong, also what measures you can take to fix the problem.
Also available on the market are practice training aids called swing training aids. These aids with regular use can help fix your swing plane.
See our review on the SKLZ Gold Golf Swing Trainer.
We have also put together a Buyer’s Guide for Swing Trainers, please see our article Best Swing Trainers of 2020, and are they any good?
The Golf Ball that Does Not Slice?
So, there is a golf ball on the market that will help cure your slice or your hook, the golf ball in question is the Polara Ultimate Straight.
How does it work?
Well the Polara golf ball incorporates self-correcting technology, which incorporates a patented dimple pattern.
Polara the company making the product states it reduces hooks and slices by up to 75%.
They have researched this by designing a specific dimple pattern, which incorporates a shallower dimple around the equator of the golf ball, and then they have a much deeper dimple on each end of the golf ball.
This unique dimple pattern, makes the golf ball fly differently than normal golf balls, the golf ball will have less lift because it has much reduced spin. Having less lift or spin reduces the golf ball slicing or hooking.
So, having lower lift means the ball has less chance to veer off target, the team at Polara
have used a golf ball hitting robot, to make sure that each time the swing was identical.
From the testing they used three separate golf balls, the Polara and two competitor balls.
The results came back that competitor A, the golf ball was slicing by 80 feet, while the ultimate straight golf ball was only slicing between 21 and 42 feet.
How do you use the Polara Golf Ball?
On the golf ball there is a line which you need to line up with the target, so you need to pick the spot on the fairway and aim the line on the golf ball, or aim for the flag or a position on the green and line up the ball.
This will then be in the optimal position, to not slice or hook.
However, here comes the big news, these golf balls are ILLEGAL to use in competition play.
That does not mean that you cannot use them, playing for fun. If your golf game really struggles with a big slice or hook, then why not give these a try, it will stop you losing so many golf balls.
If it means you start enjoying golf a little more then why not give them a try. The only other negative I can really see, is the golf balls are very expensive.
What Legal Golf Balls can help reduce a Hook or a Slice?
Well, generally the harder golf balls or the two piece type golf ball, is generally a better ball for the beginner for a number of reasons.
The first reason is they go a little further than the premium golf balls or three or four piece, they also spin less, and having a lower spin ratio will mean the golf ball will slice or hook less.
Please note this will only be less, it will still slice or hook more than a premium type softer golf ball.
Please see below comparison table for the best ball for a beginner.
So, you may be thinking why would you buy a premium golf ball if it spins more and has more chance to hook or slice?
Well, having a higher spinning golf ball also means the ball can be a lot softer, and have the ability to be more controllable around the green.
When you hit your approach shot into the green, it will stop more quickly and sometimes even spin back.
So, if you are using a harder golf ball with less spin, the ball is more likely to bounce further forward, which for some people is a really good benefit, but for others it is a real negative, as they are unable to stop the ball.
If you have a slower swing speed, having a harder golf ball can really help you as it will go further.
See our article How important is the shaft in a driver, questions answered on how important the shaft is in your driver.
We discuss the different swing speeds and have a comparison table.
Can a Golf Driver Help you to Fix a Slice?
Yes, a driver can help assist in preventing or lessening the effect of a slice.
The golf manufacturer Cobra have created a driver which is available on the market which really does help the golfer who suffers with a slice.
What they have done is use an offset hosel, the hosel is the part of the golf club that joins the shaft of the club to the head of the golf club.
Having this offset helps correct the tendency to hit the ball right. I have some experience with having an offset Cobra driver, as my own father was struggling with quite a bad slice with his driver, which resulted in him not being able to use the driver on the golf course. he was suffering with a slice and the resulting golf shot was quite unplayable.
He ended up using a five iron off the tee instead which gave him a huge disadvantage in regard to distance and then playing the next approach shot.
We went to get a drive fitting and used Trackman, and using the offset Cobra driver, it really did straighten the ball out, and it was such a different ball flight to the other drivers we tested. He still has a left to right shot but it far more of a fade now than his previous slice, and he has gained much more distance.
So, if you are struggling with a slice, I would definitely recommend using a lower spinning golf ball and an offset driver.
If you want to understand why you slice your driver, read our article here. Why Do I Slice My Driver?
Best Products to Stop you Slicing the Golf Ball
As much as these two fixes, the driver and golf ball will help you to calm down your slice, there is no better cure than to actually invest some time, and go and find a PGA professional and invest in some golf lessons.
Your issues maybe something very simple like adjusting your grip, so it could be a very valuable lesson.
We have discussed about a two piece golf ball, and touched on spin rates, but let’s now discuss the different types of golf balls available, and how they differ from each other.
The Five Types of Golf Balls
The basic understanding of types golf balls, is there are five different different categories:
1. One Piece Golf Ball
2. Two Piece Golf Ball
3. Three Piece Golf Ball
4. Four Piece Golf Ball
5. Five Piece Golf Ball
One Piece – A one-piece golf ball is exactly what it sounds like, it is a single piece of Surlyn.
Which when it is made has been formed as a single solid piece, with a formed dimple pattern.
These golf balls are generally cheap to buy and make, they are usually bought by golf driving ranges, and they do not travel as far as the other types of golf balls.
Two Piece – These types of golf balls are very commonly used for beginners, or golfers that struggle with distance. The golf ball has a solid inner core, and has an outer cover.
We touched on this earlier, they are made to go further and have less spin, so they can help you keep the ball from going terribly offline.
The problem with these types of golf balls, is the closer to the green you are, the harder the golf ball is, the harder it is to control.
Three Piece – There are three elements to this golf ball, the solid core, with a liquid rubber coating which surrounds the main core element making the golf ball feel softer so giving the golfer more options for spin. Then it is wrapped in a synthetic cover.
Four Piece – A four-piece golf ball has four layers, it has been designed to capture the distance elements of a two-piece ball, but then incorporates another two outer layers.
The first part of the golf ball is designed that when you hit the ball, it will fly off the club face.
The second layer has been designed to maintain the distance of the golf ball and to maximise the travel.
Then the final two elements are designed for feel and spin rates, the outer cover is made from Urethane which is a extremely thin cover to help promote more feel.
A great method to check different types of golf balls, is to get a four-piece golf ball and a two piece golf ball and bite them with your teeth…. Honestly !
You will physically feel the different hardness of the golf balls, and it is quite surprising the difference they feel, also when you are chipping around the green, you can feel how hard or soft they are when they leave the club faces. The acoustics will be very different, and you can tell the difference in the hardness by how the ball clicks off the face.
Five Piece – The golf manufacturer TaylorMade have created a five-piece golf ball, they state that the construction is designed to enhance the speed of the golf ball, which is supposed to deliver maximum carry distance, but has less drag than other golf balls.
They have designed four layers which increase in stiffness to produce more ball speed, which is meant to have an effect on distance for the golf ball.
The TP5 ball should not be as affected by the wind, and then incorporate greater control around the greens with added spin effect.
The TaylorMade TP5 range of golf balls is used by a lot of PGA professionals, and golfers such as Justin Rose (Former World Number 1) and Dustin Johnson (Former World Number 1) so they must be decent.
Does the compression of a golf ball make a difference?
The simple answer to this is Yes it does make a difference.
The compression of a golf ball is how hard the centre of the ball is, or how compressed the core is.
There are a lot of golf balls that require more club head swing speed to hit the golf ball further, while a soft compression ball, is designed to spring off the club face, which benefits a slower swing speed like a beginner, junior, a lady or a senior golfer.
If a golfer with a fast swing speed uses a softer compression ball, the ball will be less controllable and may not fly as straight.
As with anything, as technology has advanced in golf ball design, this has played a huge part in the development of golf balls. Golf ball manufacturers have been able to use multi layered golf balls to take certain elements from different compression points of golf balls, and then use different materials, to manage both soft and hard aspects of the golf ball.
The development teams then incorporated all that technology, and wrapped it in a thin external skin, which is soft but durable, this is designed to really increase the feel and spin performance, and have the ability to control the golf ball.
Can Dimples on a Golf Ball Help with a slice?
So, how many dimples are actually on a golf ball?
Each golf ball manufacturer spends a lot of time developing the best types of dimple patterns for their golf balls.
Each golf ball manufacturers produces balls with varying amounts of dimples.
These usually range between 300 hundred and up to around 500.
If we look at the most popular golf ball on the PGA and European Tour, which is the Titleist Pro V1 and the Pro V1x respectively.
The Pro V1 incorporates 352 dimples and the Pro V1x has 328 dimples.
What is the Difference between the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x?
Well the dimple pattern is extremely important to how a ball moves through the air and how much ‘spin’ the ball has and uses.
This can have dramatic results for the golfer.
For instance, Titleist the manufacturer of the two golf balls, released the Pro V1 and Pro V1x in 2003.
They developed the Pro V1x to spin less than the other, so the ball would fly higher, but when it pitched on the green would not spin back as much, so having less spin.
Then in 2017 Titleist switched the golf balls, so the Pro V1x was a higher spinning and higher-flying golf ball, which even to this day I am informing people I play with who are unaware of the change.
As we discussed at the start with the Polara golf ball, it is possible to alter a golf balls trajectory and ball flight by changing the dimple pattern, which can help in reducing or actually removing the possibility to slice or hook the golf ball.
Please see the below video from Titleist which will explain how dimples work on a golf ball.
As you can see from the video, golf ball dimples are designed to create lift on the golf ball.
It kind of works like the wings on an aeroplane.
The small dimples on the golf ball create air turbulence which helps decrease the drag on the ball.
So, being able to manipulate the dimple pattern can help keep the ball straighter by reducing the sidespin.
In conclusion, a dimple pattern can help a golf ball deal with a slice and make it fly straighter.
