Welcome to PlaySmart. Game improvement columns and podcasts by editor Luke Kerr-Dineen to help you play smarter and better golf.

This moment is the perfect time to become a golf nerd.

Despite all the charm of previous eras, today’s golfers are able to use technology in ways previously thought impossible. Coaches can study their students’ swings more deeply and know more than ever before.

One company at the forefront of this movement is Sportsbox AI. This is an app that uses your iPhone’s camera to generate a 3D model of him swinging and also provides advanced metrics.At a recent Sportsbox webinar Golf Top 100 Teacher Jeff SmithSmith, who has taught Davis Riley, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Rodgers, and others, introduced the technique and, along the way, uncovered some interesting information about what might cause slicing.

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cause of your slice

Below are 3D images of two different golfers. A top golfer who struggles with slicing. The bottom player is on his PGA Tour. For both, Smith highlights his two key metrics. The chest and pelvis shake during the swing and at impact. Looking down, you can see that the slicer’s chest is slightly forward of the lower body.

“His chest is swinging toward the target at a much faster rate than his pelvis,” Smith says of Slicer (top golfer, below). “It’s the exact opposite of how top-level golfers do it.”

This prevents the golfer from leaning away from the target on the downswing. This will lead the club over the top into a slice.

When Smith pulls a tour golfer, the difference is immediately noticeable. Slicer had his pelvis three inches toward the target in the first frame and his chest almost six inches toward the target, but tour his players reverse these rolls. . His chest is only 3 inches towards the target and his pelvis is him 5 inches towards the target.

“You’ll notice your pelvis outrunning your chest movement,” says Smith. “There’s a pretty big difference between the pelvis and the chest…the pelvis is shifted forward, but the chest stays back.”

Simply put, the tour player’s lower body is ahead of his upper body throughout the downswing (a result of proper “order”), which helps the club drop into the slot on the downswing to avoid a slice. A good idea for the rest of us, presented in a way we’ve rarely seen before.

You can watch the full video here:

Luke Carr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role, he oversees the brand’s game improvement content across instruction, equipment, health and fitness across all of GOLF’s multimedia his platforms.

An alumnus of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina Beaufort Golf Team and National NAIA Ranking No. 1, Luke moved to New York City in 2012 to pursue a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. . His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.