As the name implies, a banana ball is shaped after the fruit. This happens when you create a slice shot where it then follows a curving line. For a right-handed golfer, the ball then flies very far toward the right and vice-versa for the left-handed golfer. Curing a slice is a technique but first, you must know what a banana ball really is!
Shots that won’t work
A banana ball is not the type of shot you want and in most cases, very problematic. The main cause for a banana ball is mostly because of a wrongly aligned clubface. In other situations, it could be because of a swing path that is outside-in while there are situations where it could be both these reasons.
Avoiding the banana ball
There are many ways and methods that you can apply to avoid the banana ball. Below are some good ones.
- The clubface – This is straightforward. The cause of the slice is an open club during impact, so you try to close the clubface. Use a stronger grip and the address will be closed. Some would recommend that you hold the club in front of your body with the toe pointed straight up. Then, turn the club towards the left lightly before you grip the club.
- The Swing – You need to practice this and you do so with imaginary swings. The reason is that you want to rectify the faulty swing which is the root cause of the banana ball. You start with your normal stance and then visualize a line between your feet and then place an object about 5 yards to the right along the line. Keep your eye on that shaft and swing the club. On the backswing, see to it that the club is starting outside the sake. On the downswing meanwhile, move the club inside of the shaft.
- The shot. What you want to do here is to try and convert the banana ball into a fade and that should get the ball where you want it to be. The fade shot is another skill that you would need to learn and that should do it in a situation of a banana ball.
- The draw. In certain situations, you might not want to make a fade shot. Hence, you go for a draw. This is where you hit a controlled shot from right to left. This can be fine-tuned through practice. To do that, you have to ensure that the top of your grip is pointing to the right side of the target line. This needs to be done during the downswing. After that, ensure that the clubhead moves to the right side of the target.
