Fighting a slice? Here are four types of draw-biased drivers to get you back in the fairway

Question: I'm a longtime slicer and am ready to bite the bullet on a slice-fighting driver. Any suggestions?

Answer: The first step to solving the problem is admitting you have one, so congrats for not being so stubborn and continuing to yell “Fore, right!” way too often. It’s an excellent question, but before we get into specific options, it’s important to know this is not a “last resort” solution. Two years ago, Nelly Korda, the best woman player on the planet, employed TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 HD model (above, from 2023). The HD stands for “high draw” meaning it's a draw-biased driver—or the kind you’re seeking.

There are several ways to go about combating a persistent banana ball, each with its own pros and cons. We’ll get into them below.

The most obvious option is to close the face angle. In our years covering the equipment beat, the general consensus among equipment R&D folks has been that a closed clubface is an effective means of preventing the ball from slicing.

“Where the face is pointed at impact and its orientation relative to the clubhead path have a huge effect on the initial direction and spin axis tilt of the ball,” says Mike Yagley, vice president of innovation research and testing for Cobra Golf. “Helping the player point the face in the appropriate direction is critical to fighting a slice.”

Although few major brands offer truly closed faces, some can be adjusted as such. Then there are small companies such as Bob Burns and his venerable No Bananas driver (below) with a clubface that is 7 degrees closed. Effective but might be visually difficult to stomach at address.

“Some players may not like the look of a closed face at address,” Yagley says, “so they either avoid the purchase of clubs with that look, or they open the face at address, which defeats the purpose of the closed face altogether.”

Another option is to move weight to the heel of the clubhead. Putting more weight near the heel has a two-fold benefit. First, the clubhead is easier to square up to its path because the center of gravity (CG) is closer to the shaft axis; second, a draw-biased spin axis tilt, or side spin, is imparted on the ball at impact.

However, whether you move the weight via a track or screw, only so much can be repositioned, and moving the CG toward the heel decreases the moment of inertia or forgiveness of the driver. That said, losing a tinge of forgiveness is probably a fair trade for straighter drives.

Those are the most common ways to address a slice with an equipment change. To weigh these two options, ask yourself: Do I have a big slice or a gentle fade? If the latter, most drivers with movable weight will get the job done. But if you think you need the equivalent of a lead bar in that weight track to make a difference, a driver with a closed face likely makes more sense.

There are two other routes you can take. Like closed-face drivers, offset drivers, such as Cobra’s Air-X Offset, are one of the most effective ways to decrease slices. Just like offset irons, these help the player square the face and add dynamic loft at impact. They work, but the look isn’t for everyone. It’s also difficult to include loft and lie adjustability with the shaft offset, so if adjustability or a clean look are important to you, move on. If you’re interested only in fixing that right miss, this type of driver could be the one.

Finally, and this might be the most overlooked method of combating a slice, you might be able to do it with your current driver by simply adjusting the lie angle.

“An upright or toe-up lie angle—and I can’t stress this enough—has a huge effect on where the ball will go,” Yagley says. “With a more upright lie angle, the face is pointed more left, a built-in left flight bias. Our [Cobra Golf] Future Fit 33 adjustability has a broad range of lie angles available to accommodate left or right ball launch needs.”

Many adjustable drivers on the market today allow for adjustability in the lie angle, and it’s a fix that only the most persnickety of players will notice visually.

To make your search easier, here are a few draw-specific options to consider (although almost any adjustable driver can be set for some degree of draw bias):