The Best Drivers For Slicers [Hit It Straighter]

Fed up slicing the ball off the tee? While there’s no magic bullet, the right driver can at least help to minimise curve and keep your ball in play.

And as a slice is probably the most common fault in golf, most of the big golf club brands have a driver specifically designed for doing just that.

there are two obvious choices from this year’s line ups: the Ping G410 SFT, and the TaylorMade Sim Max D.

But for us, there are two obvious choices from this year’s line ups: the Ping G410 SFT, and the TaylorMade Sim Max D. Both of which made our selection of the best drivers for high handicappers.

Let’s take a closer look.

Update: 01/10/2021: It may be a new year, but until this year’s line-ups are released, our choice of the two best drivers for slicers remain the same: Ping G410 SFT and TaylorMade SIM Max D. Read the reviews below, or if you want to wait, bookmark this page as we’ll update as soon as this year’s tech hits the market.

Top Picks: Best Drivers For Slicers

1. Ping G410 SFT

The SFT here stands for “straight flight technology”. So it’s no surprise that these drivers are designed to straighten out your shots.

Ping have included a SFT model in the last few iterations of their drivers. And they’ve been steadily improving the technology each year in an effort to help slicers hit more fairways.

I personally gamed a G400 SFT (the model previous) for a year or so when the right side of the course was my own nemesis. And while I’ve since switched to a LS Tec (low spin) as my shot shape has changed, I can confirm that it really does help to reduce slice.

So how does it do it?

Weighting is designed to help you turn over the club

There’s no big mystery. You slice because your clubface is too open at impact. You might think it’s because you’re coming over the top. But even if you’re coming from the inside if your face is open to the path you’re going to slice.

You can still fade the ball, but everything in the club is working to close the face. So it’s pretty much guaranteed that your face will be less open at impact, and your slice will improve.

Which is why all the weighting in the Ping G410 SFT is designed to help you turn over (and close) the clubface.

There’s a fixed weight on the extreme perimeter of the head, and the CG is focused on the heel. While the lighter D1 swing weight will also help you square up the face.

You can still fade the ball, but everything in the club is working to close the face. So it’s pretty much guaranteed that your face will be less open at impact, and your slice will improve.

Hit two shots using the same swing with your current driver and the Ping G410 SFT and you’ll notice a big difference in curve.

Adjusting the loft angle to further reduce your slice

As a slicer, loft is your friend. The more backspin on the ball, the less sidespin.

You can adjust the loft on the Ping 410 SFT 1.5 degrees each way.

So to further reduce your slice, I’d recommend setting the driver to the +1.5 position. Your ball will launch higher and curve less.

You might give up a touch of distance, but you’ll hit more fairways.

You might give up a touch of distance, but you’ll hit more fairways. Although on that note…

Plenty of speed

Ping certainly don’t want to make a driver that’s going to make you hit the ball shorter. That wouldn’t be great for their marketing.

So as well as the technology to reduce sidespin, there’s plenty of tech included to increase ball speed.

Ping call the tech “fast face” (there’s a name for everything right?) and what that means in non marketing speak is that the face of the G410 is a little thinner, which will allow for more flex and a hotter impact.

The “dragonfly” technology on the driver head is also designed to reduce air drag and help you swing a little fast.

Summary: this year’s best driver for slice

Overall, the Ping G410 SFT just pips the TaylorMade Sim Max D for us, and earns the title of the best driver for slicers in 2020.

Bottom line: with a Ping G410 SFT in your hands, you’ll hit the ball straighter.

Ping have really gone to town on weighting to make sure you’ve got the best possible chance of getting that clubface square (or at least less open) on the way down.

Bottom line: with a Ping G410 SFT in your hands, you’ll hit the ball straighter.

2. TaylorMade SIM Max D

TaylorMade have been making some incredible higher handicap friendly drivers recently. The introduction of their “Twist Face” technology was a game changer in terms of forgiveness, and the Sim range has taken that forgiveness up a notch.

While any TaylorMade Sim driver is going to help you on the tee, if you’re looking for maximum anti-slice technology, then you’ll want to go for the SIM Max D.

The D stands for draw. But let’s be honest, when you buy a draw biased driver, it’s not so much you’re looking to draw the ball, you’re just looking to reduce curve to the right.

Top line masking makes the SIM Max D look more open at address. TaylorMade’s hope is that this will “trick” your subconscious into seeking to close the face more at impact.

And like the G410 SFT, there’s heel biased weighting in the driver head, which is designed to help you turn the club over at impact.

But interestingly, TaylorMade have employed an interesting visual trick to help slicers. Top line masking makes the SIM Max D look more open at address. TaylorMade’s hope is that this will “trick” your subconscious into seeking to close the face more at impact.

And funnily enough, I’ve found that a lot of slicers who think they’ve got the clubhead square at address actually have it open. In effect, they’re setting up to slice even before they take the club back. So I can certainly see how this would work.

when the anti-slice specific tech is combined with Twist Face, the SIM Max D is guaranteed to help straighten out your drives.

On top of weighting and the visual trick, the TaylorMade SIM Max D includes their speed injected Twist Face tech. That’s present in all their drivers and is designed to help minimise sidespin (good for slicers), be less punishing on mishits (good for all us mid to higher handicappers), and increase distance (good for every golfer except maybe Bryson!).

So when the anti-slice specific tech is combined with Twist Face, the SIM Max D is guaranteed to help straighten out your drives.

Overall, it’s not far behind the Ping G410 SFT for us. And we’ll admit we’re Ping fans here at Golfer Logic, so there’s probably a slight bit of bias.

Bottom line: if you slice the ball, then the TaylorMade SIM Max D is going to be a great choice.

Need more help with your slice?

Check out our complete guide to fixing a slice here.

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