How can you recognize a push shot?

A push shot starts to the side of the target, flies with little to no curve, and finishes off-line because it never turns back toward the target.

What is the difference between a push and a slice?

A push flies mostly straight after starting right of the target for a right-handed golfer. A slice curves significantly to the right. The main difference is curvature: a push has little to no curve, while a slice bends away from the target.

What Is a Push Shot in Golf?

Q: What is a push shot in golf?

A push shot is a golf shot that starts off-line and flies mostly straight. For a right-handed golfer, it starts right of the target and stays right. For a left-handed golfer, it starts left and stays left.

Q: Why does a push shot happen?

A push often happens when the clubface is aimed right of the target at impact and the swing path is also moving in that direction. Because the face and path are closely matched, the ball flies straight but starts and finishes in the wrong direction.

What Is a Push Shot?

A push shot is a golf shot that starts to the right of the target and continues straight with little to no curve. For a right-handed golfer, the ball launches right and stays right. For a left-handed golfer, the same shot would start left and stay left.

The key feature of a push is that the ball does not curve back toward the target and does not slice farther away. It simply travels on a straight line that is aimed away from the target.

What Does a Push Shot Look Like?

A pushed golf shot has three main characteristics:

The ball starts right of the target for a right-handed player.
The ball flies mostly straight with no obvious curve.
The ball finishes right of the target because it never turns back.

If the shot starts right and keeps flying straight, that is what golfers commonly call a push.

Push Shot vs. Slice

A push and a slice can both finish to the right for a right-handed golfer, but they are not the same shot.

Push: Starts right and stays straight.
Slice: Often starts left, straight, or right, then curves significantly to the right.

The important difference is curvature. A push has little to no curve, while a slice bends away from the target.

Why Does a Push Happen?

In simple terms, a push usually happens when the clubface is aimed to the right of the target at impact and the swing path is also moving in that direction. Because the face and path are closely matched, the ball flies straight—but straight to the wrong place.

For a right-handed golfer, this often means the club is traveling too much from the inside toward right field, with the face pointing right of the target at impact.

Quick Check

To identify a push, ask yourself:

Did the ball start right of my target?
Did it fly straight with no noticeable curve?
Did it finish right because it never turned back?

If the answer is yes, you hit a push shot.

Summary

A push shot is a straight shot that starts off-line. For right-handed golfers, it starts right and stays right. The ball does not slice or curve; it simply flies straight in the wrong direction.