Americans More Interested in Slice Fixes than Hook Fixes, According to the Data

Golfers in the United States search more often for ways to fix a slice than they do for ways to avoid a hook.

Author:
Matt Newman
Publish date:
Nov 4, 2021

My fellow Americans, we are a nation of slicers, at least according to the data from Google.

The search giant collects mountains of information every day and makes some of it publicly available on trends.google.com. That site is a quick and easy way to see what people are searching for — and where those people are — for just about any topic you choose.

The graphic below (see the original here) shows search interest from Jan. 1 2004 to Nov. 4 2022 for "slice fix", hook fix", and other common search queries related to correcting bad golf shots. The states in blue are the ones with the most searches for ways to fix a slice and ways to fix a hook. The states in gray have searches too but not enough to crack the top eight. You can see that slice fixes (in blue) dominate and hook fixes are nowhere to be seen:

The states that most often search for slice fixes. — Searches for slice fixes are more common than fixes for hooks.
Google Trends

The states, in order of total search volume, are:

1. Michigan

2. Ohio

3. Illinois

4. Pennsylvania

5. Texas

6. Florida

7. New York

8. California

Here's what the map looks like if we limit it to only fixes for slices. The darker the blue, the more searches there are:

Midwest and East Coast golfers are heavier searchers for slice fixes, according to Google data.

We can do the same with hook fixes. According to Google data, Florida golfers are the ones most in search of fixes for hooks. Here's what the map looks like when we remove slice fixes:

Florida, New York, California and Texas have the most search volume for hook fixes.

Searches on YouTube show a similar pattern. Here's the map for slice fixes vs. hook fixes on the video service from 2008 to today:

The states with the most search volume for slice fixes on YouTube.

There are many ways to fix a slice and we can't let you go without mentioning at least one. Here's a quick tip from Martin Hall to hopefully help you the next time you tee it up: