Fading and drawing the ball

I know in principal how to draw and fade the ball... taking the your swing inside and outside of the line but most of the time when I do this I just hit is straight in the wrong direction. Any suggestions or practice drills?

Walkerk,


Dont take this the wrong way, but are you good enough to be worrying about shaping the ball?? Unless you are category one (5 handicap or less) you want to concentrate on hitting the ball the same shape everytime. Its a bit to do with course management, if you know your shot you can place it in the best position to play your stock shot into the green. Trying to play different types of shots can lead to swing problems, besides clubs and balls arent made to do that as much these days so a ball struck correctly for a cut may still go straight through no fault of your own, so you try harder next time and end up carving one out of the park.

Make sure you really need to be able to do this and then seek a pro to help you achieve it.

D.

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.golf-tuition-online.com/v...ead.php?t=1953 (draw or fade)

I see you think I didnt answer your question, Walkerk.

I did, but I just said see a pro....I kind of answered it by asking my own question, have you answered that for yourself?

I'll have a crack at explaining it but bear in mind something like this is very much personal preference, I'm afraid, what is good for one player might not be good for another.

I'm a firm beleiver in the Nicklaus method of shaping a shot.

Fades: Stand open with a straight club face and swing normally, this should produce cut spin, take into account that the ball will fly a bit higher and land softer, you will have to experiment with your clubbing you may find the ball travels slightly less distance.

Draws: Stand closed with a straight faced club and swing normally, this should produce draw spin, as with the fade the ball will behave slightly differently in this case it will fly a little lower and land a little hotter, you may need to take less club to compensate.

As I mentioned this is all very well if you have hours to practice it, if not I would refrain from using it in competitive play since you may not achieve what you want and wind up in trouble. If you have the time (first of all lucky you!!!) then it can be the key to lower scores.

If the simple set up adjustment method doesnt work for you try the hands only method, for a Fade get the feeling of fanning the club open as you strike the ball and for a draw the feeling of holding it closed. This is a bit easier to 'feel' but a little harder to control. Again it all depends on what you feel yourself is best.

Good Luck,

D.

Thank you... I do have time to practice (a couple hours a week). I am about a 10 handicap. That helps me much more.

Vijay (and was Rocco?) showed a very easy way how to draw and fade the ball.

Fade: your foot line to the left of the goal (flag) and the club face facing directly to the goal (flag). Normal swing.

Draw: your foot line to the right of the goal (flag) and the club face facing directly to the goal (flag). Normal swing.

With these advises, without ANY practice I succeeded to fade the ball nice and easy. Works really well. However, draw was and is more difficult to execute (it goes straight, for crying out loud!!), so I have sticked with my old draw drill: foot line to the right of the goal (flag) and club face closed (to the left of the goal, flag). That seems to work.

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I shot 59 once. Sure! I remember it clearly, I was standing on the 13th green and heading to the 14th tee box and I had 59 shots in my card...

For a fade I setup aiming everything left of the target, I then turn the club in hands right till it is facing the target where I want the ball to land. then I swing it like I would swing a normal shot.

For a draw, I setup and aim right of the target. I then turn the club left in my hands to face back to the target, I then swing it like a normal shot.

there are many other methods, it depends on personal preference and ability. I know people who just open or close their stances, I know others who swing differently to change the swing paths. I also know others who change the way they releash the ball.

It sounds like the last couple of posts are referring to Jack Nicklaus' method of working the ball, as Mizunoman stated.

This is the method I use and it does work, assuming that the swing is on plane. A draw will become a pulled snap hook if the swing comes over the top. A fade will become a slice way right with the same swing. When I have the snap hook draw problem, I know I am not swinging well and revert to other practice methods to get my swing back on plane.

What about ball position for the draw. When I try to draw using the above methods, I invariably top it. Should the ball be further forward or further back in the stance for the draw?

Sorry Guys,

I agree with Mizunoman you can play to single figure with a good stock shot,this game is hard enough.

The only time I use a fade or draw is if a tree or something is in the way.........then I just think fade or draw and it works...if it doesn't then I will hit the tree so it works 90% of the time anyway.

I suppose I must be more of a feel player for this, more than a moving the body type player, if you want to curve it and you understand in, out and square then you should be able to do it easily.

Ian.

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Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

I also use the Nicklaus method. However I will shape shots off the tee, into greens if course management demands it, weather theres an obstacle in my way or not.

If I'm hitting into a green with the pin on the right hand side and a bunker over there as well (but not a mean ugly one) instead of hitting straight to the left center of the green I will aim at that same point but put a fade on the shot to get nearer the hole.
The reason being if the fade doesn't work I'm still on the green putting and dont pull the shot when trying to fade but hitting a straight shot to the left center pulled could leave me with a messy long chip and run.
I think we should all practice shaping our shots and a 10 handicapper should be able to pick it up quite well.

I find that if I open or close my stanch too much, the shot just flies straight and in the wrong direction - the shot gets blocked or spent. I think a lot of high handicappers over do things when changing elements in their swing and because it doesn't work straight away they convince themselves they are doing it wrong, when really it just needs a slight adjustment.

The problem if the shot flies straight in the wrong direction is that your clubface is not square to the intended target, only square to the swing path.

a lot of golfers make the mistake when trying to shape their shots that all they have to do is open or close their stance. NOT TRUE. if you only do this, chances are your knees, hips, and shoulders may still be pointing straight down the target line. this will not produce much spin at all


always make sure your feet, knees, hips, and shoulders are pointing in the same direction. lines drawn through all these body parts should be parallel.

also remember to line up the clubface square to your target ( this should not be parallel with your feet knees hips and shoulders)

oh yeah, and one other thing, put your exact same good swing on the ball as if you were lined up straight at the target line. a lot of golfers make the mistake of trying to come out to in or in to out with their swings. Let your setup dictate how the ball will fly

A lot of people set up open/closed and still swing along the target line instead of swinging around the body.