First I would suggest reading this article. "Why do Golf Shots Curve? (Slice, Hook, Fade or Draw)" http://simpleswing.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~568.asp That should give you an understanding of the dynamics involved in fading and drawing.
Nest let me say you absolutely HAVE TO PRACTICE ON THE RANGE before you ever go out on the course to deliberately fade or draw the ball. A deliberate fade or draw is a nice shot to have but it should not be used very often. YOU CAN PLAY SCRATCH GOLF WITHOUT ANY FADES AND DRAWS. However, I do fully understand that deliberate fades and draws are very impressive and great fun.
Prior to working on fading and drawing I suggest working on the height of your ball flight. Working on hitting low shots or high shots can be very helpful also when playing in the wind. Mostly this involves experimenting with you ball position and for punch shots keeping the hands following through ahead of the ball and nice and low.
In order to fade (or draw) the ball all you have to do is set up so the club face is open (NOT SQUARE to the swing plane) at address and therefore it won't be square to the swing plane at impact. So you set up normally but then you loosen your grip with your top had and then you turn the club with your bottom hand to deliberately open your club face a couple of degrees (for a fade). Then this is very important: You now take your grip again as normal except that now the club face is going to be open a couple of degrees. Then you just take your normal swing an the shot should fade slightly. (Note: A draw is done the same way except you would be setting up with the club face closed a couple of degrees.)
Obviously you will have to change your aim a bit to offset the curve of the flight of the ball. NOTICE THAT YOU USE EXACTLY THE SAME SWING WHETHER TRYING TO HIT A STRAIGHT SHOT, A FADE OR A DRAW. It just that your aim and the position of the club face relative to square changes.
If the explanation above doesn't make sense just give me a call sometime at 203-798-8489 and I'll be happy to go over everything in more detail and answer any questions you might have.
Shaping your shots
Posted - May 07 2008 : 4:18:57 PM
Posted - May 07 2008 : 7:23:17 PM
