How to hit a fade and a draw

You should blog this.

I tend to think the swing path is determined by the alignment of the shoulders.Thoughts?

What kind of stupid person doesn't know this !@#$ ???

Nick Faldo--he thinks you should point the clubface at the target (which is wrong)--see link

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...-AND-Oblivious

There are other ways also. One is to place the ball back a little more in the stance which will yeild a knock down draw (a great shot to know how to do). Move the ball up a little in the stance will yeild a fade, but not as predictable as the knock down draw.

Since I play blades I just open up or close down the face of the club a LITTLE to promote either a draw (face closed down a little) or fade (face open a little). Another way is with grip. A very strong grip, like 3 or 4 knuckles showing will produce a draw and more than likely a pull also. A very weak grip will produce a fade. For me these 2 are the most unpredictable of all. Now if they want to slice or hook, thats different and I can't help with that.

These are not other ways, they are just other ways to change the clubface and swingpath angle at impact.

Ball back means you'll hit the ball while the club is still moving in-to-out. The clubface is usually not fully square. So you will get a position where the swingpath is in-to-out and the clubface open. Just what Erik wrote

Ball forwards mean you'll hit the ball when the club has moved past square, going out-to-in. The clubface may have closed a little. If you are lucky, it will produce a fade, but not too good ball striking.

Don't see what blades has to do with this, but what do you close the face relative to? The target or your swingpath? Either way, you must change the swingpath too. A square swingpath and open or closed clubface will produce a pull-draw or push-fade.

A strong or weak grip is really just another way or opening or closing the clubface. The hands always want to be neutral, so if you take a stronger grip, the hands will turn back towards neutral and close the clubface. With a weaker grip, same thing will happen, but the clubface will open instead. You still have to swing in-to-out and out-to-in in order to get the desired shape of the shot.

You obviously can, seeing as you just described how to do it.

Doing as you described means you'll be aligning the body square to the target all the time and manipulate the swing by trying to swing in-to-out and out-to-in. Would be easier to just aim the body differently and swing the same every time.

Great post here Erik and Zeph...

10 degrees seems like a small amount of aiming.... especially when covering say 170 yards...

I was watching Fred couples and it seemed as if he aimed "at least" 45 degrees left of his intended target (shoulders, and feet)

I dunno, I am really interested in trying this out, seems foolproof!!

so you swing along your feet line back and through, or just on the downswing??

Once again, GREAT thread!!

Jim

No, he should take video of himself performing each shot and edit in a voice over of himself impersonating Johnny Miller.

Most of you at home can't even hit a "trap draw" but I'm going define it, diagram it and talk about it at length.

I played the best final round in US Open history at Oakmont. Most of you at home would shoot 110 at Oakmont. Trap Draw. Supinate.

Very good stuff here guys. I got a little pissed at the range today so for my last 20 balls I tried shaping driver shots. I picked a target and tried fading and drawing the ball using the principles said here. Man was it fun and it really worked!

I was able to bend the ball and it sure felt great after a bad session. It feels very weird having such a closed clubface when addressing the ball for a draw. And also its kinda hard to open the face of my driver for a fade.... But if you just trust it and swing, it worked out pretty well....

Now if I can only grow the balls to try this when it counts....

Looking forward to practicing this more.

Jim

LOL, quite the long winded post. Okay fine Mr literal. You are correct there are other ways to manipulate the club head in the swing path.

Blade vs cb--yes they both can work the ball, but it is easier with a blade, especially if its mid weighted. However you actually have to have a golf swing to make the mid weighted blade do that. If you don't at least have a decent swing a mid weighted blade will be hard to control. Both my MacGregor 1024 V-foils and my 78 Wilson Staff Tour blades are mid weighted. Subsequently I am able to either open up the face or close it down a little to produce the shot I want. And yes one must aim a little right or left depending on the shot--sorry, I thought that was understood. Again, silly me, everyone I know who can work the ball, (which aren't many) aim relative to the target. Again, all I was saying was there are different ways to acheive a fade or draw and you have play around with them and see which ones works best for you. Heck most golfers I see can't even hit the ball flush let alone do a draw or fade on command. Generally when one starts messing around with this, they get slices and hooks, I did. But after awhile you figure it out.

For the sake of people being able to understand and comprehend this subject, we must be as literal as possible. Especially since this contradicts decades of golf teachings.

Either I'm understanding you wrong here, or you are saying that you open the club, relative to the target, to hit a fade, and close it to hit a draw.

That's just about the complete opposite of how to shape the ball. Relative to the target, you open the club to hit a draw and close it to hit a fade.

maybe hes not trying to hit the target? just sayin'...