When is a fade too much?

[plugged]

At 175 yds with my 5I, I am about 25 yds off-center. Pretty consistent throughout my clubs (so, 7I I am off about 15 yds, etc.). Is this too much? It seems like it is. For the low-handicappers - what do you consider an acceptable fade/draw at the same distance?

[billm408]

That's a slice. A fade is a ball that flies fairly straight and drifts slightly to the right on it's descent (a draw falls left) and typically not more than 3-5 yards with any club.

[ChvyKc]

I'm not a low handicaper (obviously). My longer irons naturally fade but no more than 5-7 yards with a 4 iron. My shorter irons (7-LW) only have a very slight movement of maybe 1-2 yards.

[BallStriker]

Agree with the above....I would say it is OK to move a long iron a bit more if you know it is coming -- even up to 10 yards, but anything over that will really become a problem if you play on even medium firm greens (and with firm greens, it will be very tough to hold anything except short irons).


I personally hit a draw and at times get my grip and alignment so messed up I am drawing a 9 iron 20 yards...it is just so maddening...but you just have to keep hitting balls and tweaking until you smooth things out.

Stupid game.......

[DavidFehertysBike]

When youre leaning to the right to find out where the ball went.....

[TN94z]

Are you setting up for a fade and it goes that far off? Or is this your natural swing? It if is your natural swing then that is for sure too much. My fade or draw is 5-7 yards as already stated. 25 yards is ALOT!

[Scrape-o-TheClown]

A fade or a draw is to much when you have to aim so far the opposite way to correct it that it actually amplifies the fade or draw. If you have to aim far enough left that it creates an even bigger slice then it is to much.

[plugged]

Thanks, guys. This confirms what I was thinking. And yes, this is my natural swing right now. As of three weeks ago, I was hitting a very slight dafe of no more than a few yards. I don't know what I am doing wrong now. I'll play around with my swing to try and find out.

[beachbreak]

I'll tell you what though, if I knew almost exactly how much the ball moved with each club, my opponent would be in big trouble!

[plugged]

I went out aain yesterday afternoon and hit some more balls, this time focusing on a good hip pivot and very little lateral movement. This has been an issue for me for the past few weeks as I am adapting to a new swing. I noticed immediately that at 175 yds, my shots were about 10 yds off-center, not 25 yds. I am pretty happy with this right now, especially since I am doing this fairly consistently. Obviously, I will try to get this even lower, but for right now, this is a huge improvement.

[beachbreak]

Another thing to consider, Tom Lehman made a gret career out of hitting what is essentially a push-hook.