From fade to draw need help

[skates]

Hey guys

I have pretty much played a fade my hole golf career about 2 years now and it has been fine for the most part. But to really take my game and keep moving in the direction of a lower handicap I feel like I should be able to shape the ball. Getting off the tee is my biggest weakness and my irons are a love hate relationship. My short game and putter are the reason my handicap are where they are. But enough of the background I have read and seen the diagrams of the ball flight laws but for the life of me cant put them in practice. For whatever reason I cant hit a draw and its pretty annoying.

I was just wondering if someone could maybe explain what I am suppose to do or if some one had some tips for some one who swings and hits a natural fade.

Thanks for any and all help

[Zeph]

Depends what you want to do. If you swing out-to-in, you have two options. One is to change the swingpath to get it in-to-out. The other is to close the clubface and hit a pull-draw, which will be low and probably difficult to control.

Some thoughts from you on what you want to do with your game or swing would help. And as always, if we are going to give assistance on your swing, a video helps a lot.

If you want to change your swing path there are a couple of key things to put focus on.

1. Weight moving gradually forward, head centered.
2. Hands deeper or dropping from the top if you get them high. The latter require more timing. If the hands are too high, you'll have to drop them into "the slot" to get on a better plane.

[golfinpebble]

Shot shape is generally dictated by grip and swing path.  Strengthen your grip and make sure your downswing path is inside of your backswing path.  If you release the club, you'll hit a draw.  Now controlling it is another matter.  As Lee said, "you can talk to a fade but a hook won't listen".  Good luck

[Sean Dainty]

A closed stance and fully releasing your hands will help you to hit a draw as well. However, I think that you should focus on hitting it consistently straight first before learning how to shape the ball. If you think about it, trying to hit a draw and a fade may help you get the ball further down the fairway, but it's very likely that you will spray it more. There are very few holes where you can't still hit it straight and end up in the fairway.

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

Originally Posted by skates

Hey guys

I have pretty much played a fade my hole golf career about 2 years now and it has been fine for the most part. But to really take my game and keep moving in the direction of a lower handicap I feel like I should be able to shape the ball. Getting off the tee is my biggest weakness and my irons are a love hate relationship. My short game and putter are the reason my handicap are where they are. But enough of the background I have read and seen the diagrams of the ball flight laws but for the life of me cant put them in practice. For whatever reason I cant hit a draw and its pretty annoying.

I was just wondering if someone could maybe explain what I am suppose to do or if some one had some tips for some one who swings and hits a natural fade.

Thanks for any and all help

If you're like most "faders", there's probably some amount of over-the-top in your swing.  It can happen if you turn your shoulders too early (starting the downswing by turning them open), or turn your hips too early (you want them to slide while your downswing picks up speed, and not turn until your club has dropped down into "the slot"), or if you cast the club outward at the top with your hands.  Sometimes it can be a problem right from setup if you set up with your shoulders too far open.

You need a qualified observer, or at least a video camera, to find out which of these problems is causing your swing to follow that out-to-in path.  There's a lot of material for how to fix your bad habits, but first you have to know in full detail which bad habits are your problem.  Don't believe anyone on the internet who tells you why you fade without watching your swing.  Every golfer's swing is unique.

-Andrew

[skates]

Thanks for the responses guys.

With my irons they are mostly straight and the miss is a fade

But with 3 wood and drive its is a fade and then a slice.

The main course I play it has a lot of doglegs that set up for draws (for righties). So if you hit a good draw you have about 150 and in but if I leave it open and hit somewhere between the fade and slice I now have 175+

So in reality I just want to be able to hit the draw off the deck but it just isnt working for me right now

[skates]

O one more thing the way I have been trying to hit the draw is line up right of the target with club face at the target. I take the club straight back and on the down swing try to swing it along the line of my feet. Is this even close to being right or am I way off?

thanks again

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by golfinpebble

Shot shape is generally dictated by grip and swing path.  Strengthen your grip and make sure your downswing path is inside of your backswing path.  If you release the club, you'll hit a draw.  Now controlling it is another matter.  As Lee said, "you can talk to a fade but a hook won't listen".  Good luck

No. No. No.

Release the club? This should not be forced, no person should ever be swinging and thinking about releasing the clubhead. Stand up and swing the club around you, the clubhead 'releases' naturally and rolls well after point of impact...god I hate that word

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by golfinpebble

Shot shape is generally dictated by grip and swing path.

Grip certainly plays a role, but that's not nearly the whole story. The angle of the clubface at impact dictates the initial direction of the ball. The path of the club in relation to that face angle is going to impart side-spin on the ball, if any. Example: An over the top swing with a club face square to the path at impact will produce a straight pull. An inside-out swing with a clubface slightly closed to the path but open to the target line will produce a push-draw.

Originally Posted by golfinpebble

Strengthen your grip

That's certainly an option. We don't know what kind of grip he's using though, so we can't be sure if he should strengthen or weaken it really.

Originally Posted by golfinpebble

make sure your downswing path is inside of your backswing path

Again, this is another option; however, you could just take your hands inside on the backswing too so you don't have to loop back to the inside from the top.

Originally Posted by golfinpebble

If you release the club, you'll hit a draw.

This assumes the golfer understands what " release the club " means.

[pound puppy]

Look up the Jimmy Ballard video on Youtube where he explains how to draw the ball without all the grip, swing, rotation, etc changes that everyone suggests.  He explains it in less than two minutes, there are no swing changes, and his method works for me.

[buddy6713]

I cannot access that Ballard video and you say it works for you.  I am a 6 hcp golfer and know I need to learn how to

consistently work the ball if I am to get better.

Can you tell me what it is you do to fade the ball?  Be as exact as you can because we have no video to help us.

Thank you!!!