Going from Draw to Fade

[hendog]

Curious if anyone else has made this transition. I've hit a draw my entire golfing life (about 12 years) and while I got pretty good I also struggled with consistency. I made the decision to move to fades and it feels like a swing I can be more consistent with. I'll still hit draws when necessary but in general ill go with the fade. Just looking for perspective from others who have tried.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

Most of the rest of the average golfing community would probably like to go the other way. From fade to draw. I'd have to guess that 90% of righties fade the ball.

[Jspangler]

My question is, why? Why change, that change has ruined some great golf swing, Martin Kaymer to name one off the top of my head. I attempted the change from fade to draw and it wreck my swing for like a month solid. Now I just play the lovely straight ball.

[David in FL]

You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen! ;-)

[hendog]

My question is, why? Why change, that change has ruined some great golf swing, Martin Kaymer to name one off the top of my head. I attempted the change from fade to draw and it wreck my swing for like a month solid. Now I just play the lovely straight ball.

I guess the short answer is because I think I can be better for a longer period of time. The long answer is the draw swing, at least for me, was very timing oriented. Hard from the inside and then turn the hands quickly. When my timing was on and my tempo was there I was awesome. Otherwise it was big push right or snap hook left. I've always had a fade in my arsenal and during a recent struggle I just found it to be a physically easier swing. I carry the ball farther, stop it quicker and the misses are much less penal. 2 rounds in the books so far. 84 and 81 which is at least as good as my normal swing and really better considering I've been struggling lately and was just happy breaking 90.

[phan52]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

Curious if anyone else has made this transition. I've hit a draw my entire golfing life (about 12 years) and while I got pretty good I also struggled with consistency. I made the decision to move to fades and it feels like a swing I can be more consistent with.

I'll still hit draws when necessary but in general ill go with the fade.

Just looking for perspective from others who have tried.

I guess a fade is easier to manufacture and easier to control. I tried to work on a draw a few years back and it turned into a consistent hook in short order.

[cipher]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

I'll still hit draws when necessary but in general ill go with the fade.

Just looking for perspective from others who have tried.

If you are able to play both then why don't you just use both depending on the hole and trouble.  Fades are more accurate for me, I just find I loose a lot of distance with them.  My swing starts falling apart if I play them too much.  I start coming over the top and the fade gets exaggerated.  I find a draw easier to maintain a consistent swing.  The misses are worse on draws though as you know.

[Bullitt5339]

I completely wrecked my game by trying to learn how to hit a consistent fade........  It ended up turning into a slice, and while I've got it back to a slight fade, I can no longer draw the ball at all.  Whenever I try, it goes really badly.  My handicap has never recovered after going the wrong way for 6 months.

[hendog]

If you are able to play both then why don't you just use both depending on the hole and trouble.  Fades are more accurate for me, I just find I loose a lot of distance with them.  My swing starts falling apart if I play them too much.  I start coming over the top and the fade gets exaggerated.  I find a draw easier to maintain a consistent swing.  The misses are worse on draws though as you know.

You are right on here. I guess the ultimate question is, when I am standing on the tee box with a wide open fairway, what am I going to hit? Use to be draw, now it will be fade. I will reserve the draw for situations when the fade physically will not work. Where I have to be careful is on shots where the fade will work but the draw is ideal. Like hole in back left position behind bunker. Ideally you bring it in with a draw and let it release to the hole. I am not that good so it will be fade to center and par. So far I love it. Only issue is when I pull the double cross :(

[ace3g]

I mentioned it in a couple of threads, but in the last round I played (shot 90), round wasn't going well so the last 3 holes I decided to hit fade shots and results were quite good.  Like some have mentioned with a fade you typically get more loft but less distance.  Also like you mentioned, you can double cross.

For my next round I was going to hit fade shots (unless a fade can't be used in a certain situation) but a couple of days ago I saw a diagram through google for right handed golfers, which stated to apply pressure with the middle 2 fingers of your right hand.  As I was experimenting with my typical "baseball grip" I moved to a variation of the overlap grip where I can really feel the pressure of my middle 2 fingers holding the club.

I took it to the range today and hit with my normal straight/small draw shot shape and the results were probably the best I ever had on the range.  Yeah I know it isn't the course but I never had the feeling I was going to hit the ball thin, and I didn't.

Really I didn't like shaping the ball at all, so it was a change in mentality when I decided to use the fade on those final 3 holes.  I could definitely see the benefits and if you think you will be more confident with that shot shape, stay with it.  Right now though I'm going to play a few rounds with this new grip of mine and see how my scores are.

[Tom Shanks]

You know you can hit fades with a draw swing right? Open stance, open clubface..... No sense changing mechanics to shape a shot. Try video based practice or lessons to see what's going on in your swing. Maybe there's only a small fault in your swing that you can correct and pull everything together.

[cipher]

That is true, I have not worked on that much but know you can do it. Basically you are still swinging inside out, but you are very open to the target. The club face is open in relation to the path. Just keep in mind that the ball will start where the club face points. Which I am sure we all know by now.

[hendog]

Originally Posted by Tom Shanks

You know you can hit fades with a draw swing right? Open stance, open clubface.....

No sense changing mechanics to shape a shot. Try video based practice or lessons to see what's going on in your swing. Maybe there's only a small fault in your swing that you can correct and pull everything together.

Interesting point. You have basically described my swing. Even with my draw swing I set up with an open face (meaning face points way right) and then slam it shut at contact which is the timing I talked about. Now I open the stance, leave the face open as before but now it is pointing at the target and I simply don't slam it shut (well at least not intentionally now). It HAS caused me to alter my swing path a little although I believe that I was getting to far inside before (getting stuck) and this is basically correcting that. The ball flies high and rolls over slightly to the right. Accuracy has gotten a lot better in fact I have hit a few shots to a couple feet which is not something I am use to doing since the ball rarely went exactly where I aimed or rather since I was curving it so much it was hard to know exactly where it would end up laterally.

So perhaps my change is not as big as it seems. Certainly a different mindset since I am no longer aiming right and trying to bring it back hard but many of the mechanics are the same. That may explain why it feels so good and why at least so far it has produced results.

Good stuff. Thanks!

[cipher]

If you are slamming the club face shut to hit a draw there is way to much timing involved. A draw should be a slightly open face with a slightly more open swing path all the way.

[David in FL]

If you are slamming the club face shut to hit a draw there is way to much timing involved. A draw should be a slightly open face with a slightly more open swing path all the way.

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

[hendog]

Originally Posted by cipher

If you are slamming the club face shut to hit a draw there is way to much timing involved. A draw should be a slightly open face with a slightly more open swing path all the way.

I guess this is really the reason for my change. I knew that what I was doing was not ideal and while I was pretty good at bringing it all together, it was not something that was a long term plan and I also felt there was a glass ceiling (or floor which ever way you want to look at it). Middle of last year I got down to a 6 before it started to unravel. Looking back I think it is fair to say that I was playing about as good as I could with what I had. 6 months later I was back to a 10 and barely holding it there so I figured that with my swing I would forever hover around the 8-9 mark, sometimes lower and sometimes higher. My goal is scratch although realistically I would simply like to be a low single digit guy. 5 or less. Thus to get there I had to make a change.

Seems like what I am really doing is just improving my swing and cutting out some bad moves.

[cipher]

Sounds good just make sure you fade it like this.

Quote:

You know you can hit fades with a draw swing right? Open stance, open clubface.....

If your feet are square to the target and you are hitting pull fades that will end up bad.  I know from experience.  Open the stance up and the face, and come from the inside. The face has to be slightly more open than your swing path.

[hendog]

Originally Posted by cipher

Sounds good just make sure you fade it like this.

If your feet are square to the target and you are hitting pull fades that will end up bad.  I know from experience.  Open the stance up and the face, and come from the inside. The face has to be slightly more open than your swing path.

Yep. This is where I'm at right now. Nice open stance, open face and swing just a little left of the target. Based on my setup I would say it is a push fade. The biggest misses right now are the double crosses and wipes. Basically both symptoms of pulling off with the double cross also including a wrist flip.