Straight, Draw, Fade.

[Roody]

I could be wrong here but my instructor told me (for a right hander) a slight draw on every shot is an indication of a well struck shot. It means your coming through the ball correctly and the left hand spin on the ball comes natural.

My instructor disagrees. When he has me hitting my driver with a slight fade he always says "ohhh that's a nice shot, hitting a slight fade is a good shot. You can talk to a fade, you can't talk to a draw".

I just started to learn how to hit a fade on demand this summer. I will joke with my golf partners and before the shot sometimes I'll call it out and say "I'm gonna fade this" and it's been great because it usually works on queue. I can do it real nice with my 3-iron. Woods are decent, but I can do it better with the irons. It's draw on demand that I can't seem to do. It seems like every time I try to draw it, I only end up pulling the heck out of it. At the moment, the draw shot is not part of my repertoire.

[M-benzw203]

i used to fade the ball a lot that was my shot i was used to it once in a while ill hit it very stright. but i knew why i was fading the ball b/c it had to do how todo w/ my open stand. Now i have nutral stands so now i have a very small draw which im getting used to. i feel that i can work the ball very easy i can play fades, draws, puch shots very easy. also im geeting about 5 yards more dist.

[Paladin]

I think the perfect answer would be to call your shot and play them all as needed but I can't do that and may never be able to! So, DRAW it! I think draw and I practice draw and try to "play" DRAW! I find most courses I play are set up to kill a slicer - the draw works and gains some distance. I've pretty much taken the right side of the course out of play.

I'm far from 100% on this but over time I have eliminated most of the slice - which is a start. Paladin

[Big Lex]

I like to see shots with longer clubs draw. I like shots with short clubs to fly straight.

I hate seeing short iron shots draw.

If I'm hitting it decently, I can draw the ball intentionally to a degree, but I have no control attempting to fade. I can pull it off sometimes, but will get the double cross just as often.

Drifting off topic, here is something that may be interesting to some of you...

I once played a whole season concentrating on trying to curve every full shot with any club longer than 8 iron one way or another. Even as a mid-handicapper, I was surprised how often I was able to pull it off. I improved more that year than almost any other.

The only year I improved as much or more was the year I signed up for the "Swing Like A Pro" system. I think the website is Modelgolf.com. Anyway it's computer golf system where you can train on video with the guidance of a custom-designed stick figure that is superimposed over your image on the monitor. As you swing back, you practice matching the stick figure with the "perfect swing" positions. Do that for an hour, then go hit balls, and it's amazing how well you hit it. The trouble is, it fades over time, and even though it carried over into my actual play, without constant re-training on the monitor, it couldn't be sustained. It put me in the right positions, but I didn't learn them in a way I could feel and repeat without visual re-training.

[Logie]

I think alot of people get mixed up when people think of a Fade, most auto think fade = slice. A slice will lack distance, a draw is normaly prefered from the longer clubs for distance and fade for the mid to low clubs as its lands soft.

Although a well struck fade is not too much shorter then a draw, lacking mostly the roll you get with a draw.

I like to play a draw on all shots and it works well from a 5i and up. Driver, 3i & 4i tend to be straight or a bit left to right but only slighty, maybe no more then 8ft.

When my 3 wood is on song its bang straight, or a very slight draw!

[kafka01]

My instructor disagrees. When he has me hitting my driver with a slight fade he always says "ohhh that's a nice shot, hitting a slight fade is a good shot. You can talk to a fade, you can't talk to a draw".

Draw is dangerous for me at the moment since i might pull it too. Further i just cant really accomplish draws with my driver. If i´m on the range trying to draw 3woods or long irons that might work after a couple of attempts, but driver - i think the further delofting isnt very helpful getting the ball airborn.

On the other side, hitting a fade i can do all day long with driver/wood/long irions. Actually i can really hit my driver extremly hard when setting up for a fade and nothing really bad happens. Personally i feel, that i can hit the ball harder when playing a fade than a draw, what doesnt work anyways - yet.

[cvcex]

haha what a weird thread... i prefer straight of course, but i have a tendancy to slightly pull

[norcalgolf]

My natural shot shape is a draw. Not much of one though. With a driver, if I am striking it well, I get like a 5 yard draw, shorter clubs my only be a 2-3 yards.

When I am not striking it well, well, then it is a different issue. :)

I sometimes can play a fade, and sometimes I can't. It is easier for me to fade my driver/3wood and hybrids than my irons.