Hitting the golf ball reasonably straight is difficult enough for most of us, so deliberately making it curve one way or the other might seem like showing off.
But learning how to hit a draw or fade isn’t just about producing impressive-looking golf shots. Understanding what changes the shape of your ball flight can also help you understand your normal golf swing a little better.
In this lesson, PGA Professional Richard Lawless explains a simple way to experiment with both shapes on the practice range.
How to Hit a Draw
A draw is a golf shot that curves gently from right to left for a right-handed golfer.
Rich demonstrates how keeping your back towards the target for slightly longer through the swing can encourage the movement needed to produce a draw.
The important word here is slightly.
This isn’t about making a huge change to your golf swing. You’re experimenting with a relatively small adjustment and seeing how that influences the flight of the ball.
How to Hit a Fade
A fade moves in the opposite direction, gently curving from left to right for a right-handed golfer.
For this shot, Rich demonstrates allowing the chest to move forwards and through towards the target sooner.
Once again, the idea isn’t to manufacture an exaggerated movement. You’re trying to discover how a small change in your movement affects the resulting shot.
What About Changing Your Alignment?
Another method golfers are often taught when learning to shape shots is to alter the direction of their feet and body.
Rich discusses this approach in the video as well.
It can be used, but he cautions against making the adjustment too large. If you’re going to experiment with your alignment, you generally only need a small change rather than dramatically aiming yourself in another direction.
That’s an important distinction between deliberately producing a gentle draw or fade and accidentally creating the enormous hook or slice that sends you searching through the trees.
Most weekend golfers already know how to hit those without practising.
Take It to the Driving Range
The main message from this lesson isn’t that there is one magic position guaranteed to produce the perfect draw or fade.
It’s to experiment.
Take a bucket of balls to the range and try Rich’s suggestions. Hit a few shots while feeling that your back remains towards the target for a little longer. Then try allowing your chest to move through sooner.
Watch what happens to your ball flight.
You can also experiment with small changes to your alignment and compare the results.
You may not suddenly become someone who can move the golf ball both ways on command, but you’ll start learning how changes in your own swing influence where the golf ball goes.
And that’s useful information even when you’re trying to hit it straight.
