Learn to Draw Or Fade

All good golfers have one thing in common and that is the ability control the ball by being able to play a variety of shots. The most common and useful of these is the draw and the fade and if you can learn how to draw or fade a golf ball your golf will improve dramatically. In this article I am going to give you two easy steps to learn how to hit each shot.

But first...

You need to know what causes a draw or a fade. There are only nine possible golf shots that you can play and these are:

Draw
Fade
Straight
Push
Slice
Push Slice
Hook
Pull and
Pull hook

I will be concentrating on the first 2 only although it is useful to understand all of them.

The Draw.

Preferred and admired by most golfers. Somehow it just looks so good when you hit a sweet draw, and it goes further than any other shot because of the top spin. To hit a draw you must have:

An in-to-out swing path and
A square club face angle through impact.

That is all you need and both must be present.

Getting your club face square is the easiest part because you can adjust with the eye and practice until it is right. Sometimes you might think the club face is square at address but it might not be. Get a friend to stand behind and in front of the target line and also directly in front of you to check this.

The swing is a little bit more complicated and will need some muscle training through the use of drills to get out of old habits.

Simple drills repeated often are best. I said repeated often which means hours a day until they become natural.

Here is a particularly simple and easy to repeat one. It's called the Back and Under.

Description.

Take an appropriate stance with the club of choice and elevate it so the club is about 11/2 feet off the ground. Make a back swing that is not pulled quickly inside. Note the angle of the plane going back. Now make a forward swing in which the angle of the plane is under or shallower than the backswing plane bringing the club back to the ball on the ground - the point of contact.

Back and under - back and under. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

The Fade.

Popular for the ability to control the ball especially on landing as the backspin causes it to stop quicker than a draw.

Once again to hit a fade you have to have the following two things:

An out-to-in swing path and
An square club face angle through impact.

Both these elements must be present.

Getting the club face square is easy enough as once again you just make the visual adjustments till you get it right.

The swing for more than 95% of golfers should be easy because it is the same out-to-in swing that causes the slice. So if you fall into this 95% you only have to get your club face angle square through impact to land up with a fade.

If you are one of the 5% that do not fall into this category the suggestion is stay with what you've got unless you want to learn the fade for those times when you need it.

The drill for the backswing is called the Straight and Over.

Once again this should be done in slow motion at first.

Description.

Address your ball as normal using any club of choice and make a backswing making sure to take your club straight back along the target line. Note the angle of the plane going back. Now make a forward swing in which the angle of the plane is over or steeper than the plane as you return the club back to the ball on the ground - the point of contact.

If you have ever heard the term "casting" using in golf and never understood what it meant this drill might make the penny drop.

Straight and over - straight and over. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

As can be seen from the above it is not that difficult to learn how to draw or fade a golf ball if you know what to do. Take some time to learn what causes all the 9 different ball flights and it all becomes a lot clearer.

If you can you learn how to draw and fade the ball you will start shooting better golf as you use them to control distance and angle of approach whilst playing.

Learning to play better golf need not be difficult.

Whether it is your driving, your iron play, your short game or putting get the basics right and the game becomes easier. Its similar in a way to driving a car - at first there is so much to do and remember but after a while it becomes second nature.

The secret is to practice and practice the right things as Bob Eldridge and his team will tell you over at Pure Point Golf [http://www.playthelie.info].

Learn to play better golf [http://www.playthelie.info] and practice the right way! Hit 'em straight and hit 'em long.

Happy golfing!