Going to the range Thursday, gonna hit about 150 – 200 balls and see if i can sort myself out before forking out for lessons.
All i need to know is how to hit a consistent straight to draw ball flight, if anyone has suggestions eg; using something to help me keep on plane or whatever, it would be great.
Thanks.

Hate to say it but even if you got the ball going the opposite way during that 150 balls its unlikely you would know why and so it would be a fleeting victory.

Grab a 7 iron, take a half backswing, hit the ball 50-60m and work on rolling the hands through the ball with a flat left wrist. Keep rolling harder (without bending the wrist) until the ball starts drawing. Once you can consistently draw a 50m shot then work up to longer and longer swings keeping impact as is.

Guru and Toolish, can it be accepted that someones natural shot is a slight fade? Or should we all aim on drawing the ball?

being left handed, i should be keeping a flat right wrist, right?

Yes I believe so tom. Being a left handed golfer feels like living in a mirror sometimes…

Longnstraight: my natural shot is a fade with my irons and driver. When I say a fade, it is basically straight with a tiny amount of left to right. If I need to hit a draw, I will… depending on the situation. Too me, a beautiful looking golf shot is that penetrating ball flight with a slight controlled fade. It will stop on the green of all things. One may lose a few yards in distance but that really does not matter.
Toolish: great tip

Hitting 150-200 balls at the range? That to me is a waste of time. Go and hit 200 putts or bunker shots instead.

And here I was thinking fades were for newbies… Personally, that dead straight shot straight at the pin that just keeps climbing until it gets to the pin where it just drops and sits is my favourite.

Longnstraight: my natural shot is a fade with my irons and driver. When I say a fade, it is basically straight with a tiny amount of left to right. If I need to hit a draw, I will… depending on the situation. Too me, a beautiful looking golf shot is that penetrating ball flight with a slight controlled fade. It will stop on the green of all things. One may lose a few yards in distance but that really does not matter.
Toolish: great tip

Hitting 150-200 balls at the range? That to me is a waste of time. Go and hit 200 putts or bunker shots instead.

Have fun

Thanks for the reply Tai, like you, my natural shot is straight with a slight fade at the end.

I would like to learn how to draw the ball, but atm just want become more consistent in my swing and hit the ball straight more often. I am not at the shot shaping level yet, but will give Toolish’s drill a go. What do you mean by “rolling harder”? Is this supposed to be before/during or after releasing the club through impact?

If i could hit a little fade every time, id be happy. But of late im everywhere.. like one hole itll be fade, slice, aim for fade hit draw, then the next holes another bag of mixed lollies haha lollies. But yeah, you see my point.

Expert opinion is divided, but Ben Hogan played the fade. Not bad company for you.

I’m curious: are fade and draw defined to be in opposite directions for a leftie?

yes, a draw for a lefty is left to right and a fade right to left. At the end of the day I’de settle on either as long as I could get it consistently!

My view is that you should be striving to playing with “a controlled ball flight”. That means you need to learn how to move the ball right to left, and left to right at will.

Nothing wrong with a fade or a draw as a stock shot. A hook or a slice is obviously not what we want and we have not know what causes a fade to turn into a slice in order to dial up the fade without the fear of the slice putting us in trouble.

Laney : your definition is correct.

Tom: Flat Right Wrist for Lefties.

Longnstraight…hi mate…

I did not mention “rolling harder”.. That was from Toolish. I think I have mentioned in post somewhere on this site that to try and get a draw going, you can do a few things. If you stand with your feet together, get your 5 iron and make a 50% swing, retaining your balance throughout,...this is a great way to get a feeling of the “correct” movement of your hands through impact. We are not after distance, just a clean “punch shot” so to say. Obviously, having a slightly stronger grip can promote a draw but how many average guys at the local course have a strong grip and they cut the ball so far to the right? More times than not, they have the evil over the top action happening as I am sure you are aware of mate.
Go the little fade ok…it is a beautiful looking shot. The little draw that starts low and rises is also a beautiful shot. I may be getting off the subject here but hitting a “low” wedge with a “darting fade” is a great shot to have in the bag mate.

Thanks for the reply Tai, I will give that drill a go next time at the range..

Appreciate your help…..

LnS, the roll is the release really. the clubhead is constantly rolling closed through the ball. the rate of closure depends on how early or late you begin the release.

So coming into impact the face is open, by impact tjhe face is pretty well square, then rolls closed through impact.

Can use toe-up to toe-up as a basic reference. When the club shaft is parallel to the ground on the backswing the toe of the club should be up, then as you get to the point of the shaft being parallel on the follow through the toe should be up again. If you can do that on plane without a flip you will be on the way!

Oh, and there is nothing wrong with a fade as a standard shot…it is mine a lot of the time.

Longnstraight…

I have been on this forum few a few months etc as you will be aware…Your picture display is very evil mate…the dude from superman or whatever his name is…Time for a picture change?....Whatever mate..it’s cool.

A small fade is good mate as long as it is not a pull fade… Talk to you later…

Longnstraight…

I have been on this forum few a few months etc as you will be aware…Your picture display is very evil mate…the dude from superman or whatever his name is…Time for a picture change?....Whatever mate..it’s cool.

A small fade is good mate as long as it is not a pull fade… Talk to you later…

If it is your dream, make it happen….

Hey Tai, the pic will be changed soon (General Zod), haven’t got around to it. It is a joke between friends.

Would kill for a small fade now, went out tonight. Big Mistake. Everything 10 – 40 metre slice. Not happy.

Tom

I have been having similar problems re losing the ball right. For me to control this I am focussing on keeping my right elbow close to my body, not using a towel under the arm drill as I still want the elbow to move eventually. It has allowed me to control the over the top move until I work out what is really causing it (most likely it is set up)

Regards
Rob

Losing it right?

1) Make sure you are Square to the line of flight you are after (making that equal the base of your plane) and the clubface is square to the target line.

2) Make sure you are not coming OTT with something softish blocking the outside route (headcover, ball box etc) just outside the line behind the ball.

3) if its still going right now we have a set of info we can use to work out why its going right.

That ugly slice

I had it, liost then sometimes it rears its ugly head for some reason

I had some lessons which has helped, my coach begun by doing something a bit radical, he actually taught me too how to hook the ball yes and like sevre duck hook …I didnt see hwere this was going but persisted with it. I had bad issues with alignment and swing plane also.

Over the following lessons we continued to hook (more hookers than a you know what!!)

yes the headcover under the arm pit drill works.

lesson 3 we started to refine that sevre hook into less of hook and slowly we have turned that hook into something closer to a draw, now in saying that I still hit one right but its s traight push right not banana slice.

He also fitted me with 44 inch shaft stiff tip reg SUMO (the Cleveland hi bore is gone in the shed)..the sumo whiule sounding odd is very easy to hit

this process was radical and yes I still slice but as soon as I slice I know why and can fix that on course mid round more easily

Here’s a drill / thought / process.

Line the ball up on the outer third of the driver face, and stand back far enough to feel like your streched out further than normal.

As my bad shot is from out to in, this makes me ‘push’ the club head out from me and keep it on plane.

You’ll still hit it in the centre of the club, as you can’t help but ‘push’ out. but the only difference will be that it goes straight and longer than the strong fade you had as th swing is on plane

Here’s a drill / thought / process.

Line the ball up on the outer third of the driver face, and stand back far enough to feel like your streched out further than normal.

As my bad shot is from out to in, this makes me ‘push’ the club head out from me and keep it on plane.

You’ll still hit it in the centre of the club, as you can’t help but ‘push’ out. but the only difference will be that it goes straight and longer than the strong fade you had as th swing is on plane

This might explain one of my great mysteries – often when i hit the ball off the toe of my driver it turns into a nice draw – I’ve never been able to work out why? :)

A few band aides happening above without fixing the underlying problems. OK guys pick the band aide and why they will not work long term….....................