Last fall I started a series of golf lessons to move me beyond my self-imposed limits. The instructor told me to do a nine-shot drill: learn to hit each combination of trajectories, high, medium, and low, and combine that with three shot shapes, fade, straight, and draw. That’s nine different shots.

The reason? To unlock my mind from the technical aspects of making a swing and learn instead to visualize a shot and let that visualization be the mental basis of my swing.

Since I’m a high-ball hitter, and fade easily, those shots were pretty simple. But any shot that had to fly lower than normal, or any intentional draw, that was tough.

So I worked on what I knew, and figured out what I didn’t. I came up with four different ways to fade, to find the one that was the most reliable. I knew how to hit a low shot, but didn’t know that I knew. I just didn’t know what a low shot is supposed to look like.

Then there’s the draw. A draw can turn into an ugly hook without notice. It’s here that I would get my double-cross–setting up for a draw and hitting a fade–because deep down I was nervous about it. Until I figured out how.

“Tell me how,” I hear you cry. All right. Here’s how it works for me.

Fade: Set up left of target, clubface aimed halfway between stance and target, swing along stance line.

Draw: Set up at target, aim clubface right of target, swing inside-out to the right of that.

High: Set up with the ball more forward, weight more on the right. Transfer less weight than usual to the left on the downswing. Tends to go left.

Low: Set up with the ball more to the back of center. Use normal weight transfer and follow through low. Also called a knockdown shot. Tends to go right.

If you want to try this drill, you’ll have to experiment with just how big all these adjustments need to be. Hint: less than you think.

There’s no reason anyone who makes solid contact 3 out of 5 times can’t learn to do this, and your everyday straight shot will improve immeasurably, too.

Go ahead. Open up a new world of golf for yourself.

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A fade is golf’s control shot. The ball rises up high, curves gracefully to the right, and falls gently down to the ground in the fairway or on the green. A draw gets you more distance, but it can easily get out of control and turn into a nasty hook. To keep the ball in play, hit a fade. Here are four ways to do it.

If you set up square and strike the ball squarely, the result will be a straight shot. To make the ball curve intentionally, you have to change something. To set up left-to-right spin, the clubface has to come into the ball ever so slightly open to the path of the club. For example, if the club is traveling from 3 o’clock to 9, the clubface, instead of facing 9, must be facing between 9 and 10.

1. The classic way to hit a fade is to change your setup. Aim yourself slightly to the left of the target and twirl the club in your hands so the clubface aces halfway between your aim point and the target. You have pre-set the club open to the swing path, so if you just make a square swing along your body line, the clubface will sweep into the ball open, and the left-to-right spin will be imparted.

2. Another way of hitting a fade is to set up completely square, and take the club away outside of your normal swing path. If you swing the club back down on this path, outside-to-in, the clubface will be facing directly at the target, but the club path will be to the left of that. The ball will start out left and come back in to the right.

3. A third way of hitting a fade is to set up to the left of the target, clubface square, and swing back on your normal swing path. The change happens as the club is on its way up. Over-rotate your left forearm clockwise as you swing back. This will open the clubface. Keep this rotation as long as you can on the way back down. The clubface will close again, there’s no preventing it, but there will not be enough time for the face to close all the way back to square. It remains open and left-to-right spin is once again imparted.

4. A fourth way is subtle, and is perhaps only for advanced players. Hold the club tighter than normal with the last three fingers of the left hand. Hold it very tightly, but not so much that your left forearm gets rigid. This will tend to lock your left wrist, preventing the club from closing at impact. The open clubface will give you the fade you’re looking for.

See also Curving the Ball to the Left or Right

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