Tip #22: Learn to Work Your Shots

Instructional advice abounds when it comes to playing intentional fades and draws. Many teachers advocate a stronger grip, with the hands rotated to the right on the club. Others recommend finagling with your weight distribution or swing speed. Still others recommend stiff-armed swings for a slice, wristier methods for a hook.

I avoid these methods completely. For one thing, they're complicated. Golf should be kept as simple as possible. For a second thing, it's folly to believe you can regulate the curve of a golf ball by regulating your wrist cock or weight shift. Finally, I distrust such methods because they don't relate to the root causes of sidespin.

To my mind, there's only one good way to play intentional fades and draws, and that's by pre-setting them with your alignment at address. The alterations I make are minor, and once I set them, I'm through. My grip and swing remain the same, without any manipulation or conscious change of any kind.

A small adjustment to your alignment at address is an easy way to play draws and fades.

For a left-to-right shot, I begin my address as usual, by setting my club behind the ball and aiming the clubface straight down the target line. Then I make a change. Instead of aligning my body parallel to the direction in which I've aimed the clubface, I set up in an open stance, with my feet, knees, hips, and shoulders aligned several degrees to the left of the target line.

This setup will cause me to take the club back on a line that is outside that of a straight-back takeaway. That will result in a swing that returns the club to the ball along that same outside path. At impact, the clubface will be aimed straight down the target line but will be swinging across that target line, thus imparting clockwise spin.

The ball will start out to the left of the target (the line on which the swing directed it) and then, as the spin takes over, it will drift back toward the target (the point at which the clubface was aimed). It's as simple as that. The more drift I want, the more open I stand while keeping the clubface aimed straight down the target line.

For the draw, it's naturally just the opposite. I set the clubface straight at the ball, then align my body several degrees to the right. This promotes a takeaway that will be more to the inside than usual, resulting in an impact that is from inside to out and imparts counterclockwise spin. The ball starts out to the right, then draws back in toward the target at which I aimed my clubface. The more curve I want, the more I aim myself to the right.

It's that easy. Just set up correctly and then trust your swing. In fact, if there's one key to the swing, it's a mental one. Forget about where you want the ball to finish, and concentrate instead on where you want it to start.

Go back to the idea of visualizing the apex of your shot, and in this case think of hitting the ball to the farthest sideward point of the fade or draw. If you set up properly and direct your ball to that crest of the arc, it will turn on its path from that point to the target.

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