How to hit a fade shot

It is important as you game advances that you learn to control your ball flight as it can be useful to help you better manage your game and score.

Hitting a fade shot is actually one of the easiest shots anyone can play, normally when people are starting out their poor shots generally tend to fade where as a draw is generally harder to achieve

Setup

Without the proper setup at address you are making things difficult from the start and you are likely to see poor results.

To setup you need to know where your target is and how much fade you want to apply to the ball.

Follow the steps below for a solid setup

1. Align feet to the line you want your ball to take initially

2. Align the club head to the target where you want the ball to finish

It’s as simple as that. Swing the club along your stance line and with the club face being open you will naturally cut across the ball. I would advise to use a mid range iron and nothing above a 7 iron when practicing this. The reason for this is that the more loft you have on a club the harder it is to generate side spin. For example you will find it very hard to fade/ draw a sand wedge and if you do your swing is sure to be somewhat exaggerated. It’s possible to ruin your swing if this happens so stick to the lower irons when practicing this as only minor swing changes are necessary.

See tips to improve your short game

Advantages of hitting a fade shot

The advantages of hitting a fade shot are as follows

1. Ball will stop more quickly and this is most advantages when approaching a green with a mid range iron.

2. Follow the contour of the hole, if it’s a dog leg right off the tee, for a right hand player it’s handy to bend the ball around the corner to achieve more distance.

Disadvantages of a fade shot

You can lose significant distance hitting into a wind or fading against a crosswind. Fading the ball from left to right on your approach to the green when the wind is blowing left to right will cause your ball to run through the green.

Every shot has its advantages and disadvantages and there are more of course but the key is deciding when to use each shot.

Thanks for reading and I hope this was of use to you. Feel free to comment your thoughts below.