Are You Trying to Draw the Golf Ball?
By Paul Wilson
Oh, the magical, elusive draw. Are you one of those many slicers
out there just dreaming about hitting a draw one day? If so, I
ask you this question ... why?
A Long Time Ago
I remember when I was learning this game it was so cool to hit a
draw. If you were a fader, you were a loser. Little did I know
at the time, this cool shot I was hitting from right to left was
actually a big pull hook but it did spin from right to left, so
I was cool.
It also wasn't clear at the time how much trouble I used to get
into with this shot. Over-hooking the ball was commonplace.
Hitting it out of the trees all day long was commonplace too.
So, why did I keep trying to hit a draw? Simple ... I wanted to
be cool.
The New Mindset
It wasn't until many years later that I realized scoring was
much more important that being cool. With this new mindset, I
stopped trying to draw the ball and went with hitting the ball
straight or with a slight fade.
What made me give up on trying to hit this shot was when Jack
Nicklaus referred to a fade as his "bread and butter" shot. What
he meant was, this shot was so much easier to hit. Even if he
wasn't playing his best, he could always rely on a fade to get
him around the course. At the time, I was so sick of being
frustrated with a draw that this statement made a lot of sense.
With this new mindset, the game became so much easier.
NOTE: Don't get me wrong. All golfers should
learn how to hit a draw because there are times when it will be
beneficial to do so. I just don't want you trying to hit a draw
on every shot.
Why Do You Want to Hit a Draw?
You aren't trying to draw the ball because it's cool. You are
trying to draw the ball because you feel it's going to give you
more distance. If you are currently slicing the ball, you think
that gaining more distance is going solve all of your problems
... or will it?
As much as you may think that hitting a draw is going to solve
all of your problems, a draw has problems of its own. Here are a
few:
1. There's lots of trouble left because most holes are designed
for left to right shots.
2. The ball will not stop as fast on greens (especially with
long irons)
3. You need your "A" game to hit this shot consistently.
4. It's harder to hit the ball from long rough.
So, as you can see a draw may not be the answer to your
problems. So, what is?
The Answer
Well, instead of trying to master the hardest shot in golf, why
not just try to get the face a little more square? Even if the
ball still fades a little, it will still go much farther than
hitting a huge slice. Plus, this is goal you can actually
achieve. In doing so, you will be in a positive frame of mind
instead of being frustrated that you cannot draw the ball
perfectly each time or over-hooking it.
To get the face a little more square, you just think about it a
little differently. The thing is, even if the clubface was 20
degrees open at impact, it still wouldn't be that hard fix.
Think about it this way, a tick on a clock is 6 degrees. To
square the face (even if it was 20 degrees open), would mean
that you would have to square it just over 3 ticks on a clock.
Most people don't have the face that much open at impact, so
really, squaring the face would not even be 3 ticks on a clock.
To get the face to
square, just do this drill:
Wrist Drill
All you have to do to roll your wrists over a little earlier is
to take the club to the top of the backswing and stop. Allow the
arms to gently come down to just before the right leg. Once the
club is in this position, start rolling the right hand over the
left. If you do, you will see the face closed or closing as it
reaches impact. You will also notice that you can see that the
back of your right hand has crossed over your left.
I realize that rolling the wrists this much may be over doing it
but keep in mind that this is a drill and you are doing it very
slowly. When you go to hit the ball for real, you will not roll
it this much. I say this because from the top of the backswing
to impact is about ¼ of a second. With such little time, you
will not roll it over too much and even if you do, you are no
longer coming into impact with the face wide open which means
you are no longer a slicer. So, overdo the wrist roll over in
the drill knowing full well you will not do it that much in
reality.
I realize that rolling the wrists over may be nothing new but
doing it this way has you doing it slower than trying to roll
them over at full speed. The problem with drills is that people
usually do them a few times and stop doing them. A drill is
designed to re-enforce a new move. This means you should keep
doing it until you have mastered what you are working on.
So, the moral of the story here is to do the drill super slow to
make sure the wrists are rolling over. Also, do the drill on the
range, at home, on the course etc. until you no longer come
through with the face wide open.
Conclusion
I understand that slicing the ball is frustrating and
discouraging but trying to switch from a slice to a perfect draw
is not the answer. Making this dramatic change like this will be
very frustrating and discouraging.
The approach you should be taking is to reduce the amount you
are slicing the ball. By doing so, you will gain more distance
because the clubface is more square as it hits the ball plus
making this change is so much easier than trying to master the
hardest shot in golf. This means that you will minimize your
frustration level and
actually create a positive frame of mind because you will be
seeing some improvement in your shots.
Once you have reduce the amount of spin on your ball and you
still feel that you want to learn how to draw it, then do so,
but for now, just take it one step at a time.
Paul Wilson
Creator - Swing Machine Golf
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