Do you "shape" the ball?

[cookelad]

With my irons I can move it both ways pretty much on command. With my woods it's I either my stock gentle draw, or a push slice.

Generally hit my irons naturally straight and only try to move it in the air if there's a tree or something that I can't get over!

 

[BoadieBroadus]

at the range i can generally move most irons in either general direction but i would only ever attempt it on the course in a comp if i absolutely had to.

my pro will focus on it in the odd lesson but only to teach me how to feel where the club face is and how the swing plane is affected by alignment, not so that i can then go out and play the shot on the course.

i may be prejudiced, but anyone above 6 who talks excessively about moving he golf ball, makes me raise my eyebrows in scepticism. below 6 fair enough, above, i'm not sure its necessary. and I'm above so i count myself in that...

you could get to 6 i think just trying to find the fairway with a straight shot and then aiming for the heart of the green. probably even lower too, but that's my arbitrary cut off.

 

[Stuey01]

I mostly just try to hit it straight-ish.
My typical shape is a slight draw with my irons.
Driver is a push fade to a push slice on a bad one, occasionally can get a draw but not consistently on command at all. Wild, in summary, got a lesson on driver tonight! It's hurting me badly at the moment.

I can bend it both ways when I really have to, stuck behind a tree or something. There is nothing subtle about it though and I'm usually just looking to turn it round the obtstacle and advance it down the fairway. Favourite club for this is my hybrid. I can't gently shape a ball in towards a flag in the back corner of a green for example.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

No need to feel inadequate, I don't do it either, I'm very one dimensional on that front and don't mind admitting it. I think I know how to do it but would only do so if the result of getting it wrong didn't put me in doodoo. I actually hit a cut around a tree on Sunday and pulled it off but I knew that had I not, the rough I would have ended up in wasn't very severe so no real risk involved.

To be honest, I don't have much call for hitting anything other than my stock shot and can usually plot my way round with that. I played with a 5 h'capper on Sunday who found himself blocked out on the 7th, he said it was either a low draw or a high fade. He hit the high fade, which involved going round the tree, over 120yds or so of hazard and a greeside bunker and landing on a downslope. He hit it to 15 feet pin high. I'd like to be able to hit that shot, but in all honesty, I doubt I could have hit it if there was no tree or hazard and I could have played my normal shot.

With the work I am doing on my swing I am just happy playing within my abilities, when I'm happy with my current swing, I might start learning to shape it but until then, I'm a one trick pony, but the trick is getting better

 

[SocketRocket]

Its not so difficult to shape the ball once you understand the ball flight laws. It takes a bit of skill to do it precisely though, just like most golf shots.

 

[mcbroon]

I'd say there's a difference between a natural ball flight and 'shaping' a shot.

My natural flight is a draw, and I can hit a fade sometimes, but what I cannot do with any sort of regularity or pre-meditation is control how much the ball draws or fades. I'd call that shaping.

 

[Region3]

I don't try to shape the ball unless I have to. If I have a natural shape it would be a fade, but 95/100 I'll aim to hit a straight shot.

If I need a fade I can hit a fade.
If I need a draw I can hit a fade.

Low running hooks aren't too bad, but a flighted high draw - not a chance.

 

[Stuey01]

If I need a fade I can hit a fade.
If I need a draw I can hit a fade.

Nicely put.

Does controlling height come into shaping?
I'm much happier hitting a high or low ball as the situation demands. That's an easier shot IMO

 

[Nashy]

I generally play the ball straight or if I wish a slight fade. I can cut a ball on demand but I do struggle with a draw.

I wanted to work on that this year as its something handy to have if required. The problem has been my short game has needed so much work that I haven't had time to practice trying to draw the ball so far this year.