Learning to Draw, running before you can walk?

Paul77

Paul77

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I'm booked in for a lesson in a few weeks, and I'm going to be trying a couple of folk close by until I settle in. Is it unrealistic to have goals like wanting to learn how to Draw the ball?

I was up at the driving range last night trying it out, but the place was mobbed, and after about 30-40 balls, I managed to successfully Draw about 4-5 with a 7 iron. It felt really good. After picking up a few tutorials online I just kind of hoped I was doing it right. Most of the time it was a duffed heal on the mat and a fluff into the 50yard green in front. With the place being mobbed I moved away from trying after the boy next to me just thumped Draw after Draw into oblivion with his Driver.

I swear he was doing it to annoy me.

Anyway..

I hit a Fade usually with my Driver, and pretty straight but short with the irons on approaches to the green. I just need more time to learn my distances. However, is my goal to far away for this moment in my journey? Should you keep pushing the boundries or engrain what you've learned so far and push when you level out?

My theory with the Draw shot is much the same as the thoughts I have of playing football. Curling the ball around the wall on a free kick outside the box, into the top corner. That sweeping side skelp promiting spin. Is this the wrong analogy to be thinking?

Cheers,

Paul
 
Point the clubface a little bit right of your target.
Swing a little bit further right than the clubface is pointing.

It isn't a necessity to play good golf though. It might look sexy to hit a nice high draw but you can score perfectly well without it.

I manage to sometimes play to my handicap and you will never see me intentionally hit a draw if there's no obstacles in the way, just because I know I'm not very good at it so won't take the risk.
 
Having a draw for use when you need to get round a tree is a good idea but for normal golf I would stick with the fade. It was the preferred shot of Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods and is more controllable and consistent.
 
The ball draws because your swingpath is to the right of where the clubface points.

All you need to do is research what things affect/help the swingpath move to the right.
 
Cheers folks. Is it just one of those shots, that looks far more sexy than how useful it is? My old playing partner who played off 6 at the time had a lovely draw shot and used to say that if it wasn't for his shot, he'd never be as good. Maybe some smoke and mirrors play there, but it always stuck in my mind. I hit it not bad off the tee with the fade when I know it's going to work, I guess if it happens, it happens.
 
A fade and a draw are miles apart in terms of the swing.
To change to hitting a draw, you will have to change your whole swing path. That could be easy or difficult depending on how much you practice, how ingrained the fade is and how big the fade is.
However, there are many very successful golfers who hit a fade.
It's your choice
 
What are you wanting to achieve? Better scores or different ball flight?

My advice would be to go for you lesson with an open mind and let the pro guide you in to getting a more consistent swing and ball strike. Looking at your gamegolf page your missing shots left and right, just concentrate on the fundamentals of setup and work on finding a consistent shot first.
 
Jimaroid said:
What are you wanting to achieve? Better scores or different ball flight?

My advice would be to go for you lesson with an open mind and let the pro guide you in to getting a more consistent swing and ball strike. Looking at your gamegolf page your missing shots left and right, just concentrate on the fundamentals of setup and work on finding a consistent shot first.
Click to expand...

Cheers for having a look Jim.

Yes there's no real consisent miss theory I can get my head around. Hence why I've booked the lessons. I just don't want to go into a lesson saying, " I want to learn how to Draw the ball" and the guys standing there mumbling "Yes lets learn how to strike it consistently, before we learn control"

My thinking of late is , Strike, Control, then Power. I think a lot of folk, think Power first, and I've been really bad for that. We learn :)
 
Paul77 said:
My thinking of late is , Strike, Control, then Power. I think a lot of folk, think Power first, and I've been really bad for that. We learn :)
Click to expand...

I have swapped to this. When I was first back playing I was going all out to smash it to oblivion. Ended up topping it, air shotting, duffing, all over the show.

Had a couple of lessons, lost a load of balls on the course & realised that power is not the way forward.

Especially after playing with a work colleague who never hits further than 190-200 with ANY club. He walked away 5 or 6 over par....

I am now slowing it all down to get the contact & swing correct. As it gets more natural then the power may get turned up again.

Occasionally down the range I will see how much power I can put back in & remain consistent, but never on the course.

It's getting there.
 
My harshest lesson of late was playing with my aunt and her friend around their course in Wishaw last month.

She plays off 13, and her friend the same I think. They were taking two shots to get to my drive, but they kept the ball in play all the way round the course, and I was everywhere. I was so embarrassed and she quite rightly said at the end of the day "Paul, you need direction. In your shots and your head"

She also asked how many lessons it took for me to learn how to drive. I said about 20. She said, yes well take 10 golf lessons lol. I was really down that day. I shot 124 round that course that day. I've played more difficult courses, but the mental block of them just being so consistent got to me.

Anyway, clean sheet there after. Block it out and move on.
 
Most of the best ball strikers I have seen have been faders. The draw is more difficult to control and it largely comes down to the speed of your wrists, which is genetic. You can learn to force it or go with what's more natural to you. Either way, a set of lessons again would be the best thing.
 
Yeah it can be very disheartening.

You hit a monster drive, just off the fairway, PP takes 2 shots to get to yours but centre of the fairway each time.

I have learnt the same lesson when going to rough. Trying to whack it out & duffing 2-3 shots, when a little chip out the rough & nice iron to green would do it.

Take your punishment....

But even the pro's get it wrong sometimes...
 
Why does every pro seemingly try to get people, specifically new golfers to hit a draw?

Are they just giving people what they want? are they just trying to move them in the opposite direction from their choppy over the top motion?
 
Its a bit of a conundrum I've never understood... I can understand why off the tee you would want a draw but after that surely a fade is the better of the 2?

Doesn't a fade land more softly and controlled on the green? Or am I confused(as usual)?
 
garyinderry said:
Why does every pro seemingly try to get people, specifically new golfers to hit a draw?

Are they just giving people what they want? are they just trying to move them in the opposite direction from their choppy over the top motion?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it's because a lot of people start with a slice, and I guess it's seen as the ultimate slice-fix as the direction of the shot changes in the most notable way.
 
Dan2501 said:
Yeah, I think it's because a lot of people start with a slice, and I guess it's seen as the ultimate slice-fix as the direction of the shot changes in the most notable way.
Click to expand...

This is essentially why I want to learn the shot. I have a Fade on drives on a good shot, but every now and then I'm slicing it. Coming over the top. My thought process was that if I learn to Draw it, I can eliminate the slice from my game. Naturally, you're in the realms of a hook, or over drawing the shot left, but in most cases that type of shot would suit the courses I play on, whereas the Fade/slice combo actually hinders thoughts off the tee on most holes.

Again, I think it's nice to learn the shots, and if you can semi play them consistently, you can get yourself out of that cripling thought process on a tee where you're thinking that you're going to slice it, and you eventually do it.
 
turkish said:
Its a bit of a conundrum I've never understood... I can understand why off the tee you would want a draw but after that surely a fade is the better of the 2?

Doesn't a fade land more softly and controlled on the green? Or am I confused(as usual)?
Click to expand...

No you're not. Jack Nicklaus once said that the ideal golfer would hit a draw off the tee (distance) but fade their irons (control).
 
Paul77 said:
This is essentially why I want to learn the shot. I have a Fade on drives on a good shot, but every now and then I'm slicing it. Coming over the top. My thought process was that if I learn to Draw it, I can eliminate the slice from my game. Naturally, you're in the realms of a hook, or over drawing the shot left, but in most cases that type of shot would suit the courses I play on, whereas the Fade/slice combo actually hinders thoughts off the tee on most holes.

Again, I think it's nice to learn the shots, and if you can semi play them consistently, you can get yourself out of that cripling thought process on a tee where you're thinking that you're going to slice it, and you eventually do it.
Click to expand...

I notice you have GAME Golf, do you analyse your game using the stats at all? I just had a quick look at your profile, and I don't think learning to draw your driver should be your number one concern. Looking at your last round, at Wishaw where you shot 123. You hit 64% of fairways, and looking at your drives you get it out there a decent distance (average of 227 is very good), and hit a decent amount of greens (28% should be shooting around 90 to 95 at worse. However, your putting average 2.72 per hole should be where you're focusing. That's 49 putts, that's a lot of shots. If you could work on your putting, and get it down to say 1.8 per hole, or 32 putts you'd have already gone from shooting 123 to 106, a massive drop.

Also, I'm curious, are the scores on all holes correct? You took a 14 on the first after a drive of 215 in the fairway? Did you actually have 9 shots with either a lob or sand wedge and 5 on the 2nd or did you miss-buzz? If you did take that number of shots with those clubs, your next few lessons should be working exclusively on chipping, pitching and putting. Learning to move the ball both ways with the driver is nice, but your driver isn't stopping you scoring, your short game is. If you fixed that part of your game your scores would absolutely tumble.
 
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