If you read my first blog about Assessing and Correcting ball flight, then you already know what causes the ball to fly (If not, read it here The Key to Assessment).
So, if you’re a slicer of the golf ball, and you understand the Ball Flight laws, you know that you slice because your Club Face is always OPEN to your Club Path at impact. And the harder you try to swing left or aim left to keep the ball from slicing, the worse it slices.
(Note: All pictures are me hitting shots…and I’m left handed. So it’s backwards for you righties. Sorry.)
(The above picture is a screen shot from Trackman of a slice. My club face is 9.4 degrees OPEN to the path…no good.)
Let’s address the Club Face first. In learning to hit a draw, you must first learn how to get the Club Face CLOSED to the path. Here’s where you get to have some FUN on the range. Remember, there’s no penalty for a bad shot on the range. So here’s assignment #1:
I want you to go to the range…and hook the snot out of the golf ball. I don’t care how you do it. I don’t care how far left it goes. I just want you to hook the ball as far left as you can (For the sake of the facility you are practicing at, you may want to find a spot on the far right side of the range so the balls don’t end up hooking off property).
Here’s my example…
Just so you know, Trackman had this ball finishing 104 feet right of my target (remember, I’m a lefty).
When you first try this, there are some things to expect. First, you will still hit some shots that fade, they’ll just start WAY left of your target. I want you to make the ball curve left. I don’t care where it starts. Just make it hook.
Once you are confident and comfortable and you have learned the FEELING of what it’s like to have the clubface closed to the path, it’s time for Step 2. You didn’t want to try to play with a 30-yard hook, did you?
Step 2: I want you to take an alignment stick and walk out about 10 feet in front of where you are hitting balls. Stick the alignment stick in the ground directly on the target line. The first few shots I want you to hit, I still want you to try and hook them really hard left. You’ll notice that the ball is hooking, BUT it’s starting LEFT of that stick you just stuck in the ground on the target line.
Now, use the new feeling of hooking the ball, and try to create the same feeling while making the ball start to the RIGHT of the stick in the ground.
(Remember, I’m a lefty and everything is backwards for me. My draw, like the shot I’m hitting here, starts just to the left of my target and curves to the right.)
(The main difference in this shot, and the first screen shot earlier in this blog is the starting direction. Both shots had a draw/hook bias, but this shot started left of my target, where the first shot started well right and kept hooking.)
So, go out and practice this. Have fun with it. Again, I don’t care how you do it really, I just want you to learn what it’s like to: 1.) Get the Face CLOSED to the Path at Impact. And 2.) Learn how to start the shot right of your target while making the ball draw.
