Hitting the Range: Chasing That Fade
Alright, so I was out on the range the other day. Been watching a bit of golf, you know, seeing guys like Sam Burns hit that nice, controlled fade. It looks so effortless for them, just peels off to the right, right onto the target. Thought I’d give it a go myself during my practice session.
Getting Started
So, I grabbed my 7-iron, usually my go-to club for figuring things out. My normal shot is a bit of a draw, sometimes hooks if I get lazy. Hitting a fade isn’t really in my toolbox, not reliably anyway. First few swings, just trying my normal swing… yep, straight or a little draw. Okay, that’s the baseline.
Trying Stuff Out
What does it feel like to hit a fade? I started thinking about the setup. People say aim left, swing along your body line. Okay, tried that. Lined my feet up way left of the target flag. Took a swing. Pulled it dead left. Not quite a fade, haha.
Next thought: grip. Maybe weaken my grip a bit? Turned my left hand more on top of the club, right hand weaker too. Swung again. Felt weird, kinda flimsy at the top. Ball still went mostly straight, maybe a tiny bit of rightward curve at the end, but weak.
Okay, what else? Clubface. Maybe open the face slightly at address? Point it a touch right of where I’m aiming my body. Tried combining this with aiming my body left.
- Aimed feet/shoulders left.
- Opened the clubface just a tiny bit towards the target.
- Tried to swing along my body line, kinda feeling like I was cutting across the ball.
Finding a Feel
Now we’re getting somewhere! The first few like this were still not great, some pushes, some pulls. But then, one clicked. It started a bit left of the target and just gently curved back. Felt different at impact, kinda held the face off, didn’t let it rotate closed as much through the ball. That felt like the key for me – maintaining that slightly open face feeling through impact.
The Grind
So, I spent the next half hour just trying to replicate that feeling. Aim left, open face slightly, swing along the body line, and hold that face angle. It wasn’t perfect, mind you. Still hit plenty of bad ones. Some weak fades that barely moved, some big slices when I overdid the ‘hold off’ feeling. But, every now and then, I’d hit one that started left and curved back nicely, landing soft.
Wrapping Up
By the end of the bucket, I wasn’t hitting perfect Burns-style fades every time, not even close. But I definitely got a better feel for what might be required. It’s that combination of setup and the feeling through impact. It’s not natural for me yet, feels very manufactured. But it was good practice. At least now I have some idea of how to make the ball move left-to-right intentionally, even if it’s not pretty yet. Need a lot more reps to make it reliable, that’s for sure.
