Introduction
Shot shaping is an art form, and this series will certainly reflect that. Shot Shaping 101 is all about how to hit all these different shots that you may not know how to hit. I personally love to shape the ball, left, right, low, high; it doesn’t matter to me; I absolutely love to draw up a shot in my head and then take swings to practice that shot shape, get the feel for it, then go ahead and step up and execute it. There is seldom a better feeling than hitting a shot exactly how you drew it up. What this series is not, let's be very clear, is telling you to hit the ball like this every time. Fighting your natural ball flight is difficult and often leads to loads of mis-hits and hitting the ball more inconsistent than you were. I think draws, fades, and straight shots all work; try not to fight your natural swing just to hit a draw. This is purely to practice and understand how to hit the draw so that when a shot demands a draw, you aren’t screwed!
Laws of Ball Flight
Now the laws of ball flight are as follows: Face controls where you start the ball, and the path determines how the ball curves. Face sends it; the path bends it. Knowing what creates a draw, makes the draw easier to hit every single time you line up to hit it. A draw is created for a right-handed player by having a path that is right of the face angle. That will create a draw-spin. The delta between the face and the path determines how much the shot will draw. So let's take a couple of examples to explain better. If my face is square at 0 degrees and my path is 3 degrees right, I will hit a draw that starts on the line and draws away from that target line. If my face is 2 degrees open and my path is 4 degrees right, then the ball will start right of your target line and draw back to it in a push draw. Now let's say your face is closed at 5 degrees left. Now the path is 5 degrees to the right of the target line, which will be a pull hook, that's dead left all over it. So just to summarize a draw is created when the path is right of the face. The delta determines how much it will turn.
How to hit a draw
Okay, now you know what creates a draw, but what are some ways you can go out and hit draws? Well, we need to get the path right of the face. So we will close our stance while keeping our face square. So your feet line is right of your target line. Your face needs to come through square or just barely open, and you need to swing right of that. So we are going to focus on keeping your face square. When you come down to impact you need the back of your hand pointed down towards the ground. If you were wearing a watch you would point the watch down towards the ground, which will square or close your clubface. Keeping your clubface square through impact or a couple of degrees open is vital to hit a draw. Now with your face square, swing right of that, on your feet line, and the ball will draw. You can do this drill to help you come from the inside and swing right as well: Take a normal stance, drop your rear foot back pretty far, and take swings hitting from the inside of the ball. It will open up your ability to swing from the inside, taking your path right of a square face. Remember that the path doesn’t just have to be right; it has to be right of the face.
Groove it
Now you know how to hit a draw, it is time to learn how to control it better. After all, what good is another weapon in your arsenal if you don’t know how to aim it? The best way to gain control of a new swing, to gain any kind of consistency, is, of course, the CTRL Swing Master Training Aid. It watches your hand, learns what you are doing at impact, and helps train you to take that swing every time. Build a model with your CTRL Swing Master Training aid that is for your draw swing, and then take swings in training mode with that model and we will watch your wrist angles, make sure you keep that face square as you built the model with it, and give you feedback on your impact position. The CTRL Swing Master watches your tempo, face, and path, giving you feedback on what the problem with that last swing was, helping you hit great shots every single time.
Conclusion
Hitting a draw simply requires a path that is right of your face. Once you have face CTRL and path CTRL you will be able to hit a draw whenever you want. This is a vital skill to have when you are out on the course. Out on a course will require many different shots to shoot the best round possible. Whether the hole is just set up to force a draw or you found yourself in trouble and need to hook it out, being able to respond in these situations is crucial to hit better shots.
