How to Shape Golf Shots

Hitting a Draw or Hitting a Fade in golf is something any golfer can do, as long as they know some basic concepts.

When there is a difference in angle between the path of the club and the face of the club, there is going to be some sort of curve on the shot, and understanding the difference between the two can help you start to learn how to shape golf shots.

How to Shape Golf Shots

Have you ever wished you had more control over the shape of your golf shots? If you’re like a lot of golfers, you might assume such a refined skill is out of your reach. Someone may have even told you outright that shaping a golf shot is too challenging for the average weekend golfer.

I am here to tell you that this skill is far from impossible.

No matter your level of experience, you can learn how to control the curve of your ball flight. You don’t even have to make any changes to your swing. You simply have to understand what creates curve and how to use those factors to your advantage.

What Creates Curve?

The curve of ball flight is determined by two factors: the angle of the clubface and the direction of the club path at the moment of impact.

If, for example, your clubface is angled to the left at impact, you are essentially instructing the ball to fly at that same angle. Likewise, the club path also determines the direction of ball flight. But what if there is disparity between these two sets of instructions?

Well, that’s how we get the curve.

Let’s say, for example, you made a golf shot where your club path was angled 5 degrees to the right of the target and your clubface was angled 2 degrees to the right. That 3-degree disparity would give you a nice draw, or a left-to-right curve.

The same would be true for the opposite direction. If you angled your club path 5 degrees to the left and your clubface 2 degrees to the left, you’d fade the ball. Or, to put it another way, you’d create a gentle, left-to-right curve in your ball flight.

Now, unless you’re some kind of golf prodigy, you’ve probably learned firsthand that too much curve can be a bad thing. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to focus on teaching you how to create a deliberate draw or fade in this article. However, if you could also use help fixing your hook or slice, we have videos and articles that cover those subjects in depth. Be sure to check them out!

For now, let’s talk about how you can use clubface angle and club path to create the curve you want.

How to Shape Golf Shots

Shaping your golf shots seems like it would require pinpoint precision and perfect timing. The truth, however, is much simpler. You don’t have to change anything about your swing. The most significant change you have to make is in the position of your body.

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[stevenc]

Love the video! This is how I change ball flight. Don’t change your swing, change your setup and grip.

[kboy]

Hi Todd, this is probably the best video I have seen on YouTube explaining how to shape the golf ball!!! Given clubface has 80% ish influence on start line, would it be fair to say you could rename the target line as intended start line? Ie dog leg left to right, aim clubface at start line of left rough & then open your stance from there? Assuming centre strike, the ball would start on left rough & gently fade around the dog leg. Hope that makes sense!!

[robertmazzarachio]

Nice video and instructions as always, let me see if I got this, a draw shot slightly closed stance club face to target, fade slightly open club face to the target

[MrCforster]

Thanks a million it has helped me a lot. the only issue i have is i alw, ays thought when doing a draw the club face should slighty point right and when doing a fade the club slighty turn left. you said the club face should be sqaure to the taget just different body alignment

[winzaw]

What about ball position? If you keep the same ball position and you open your stance, the ball position would move towards the back and as I understand it backwards ball position promotes a draw. Vice versa for closing your stance for a draw.
I agree totally with the ball flight principle (face direction and path). I just want to know how much tha ball position would / would not negate the intended ball flight. Thank you for the short tips.

[jtball]

Thanks fort the video and just to clarify a bit. When fading the ball as a right hander should we align our clubface slightly left of our intended landing spot or straight at our intended landing spot?
And vice versa for draws.

[byrongustafson]

As the left handed golfer, what you showed would be the opposite of what you saying fade and draw? Do you have more carry with a draw?

[williamgirvan]

If you return the clubface to its starting position won't you in fact hook way left of target for the draw swing and way right of target for fade swing?

[mh]

I hear instructors talk about draw and fade all the time. Isn’t shaping shots also involving cuts, and stingers and such? Can you show those

[skinbanger]

Just to confirm, when you say 'target' or 'target line' you are referring to the starting point of the shot not the finishing point of the shot, correct???