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How to Hit a Draw & Fade with a Driver
Hitting a draw or fade with a driver may seem hard to do. But once you understand how it works, it does not have to be hard shot.
Of course, before you start to control your ball flight with a driver, you need to have the correct grip for you. For more information about grip, see the page about grip.
Never Hit a Straight Shot?
Jack Nicklaus influenced a lot of players including Tiger Woods. Nicklaus said he never tried to hit a straight shot with his driver.
If you try hitting straight shot to a 40 yard wide fairway, you only have 20 yards to work the ball with.
If you slice it 21 yards, you are going to miss a fairway.
In this case, Jack Nicklaus would aim left side of the fairway and fade the ball back to the center of the fairway.
If he fades it 39 yards, he would still be in the fairway.
That's why he never tried to hit it straight. He was taking advantage of the whole fairway width.
How to Hit a Fade
Jack Nicklaus said to hit a fade, aim left side of the fairway and align your body parallel with your aim line ( The line that extends from the ball to the spot( left side of fairway) you are aiming.)
Next, open your clubface a bit. Finally, swing along your body line with your regular swing.
You don't have to cut across the ball to hit a fade. If you do, you will put too much side spin and the ball will curve too much.
When you open your clubface a bit at address, open your clubface first and then grip it. Not the other way around.
How to Hit a Draw
To hit a draw, you need to do the opposite of a fade. Aim for the right side of the fairway. Align your shoulders, waist and feet parallel with the aim line.
Next, close your face a bit at address. But be careful not to close too much. Drivers don't have much loft so if you close the face too much, you can't get the ball airborne and lose the distance.
Jack Nicklaus said you should move your head a bit to the right at address. This would help you swing more from the inside on the downswing with the clubface closing through impact.
Setting your head back a bit at address would also let you catch the ball on the upswing.
When you hit a draw, you are delofting the driver at impact because the face is closing. That's why a draw will go lower than a fade.
So if you want to hit a draw that flies high in the air, you might want to hit it on the upswing to compensate for that.