Welcome to Day 3 of the "9 Days to Amazing Ball Striking" lesson series. Today you're going to learn one of the most valuable shots in golf — the controlled fade.
In yesterday's lesson, you learned exactly how to hit a draw by rolling the club face closed through impact. Today we reverse the process and master the opposite shot — a reliable fade that curves gently from left to right.
If you've ever struggled with an uncontrollable slice, you may think you already know how to fade the ball. The difference is that a properly executed fade is a controlled, intentional shot shape — not a mishit. This lesson gives you the drills to make it repeatable.
The principle behind hitting a fade is essentially the mirror image of the draw technique you practiced on Day 2. Once you understand both shots, you'll have complete command over your ball flight.
Day 3: How to Hit a Fade - The Opposite of the Draw
Instead of rolling your left hand counter-clockwise to close the face and release the club, today you're going to keep your hand slightly open through impact.
The back of your left wrist will point up toward the sky. This keeps the club face open, pointing to the right of your swing path.
Meanwhile, the club head will be moving to the left — exactly as you practiced in the Day 1 lesson — so the ball starts to the left of your target.
When the club head swings left while the club face points right — at the target or even to the right of it — the ball starts left and then curves gracefully to the right. That's the fade.
This creates the critical discrepancy between the direction the club face is pointing and the direction the club head is traveling, as shown by the alignment shafts on the ground in the photo at left.
As we discussed in the Day 2 lesson, the greater that discrepancy — the larger the V angle — the more sidespin gets imparted on the ball. With the club moving left and the face pointing right, you generate left-to-right spin that produces a controlled fade.
Step 1: Wrist Rotation for the Fade
We'll follow the same drill progression from Day 2, but reversing the direction of every movement.
Just as you did yesterday, take a normal neutral grip with your left hand and hold the club out in front of your body with the face perfectly vertical.
Now roll your hand open — rotating your left wrist clockwise to the right. This opens the club face away from the target.
However, there is one key difference between this and the Day 2 drill. We don't need to over-exaggerate this movement the way we did with the draw. You're only going to open the club face approximately 45 degrees.
Most golfers don't have much difficulty producing a fade. At some point in your golf career, you've probably already hit one — intentionally or not — so the sensation will feel relatively familiar. We don't need to go to extremes to ingrain this movement pattern.
Simply rotate the face about 45 degrees open. Complete 20 repetitions to groove the feel, then progress to Step 2.
Step 2: Impact Bag Drill
Grab your impact bag and perform the same drill format as yesterday, making mini swings with just the left hand.
As you swing down, concentrate on the feeling of keeping the club face open through impact. The back of your left wrist should face out in front of your body so the heel of the club leads the way into the bag.
The club face should be approximately 45 degrees open when you reach the impact position. Stop at impact and hold your position to verify the face is genuinely open — this checkpoint ensures you're developing the correct motor pattern.
This drill isn't particularly difficult to execute. Most golfers have experienced this open-face sensation at some point in their playing history.
Simply feeling that the heel of the club leads the way as you swing through impact may be all it takes to maintain the open face angle you need for a consistent fade.
Complete 20 reps with focused attention on the open face feel, then move on to Step 3. If you want real-time feedback on your face angle through impact, try a free AI golf lesson that tracks your release mechanics live.
Step 3: Half Swings
In Step 3, you'll make small swings using your left arm only, progressing to a more realistic motion.
As the club comes up through the impact zone and into the follow through, focus on holding the face completely open so the club face points straight up at the sky when the club reaches parallel to the ground.
A helpful visualization many golfers use: imagine setting a cup of water on the club face. As the club head comes through impact, the face should remain flat enough to balance that cup. If you released the club aggressively like you did with the draw, you'd dump the water immediately.
You can also use your wristwatch or the back of your left hand as a visual reference. If your watch face and the back of your hand point up toward the sky at waist height, the club face is open and you're executing the fade release correctly.
Step 4: Full Fade Drill
Now you're ready for the complete drill — hitting actual golf shots with a controlled fade. The first priority is confirming you're swinging to the left.
Set up with your feet, hips, and shoulders all perfectly parallel to the target line, using the alignment stick as your reference.
You're going to swing to the left, so your arms will extend outward and your shoulders may open slightly through impact. Swing left and focus on holding off the release of the club — maintaining that same open-face sensation you grooved in the preceding drills.
Start with a nice, easy little swing to the left while holding the face open. Your ball should start to the left of the stick and curve right — a textbook fade.
As you build confidence and consistency, gradually increase your swing speed until you're making full swings. Continue practicing until you can execute 20 full swings where the ball starts left, the face stays open, and you produce a controlled cut shot.
If you tend to take massive divots and hit dramatic slices, you're likely coming too far across the ball from outside-in. The good news is that you now have the tools to compensate — simply return to the Day 2 draw drills to straighten out your ball flight.
Complete 20 full swings, starting the ball left and fading it back to the right. At this stage, the amount of curvature doesn't matter — whether the ball curves 2 yards or 20 yards, as long as it's moving left-to-right, you're building the correct fade pattern.
Master your fade today, and tomorrow we'll move on to Days 4 and 5 — where you'll learn to control trajectory, hitting your shots higher and lower on command. You can also complement this work with a free AI swing analysis to see exactly how your current swing path and face angle compare to elite standards.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
The club head moves left
The club face points at the target or to the right of it
Rotate wrist clockwise
The club heel leads
Imagine holding a cup of water on the club face
Line up square to the target line
Swing to the left
