Hitting a fade for many golfers is the most desirable shot in golf.
Because the RST swing pattern is built around hitting perfectly straight shots, hitting a fade from the perfect RST positions is incredibly simple.
Once you have mastered the RST swing, you will want to explore the capabilities of being able to shape shots. This gives you the ability to attack tough pins or safely work the ball away from trouble for a conservative tee shot.
Because the RST method is engineered around the simplest possible movements of the human body, the club takes a very clean, simple path away from and back to the ball.
This allows you to make very small and easy adjustments to hit the ball high, low, left, or right.
In this video, the focus is on the simple adjustments needed in the release to get the ball to curve left to right.
This shot serves multiple purposes:
- getting to a tucked pin,
- hitting the ball higher with more spin, and
- getting the ball to land softer.
In case you are unfamiliar with the modern ball flight laws, they can roughly be summarized as follows:
About 85% of the initial direction of your shot is determined by the club face angle, and about 15% is determined by the club path.
When hitting a fade, the primary concern should be your club face angle through impact and how you release the club.
In the image above, you can see that the clubface is still open well into the follow-through. This is the key to hitting a controlled fade.
If you feel that the toe of the club does not turn over through the hitting area by holding off the release with the hands, the ball will have cut spin and work itself left to right.
Note that hitting a typical fade will tend to add loft through impact compared to a normal stock shot, so that will typically mean you need to take 1-2 more clubs than normal for the given distance. To see how your own fade mechanics and club face control compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
Video Transcription: How to Fade the Golf Ball
As I discussed in the "Draw the Ball" video, everything you are doing with ball flight is dictated by what you do with your lead hand in the swing, in terms of controlling the club face angle.
When it comes to fading the ball, it is incredibly simple. Again, very slight adjustments in your swing that are going to make it so that you can get the ball to cut left-to-right without any difficulty whatsoever. That is the whole point of RST — the movements are so small and simple that you have the ability and freedom to manipulate the club face as you see fit.
If you want to hit straight shots, that takes care of itself. If you want to start manipulating ball flight — hitting it lower, higher, left-to-right, right-to-left — it is straightforward.
Here is all you are going to do to learn to fade the ball. As I discussed in the "Draw the Ball" video, I move the ball back slightly if I want the ball to start to the trail side and draw back. It depends on the type of shot you need.
That adjustment tends to let you hit a ball that starts to the trail side, versus if you just want to hook it around a tree quickly, you might not move the ball position because you want it to start left of your target line.
The same principle applies to a fade. All I am going to do is move the ball slightly forward in my stance. What that does is give me a little more time to come slightly across the ball during my release, in order to get the ball to start slightly left of my line.
If I move it back in my stance, I am going to tend to come from the inside. From down the line — as it is back in my stance, I am going to tend to approach from the inside.
As it is forward, it gives me the ability to come a little more over it and get the ball to start slightly left of my target line, or even on my line, and fade to the right. The key is now just controlling the club face angle. You can move the ball slightly forward for a slightly different path, and now all we need to focus on is the logo on the lead hand.
All I am going to do now — rather than going to the top and making sure my lead wrist is flat — is allow a slight cupping, and then maintain that cupping through the downswing. If I go to the top in my normal position, my wrist is flat. To hit a fade, I am going to let it cup slightly. Again, we are talking about very small differences — just a slight amount.
Now in that position, the club face is slightly open. As I come down, I am basically just going to maintain that position so at this point my wrist is no longer in that slight arched position. It is very slightly cupped, and now as the ball is forward, I will probably get my shoulders just a hair open at impact, and that allows me to keep the club face from fully releasing.
Now, as long as I feel that the logo of my glove does not flip over, I can get my hands to hold the release of the club by feeling that the logo faces down the target line a little longer. Normally, I would release and get the logo facing behind me. For real-time coaching on your fade mechanics, try a free AI golf lesson.
Hitting a fade is remarkably simple. You are going to let the lead wrist cup slightly at the top, move the ball slightly forward in your stance if you want the ball to start left of your target line or even on your line, and then as you come through impact, keep the logo of your glove facing down the target line just a split second longer.
Hold off the release depending on how much you want to cut it, and you will be able to get around trees or anything else and fade the ball to right-side flags with no problem at all.
Just work on holding that angle slightly longer, getting a little more cupped at the top, and you will be able to hit fades on command.
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Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
This is a critical checkpoint in a swing designed to fade the ball.
Coming from the inside
Club face slightly open
Shoulders slightly open
Logo faces down the target line longer
