How to Hit a Draw
We'll admit it, a lesson about how to hit a draw is not exactly uncharted territory. But despite every golf magazine promising to turn you into Bryson DeChambeau, most golfers still slice the ball off the tee. Part of that is a lack of practice, sure, but another large part is that most of the aforementioned lessons are trash. In this lesson, we're going to explain the simple science of why the ball curves left and offer some practical tips for how to make it do that more often.
This Lesson Is For You If:
You want to hit a draw
You want to stop hitting a slice
The Science
Here's our notes for hitting a draw:
For the ball to curve left, the club face needs to be pointed more left at impact than the club path.
With a wood or hybrid, hitting the ball on the toe side of the center of gravity will promote a draw.
The Science – Dive Deeper
If you want to get a little deeper into the facts of ball flight, let’s dive in.
The greater the difference between the club face and the club path, the more the ball will curve. For example: if your club path is +2 (“in-to-out”) and your face is square at impact, you will hit a small draw. If you keep that club face but make your path +6, you’re probably looking at a hook.
The more loft a club has, the less it will curve, all else equal. You know this intuitively: it’s much easier to hook or slice your driver than your lob wedge.
Your angle of attack impacts your club path. The more negative/down your angle of attack is at impact, the more rightward your path will be. Practically, this means that it’s generally easier to draw your irons than your driver.
With regard to gear effect, the further the center of gravity (CoG) is from the ball, the more gear effect there will be. This is why your driver has a lot and your irons have very little.
Finally, the CoG is not necessarily in the center of the club face. If your club is draw biased, the CoG is closer to the heel so more of the face will promote a draw. If you have adjustable weights, you can move the CoG to fit your needs.
Let’s Hit Some Draws
Before we change anything, we need to assess where you’re at right now. Your path or club face may already be perfect for hitting a draw, and we don’t want to change something that’s good.
Go to the range and set down an alignment stick or two. Hit some shots and answer two questions:
Relative to your target, where does the ball start?
Which way does the ball curve?
Now, choose your adventure based on the answers to those questions.
If Your Shots Start On Target…
…that tells us that your club face is pointed at the target at impact. Congrats, that’s a great starting point.
Next, we look at the curve. If the ball is not curving, stop reading and go play golf. If the ball is curving left, why are you reading an article about hitting a draw?
If the ball is curving right, that tells us that your club path is left of your club face (“out to in”). We can modify this in a few different ways. One option is to set up differently. Align your club face to the target but aim your body (feet, hips, and shoulders – not just feet) to the right of the target.
Another setup option is to shift your entire setup (clubface and body) to the left. Now your shots will start left of target and curve right, back to the target. This is not wrong, this is not cheating. I would wager that there are thousands, maybe millions, of people who have played very good golf doing this.
The final option is to maintain your current alignment but swing “down the line” or “in to out.” This is a tough change that will take time. Set up an alignment stick on your preferred swing path and make practice swings “tracing” that line. Hit half-speed shots and check where the ball starts and where it curves. If you lose control of your clubface or contact, slow it down and rehearse more.
If Your Shots Start Right of the Target…
…and curve left, you’re already hitting push-draws. Stop reading, go play golf. For everyone else, let’s dig in.
If you’re starting shots a little bit right of the target, and those shots don’t curve, a small tweak to your clubface is all you need. Work on closing the club face a little more at impact and the shots will start closer to target with a small draw. My preferred feel is turning my left hand counter-clockwise (palm up) into impact, but there are many other possibilities you can find success with.
If you’re starting shots a lot right of the target, and those shots don’t curve, the solution is the same. Get your clubface closer to square and you’ll have the shot pattern of your dreams. If your starting shots well right of the target, DO NOT try to change your swing path.
Now, let’s deal with those shots that are starting right and curving right. First, if we’re talking about your driver, check your impact location. Moving your impact location away from the heel can be the fastest way to straighter, longer drives.
Assuming impact location isn’t the issue (or this isn’t a driver problem), we need to look at how far right the ball is starting. If you’re only starting the ball a little right of the target, but it curves right, that is a swing path issue. Look at the last paragraph of the section above for some fixes. If you’re hitting shots that start far right and then curve, start by fixing the clubface, then tweak your path if necessary.
If Your Shots Start Left of the Target…
…you don’t want the ball to draw, because you’d end up in the land of pull-hooks, a very unhappy place indeed.
If you want to hit draws, the first thing you need to do is get your club face pointed at or right of the target at impact. For this, my preferred feeling is opening the clubface more in the backswing. I like to feel that my left hand is twisting clockwise fast and early in the swing, getting my club toe-up or face-up when the shaft is parallel to the ground. This is my preferred feel, but there are certainly other ways to do it. Once you have the ball starting at or right of the target, check your shots’ curvature and revisit the sections above to get it dialed in.
If your shots start left and curve right, you have two options. First, if the curvature is small, you can stop reading and play golf. However, if the ball starts far left and screams back across the fairway, you need to work on your path and clubface. What’s likely happening is that your body is using the club path to close the face because it doesn’t know how else to do it. If you have access to an impact bag (an old pillow can substitute, at low speed), make slow practice swings where you try to put the toe of the club into the bag. This is obviously a massive overcorrection, but it will teach your body how to close the clubface without swinging “over the top.” When you go to the range, see if your shot pattern has changed and form a new plan.
A Word of Warning
Before you start playing mad scientist with your swing, understand that the golf swing is a complex, interconnected thing. If you start moving your club path, you may lose control of your club face, or vice versa. Your contact may suffer.
Before you embark on a big change, understand that it will require patience and there may be some pain involved. If you choose to go down that road anyway, good luck, and let us know how it goes.
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