Name Your Shots To Improve Your Golf Game
Article by Herb Rubenstein, PGA
Introduction
There are nine basic full swing, desirable types of “long” golf shots for normal conditions. And each shot can be hit with a full force swing or a three-quarter force swing, making a total of 18 possible “long” shot combinations.
The “long” (longer than 60 yards) golf shots have these three basic elements:
Curve/Shape –desired direction the ball curves during flight: Straight, Fade, Draw
Trajectory – how high the golf ball goes during its flight: MediumTTM, HighTTM, LowTTM
Planned Distance - The amount of effort of your swing: Full, Three Quarter
Desired Curve/Shape:
A golf shot can have one of three “curves” or “shapes.”
A “straight” shot is a shot that starts out exactly, or reasonably close, in line with the intended target, and stays straight, or reasonably straight, throughout its entire flight.
A “fade” is a golf shot (for the right-handed golfer) that ideally starts out just a few yards to the left of the intended target and has a curve of only a few yards to the right, (for the right-handed golfer) bringing the golf ball back in line, or reasonably close in line, with the intended target for the shot. For the left-handed golfer a “fade” makes the golf ball curve to the left (the opposite direction). The actual curve in the shot (for either a fade or a draw, as discussed below) primarily occurrs towards the end of the flight of the ball due to the laws of physics.
A “draw” for the right-handed golfer is a golf shot that ideally starts out just a few yards to the right of the intended target and has a curve of only a few yards to the left, bringing the golf ball back in line, or reasonably close in line, with the intended target for the shot. For the left-handed golfer a “draw” makes the golf ball curve to the right. is called a “draw”
Golf shots that go straight, fade, or draw are all “desirable” types of golf shots, if properly planned and executed. Some of the best players in the world hit most of their shots with a draw and some of the best players in the world hit most of their shots with a fade, and many of the best players in the world hit many of their golf shots nearly perfectly straight, and mix in many shots during their round that either fade or draw on command depending on the conditions they face on the golf course.
Undesired Curve/Shape: For typical long golf shots there are undesired curves that are important to mention as they are exaggerations of the fade and the draw. These exaggerated curves may be desirable when a golf shot has some type of obstruction between the ball and the target like a tree, and the only way to get the ball to the target is to curve the ball a very significant amount.
Undesirable curves include:
Slice - a significant curve of the ball to the right (for the right-handed golfer)
Hook, - a significant curve of the ball to the left.
Banana Ball - extreme curve to the right for the right-handed golfer or to the left for the left-handed golfer
Snap Hook - extreme curve to the left for the right-handed golfer or to the right for the left-handed golfer.
Undesirable “Straight” Golf Shots
There are two types of undesirable golf shots that go straight, but go straight in the wrong direction far away from the target.
Push – a shot that goes straight but far to the right of the target, for the right-handed golfer and far to the left of the target for the left-handed golfer.
Pull - a shot that goes straight but far to the left of the target, for the right-handed golfer and far to the right of the target for the left-handed golfer
Trajectory
Regarding trajectory, the terms are somewhat self-explanatory. A high shot is a shot that goes high for the golf club that you are using. A low shot goes low for that club. A medium trajectory is a shot in between the high shot and the low shot. These are all desired trajectories, but for every shot there is one trajectory that may be better for you than the others depending on either how you hit a golf ball or what the playing conditions are. Note: There are also two unwanted trajectories: If you hit the ball too high it is called “skying” the ball and you lose significant distance. If you hit the ball too low, or even make it roll on the ground right from the beginning of the shot, we call that “topping” or “blading” the shot, and this is an undesired trajectory for many reasons. Topped shots are called this because your club has hit the top of the ball rather than the lower back or middle back of the golf ball and you lose a lot of distance with a topped shot. Bladed golf shots are called bladed because the leading edge of the iron club or wedge is also called the “blade” of the club and it should hit the lower portion of the back of the ball. When the leading edge or blade of the club hits the middle of back of the golf ball, the distance the ball goes is uncontrollable, and it often disastrously goes way too far, over the green, and into big trouble around the green.
Planned Distance or “Force” With Which You Hit The Golf Ball
Golf clubs come with a clubhead with varying degrees of lofts for each “numbered” club. There is usually 3, 4, or 5 degrees of difference in loft between each of the golf clubs. Most sets of clubs also come with each club having a different length as well, with lower lofted clubs having longer “shafts” than higher lofted clubs. Club lofts range from six degrees to over sixty degrees and can make the difference between hitting a full force shot either over 300 yards or less than 70 yards depending on the loft. Degrees of loft and length of the club affect the distance the ball goes. So, with a repeating, good golf swing, each golfer will hit a golf club with a certain loft and length a certain knowable distance, within a few yards or so (with variations of that distance depending on the length of the grass surrounding the ball, the angle of the ground, the wind, weather, altitude, etc). (Note: some people are starting to play with “single” length clubs,” but they still have different lofts so the ball goes different distances when struck by them as well).
All golfers, even beginning golfers understand, at some level, the concept “full swing.” This is the swing which represents a pretty full percentage (say 80 or 90%) of the maximum speed with which a person could swing a club. If a person seeks to swing as fast as they possibly can, they will often not be able to control the golf club well enough to hit a golf shot accurately or within a reasonable distance of the target.
The speed of the golf club head can now be easily measured, but in the 1960s when I learned how to play golf, there was virtually no way to measure how fast a golf club head was traveling at impact. For most golfers, a full-force swing generate a club head speed of between 80 and 100 miles per hour for a driver and less speed for every club that is shorter and has more loft. So, if a golfer hits a 9 iron, approximately 35.75 inches in length and 40 degrees of loft, approximately 130 yards and hits their 8 iron, approximately 36.25 inches in length and 35 degrees of loft approximately 140 yards, what does the golfer do when the target is 135 yards away? There are several options. One could swing a 9 iron harder than usual which is usually what golfers do, but is usually not a great idea. Or one could swing an 8 iron a little easier (three quarter’s force), (or grip the club down the grip and an inch or two closer to the club head, thereby effectively shortening the club), and these options would also result in the club head going a few miles per hour slower that a full-force shot and the ball going a few yards less than a normal, full-force shot. What many golfers do not understand is that this shot at three-quarter speed or force should be a very common golf shot in a round, since it is rare that you have the exact distance to a target that you normally hit a particular golf club.
Amateur golfers most often come up “short” of a target for many reasons, and one of those reasons is they are not willing to take a lower lofted or numbered club (called an “extra club”) and hit it three-quarter strength, but rather take out a golf club that 90% of the time if they hit it well will leave them well short of the target. This typical mental “flaw” or “decision flaw” in a golfer’s game is caused by many golfers not being comfortable “taking more club” (a lower lofted club with a lower club number which is slightly longer) and hitting it just a little less than “full.” To help correct this “decision flaw” which most golfers have, we state clearly that every shot, high, medium, and low, and straight, fade or draw, can be hit with a three-quarter force swing and therefore I include this type of shot in our naming system below. The more likely golfers give this shot a name through our system, and call it by a name during a round, they will more likely they will learn how to hit this shot well and the more likely they will begin using this very important shot more and more when they play golf.
If you have not developed any preference for a straight, fade or draw shot, or a full or ¾ shot, then you do not have a “go to” shot, or one in which you would be most confident. You also do not have a “game” plan for your golf game or golf round. This is a huge detriment. Think of a basketball player who does not have a “favorite” shot. Every time down the court they will stuck with having to make a quick decision on whether to take a jump shot, get into position to take a hook, drive for a lay-up, etc. Knowing your gold, silver and bronze is just like knowing your “best, second best, and third best” basketball shot. Just as every basketball player needs to be good at many types of shots, every golfer must also seek competence in these nine types of shots to be as versatile as possible given the different “shot situations” a golfer faces in a round.
The Straight Shot
Golf has changed over the past three decades. Legend has it that when a reporter asked Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of his time, why he didn’t hit the golf ball straight, but preferred to hit a fade, sometimes hit a draw, but rarely tried to hit is straight, he supposedly answered, “It’s too hard to hit it straight.” That was then. Today, the clubs are designed to help you hit it straight, so I would hope for every golfer who intends to improve that the goal is someday for the “straight” shaped shot to become the preferred shape of the shot.
I Always Slice (Fade) or Hook (Draw) The Ball
Once you learn the fundamental physics of golf club/golf ball interaction, it will become clear that every golfer can hit a fade or a draw on command. Now, controlling the amount of fade or draw will take a lot of practice, and avoiding the slice or the hook will take a lot of practice when you only want a fade or a draw, but the message of this article is simple. If you can hit a fade or slice, you can hit a draw or hook.
After you commit to using this naming system, spend a little time (it takes less than an hour) ill to learn what elements of the golf club/golf ball interaction or characteristics of a golf swing cause a golf ball to fade, slice, draw, hook, go straight, go high, low or medium trajectory. This is actually very, very simple physics and don’t let anyone tell you it is complicated to figure out why a golf ball either goes straight, curves to the right or curves to the left.
I admit that it is very hard to control exactly how many yards a golf ball curves to the left or the right on a full shot. If it were easy, the game would not be as frustrating as it is. But every curve in its direction and in its amount has a clear cause and every golfer can figure out why their golf shots are curving to one side or the other, or go straight, and every golfer can figure out why their shots to high, medium or low. Now there are varying degrees of such a curve to the right or a curve to the left and a golf shot that curves to a great extent to the left or the right can hurt your score. Basically, when you exaggerate what causes a ball to fade you get a “slice,” which is a big, usually unwanted and harmful severe curve to the right (for the right-handed golfer). And when you exaggerate what causes a ball to draw you get a “hook,” which is a big usually unwanted and harmful, severe curve to the left.
The “Pull” and The “Push”
There is one type of straight shot we are not discussing in this article since it is never a “preferred” shot at all. There is a type of shot that goes straight but goes far to the left or right of the target and these already have names we should know. The straight shot that goes to the right of the target for a right-handed golfer is called the “push,” and the straight shot that goes to the left of the target is called a “pull.” No one trains or seeks to hit a pull or a push. You align your body (shoulder, hips and feet) and equipment in a manner that promotes you hitting a golf ball straight at the target. (Now knowing how to set up with proper alignment to the target with the body and the equipment, can be a little complicated for reasons beyond the subject of this article). I do not give the “push” or “pull” shots positive names because these shots are what we call “misses,” unless they are pulled or pushed to only an insignificant degree and therefore, are acceptable.
Conclusion
If you practice and learn the simple physics of the golf club/golf ball interaction, you can be able to control your golf shots and hit all 18 shots. Some days you might find, as Tommy Fleetwood says he finds during his one hour warm up session before a round, that he is “hitting fades” that day and some days he finds he is “hitting draws.” Since he hits the ball very, very straight much of the time, a slight variation of his great swing, which he may not be conscious of in the heat of competition or even in the heat of warming up for competition, will cause him that day to decide before he addresses the ball before a shot, to plan on hitting a fade or a draw depending on the day.