Knowing how to hit a draw shot properly can be extremely useful for any golfer, as it can provide escape routes out of trouble previously inaccessible or can help straighten out that slice that expensively costs shots on the golf course. In this video, PGA Professional Jack Backhouse explains exactly how to draw the golf ball.
What is a draw shot?
Before we get into the details, it might be worth first explaining what a draw is. A draw shot (for a right-handed player) is a name for a golf shot then, when struck, starts out to the right of the target and then curves back left towards the target. For a left-handed player, it would start out to the left and curve to the right back to the target.
Why would you want to hit a draw?
Each and every shot we play out on the golf course asks a different question of our game. We play uphill, downhill, downwind, into the wind, over bunkers, under trees, to elevated greens and down hills, out of rough, off a tee, and so on. Instead of just practising a standard shot from a good lie on the driving range, a golfer would be better prepared to play golf if they knew how to manipulate the flight of the ball to match the situation in front of them.
A golfer might not want their stock shape to be a draw, but it is always useful to know how to do it on demand in case the opportunity presents itself and it is the only option.
There are plenty of times a golfer might want to hit the golf with a right-to-left curve:
- To go around an obstacle in their way
- When hitting on a right to left dogleg
- When looking to swing faster
- To try to hit the ball close to a tucked pin
What needs to change to hit a draw?
There are 2 things that you must do to hit the golf ball with a draw:
- Have a swing path that is angled to the right of the target line (right-handed golfer)
- Have a club face angle that is closed (pointing further left) to the swing path but open to the target line (pointing to the right)
This is the usual sticking point for golfers. For a draw shot, we want to start out to the right of the target before it curves to the left, so the club face must be open and point right of the target. Then, in order to create the right-to-left spin that curves the ball, we must have a swing direction that is further right than the clubface and the target. And breathe.
Common faults here are a shot that starts too far left of the target and then curves further left (pull hook) or a shot that starts to the right and just stays out there (push). These shots happen when the clubface gets too closed or too open to the target.
This can sound complicated, but it is actually much easier to hit a draw shot than it is a straight one. For a straight shot, a golfer must get both club path and face pointing exactly at a target at impact, which is extremely difficult to do. To hit a draw, all you need to do is get the path out to the right of the target and clubface closed to it; you have a much bigger margin for error.
Set up adjustments
We can do our best to pre set a draw into our swing in the address position by doing the following things:
- Aligning feet, hips, shoulders and forearms right whilst keeping the clubface square to target
- Pushing the hands further forward at address
- Moving the ball back in the stance
All things being equal, doing these 3 things will move the swing path further out to the right of the target whilst keeping the clubface closed to the path.
How to draw the golf ball: in swing feels
If making the pre-swing changes do not create a draw, or a big enough draw shot, there are some inswing thoughts that will exaggerate the swing path and club face further:
- Big, centred hip turn
- Flatter, deeper backswing
- Swinging down with slow hips
It is up to you, the golfer, to figure out which of these changes to make in order to increase the ball flight. I find that just making the pre swing changes is enough for me to produce a small draw shot that I would hit into greens and off the tee, and when doing the in swing changes I produce a big hook that I save for getting out of trouble.
It is well worth going to the driving range and experimenting with these changes, to see how much you can change your ball flight, and which of the pre swing or in swing changes work best for your game. These are all swing characteristics I work on with golfers week in week out to stop slicing the ball, so if you suffer with that left to right curve it might be an idea to develop these characteristics into your natural swing.
If you want to watch some more of our instruction videos, you can get to Hannah Holden’s YouTube Instruction series by clicking here. Please check out our other instruction articles if you liked this how to draw the golf ball article!
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