Maybe you’ve struggled with slicing the ball all your life and you want to learn how to draw a golf ball the easy way. For some golfers, hitting a draw may seem impossible, but it’s not and any golfer can learn to draw the ball.
Before we get into how to draw a golf ball, it’s important to understand what a draw is in golf, why you would want to draw a golf ball and the benefits of hitting a draw.
What is a draw in golf?
A draw is a golf shot with a slight to moderate curve to the left for a right-handed player and to the right for a left-handed player. Some golfers think any shot going to the left is a draw, but this isn’t true.
You can hit the ball to the left due to a pull or due to a hook. A hook is an over-exaggerated draw, while a pull is a ball hit straight left without curving to the left.
When you learn how to draw a golf ball as a right-handed player, you will watch your shot start a little to the right or even straight, and then the ball will curve from right to left as it travels in the air. For a left-handed player, a draw shot will do the opposite.
Why is hitting a draw a better choice compared to a fade?
It’s rather uncommon for a golfer to hit a straight shot. Even a shot appearing to fly straight will often have a slight draw or fade to it. Most professional golfers don’t play a straight ball.
Advanced and highly skilled golfers usually know how to hit both a draw and a fade. Each type of ball flight comes in hand for different reasons, but the draw is the most desirable.
Understanding how to hit a draw shot on command means you gain more options in certain situations. You will have the ability to play the right shot for a specific situation instead of just hitting the ball and hoping it ends up in a good position.
The Benefits of Learning How to Draw a Golf Ball
1. More Controllable than a Straight Shot
Skilled golfers don’t try to play a straight shot because they know it’s unreliable. With a draw, they know it will curve to some degree and they can plan for it. However, when trying to play a straight shot, if it curves at all, it could become a disaster.
2. Gain Distance
Hitting a draw will help you gain more distance on many of your golf shots. When you draw the ball off the tee, for example, the ball will gain topspin. This means it will bounce higher and further when landing giving you more distance from your drive.
3. Easier to Play the Wind
When you learn how to hit a draw, you can easily hold the wind if it’s a left to right wind and you can gain more distance if it’s a right to left wind. Of course, hitting a fade allows you to do the same thing with the opposite wind, so the most skilled golfers learn how to hit both shots.
4. Most Penetrating Ball Flight
When you have a penetrating ball flight, wind becomes less of a factor. You will also gain more distance in the air. Most players hitting a draw will likely have a better launch angle for their golf ball, as well.
When you learn how to draw a golf ball, you gain many benefits. It’s not an easy shot for amateur golfers to learn, however.
How to Draw a Golf Ball
The key to drawing a golf ball is your swing path. You need to approach the ball from the inside out with the clubface slightly open to the target line. While this may seem simple enough, it’s incredibly difficult for many golfers.
Start With G.A.S.
G.A.S. stands for Grip, Aim, and Setup. Every golfer learning any type of new swing will need to build the foundation first, which begins with your grip, your aim, and your setup.
The grip has to be adjusted to become stronger. A strong grip gives you the ability to turn the clubface easier at impact and hit a draw shot.
For the grip to be strong (for a right-handed golfer) the left hand will need to be turned toward your back hip slightly with the right hand over the top and the “V of the right hand pointing down the shaft of the club.
If you lift the club in front of you, it should feel like you can easily close the club face without much work. In fact, it’s not uncommon for golfers to try to learn how to draw a golf ball to start with a slightly closed clubface.
In some cases, even the most advanced golfers will close the clubface, if they need to hit a significant draw or even a hook shot to avoid an obstacle.
Once you have the grip down, you want to adjust your aim and your setup. Hitting a draw (for a right-handed player) means you need to aim a little bit to the right of your target. The ball will drawback to the left, which means you want it to start to the right of the target.
Your set up doesn’t need to change much compared to hitting a fade. However, you can close your stance to help create an easier setup position for drawing the golf ball.
To close your stands, simply move your back foot away from the ball an inch or two and turn your front shoulder towards the ball slightly. A closed stance provides an easier setup for amateur golfers to swing the club from inside out.
The Backswing
Once you have the right grip, aim, and setup, it’s time to actually start working on the swing. If you can get the backswing right, it will become much easier to draw the golf ball on command.
For a low handicap golfer, the key is the position at the top of the backswing. You want your clubface pointing to the sky and you want your front shoulder pointing at the golf ball. This is a key position for drawing the golf ball.
If your natural golf swing produces a fade or a slice, you may need to work on taking the club back to the outside of the golf ball. There’s a simple drill you can use to help you achieve this type of path with your backswing.
Swing Path Drill
Place a second golf ball about six to eight inches behind the ball you intend to hit. You want the second golf ball about one or two inches to the outside of the golf ball or further away from you than the first golf ball.
Now, you want to take the club back and roll that second golf ball backward as you start your backswing. This will help to create an outside path for your backswing leaving more room for you to swing from the inside out on the way down towards the ball.
Finishing the Swing
Now that you’ve found the perfect position at the top of the backswing, you need to finish the swing. The path of the club should go from inside out through the ball as the clubface closes at the moment of impact.
When done correctly, you will end up on the toes your back food and your swing finish will look much more like a professional’s finish on TV. Your chest should be facing the target and you should feel like your arms swung around your body, according to an article from GolfDigest.com written by Kevin Kisner.
5 Quick Tips for How to Draw a Golf Ball The Easy Way
While the steps above will help you learn how to draw the golf ball, a few quick tips might speed up the process.
1. Drop your Back Foot Back an Inch
When you drop your back foot back an inch or two at address, you will gain the room necessary to swing inside out. This is known as closing your stance.
If you need to hit a larger draw or even a hook shot to avoid an obstacle, you can drop your back foot back even further.
2. Keep Forearm Rotation to a Minimum
When you make impact with the golf ball, you want to keep forearm rotation to a minimum. If you rotate your forearms too much, you may close the face prematurely, which will produce an undesirable golf shot.
Remember, you want the face of the club pointing to the right of the target at impact. This will help to start the ball to the right and set up your draw.
3. Visualize Hitting a Draw
Golf is a very mental game. Many of the things that happen on a golf course are directly caused by our last most dominant thought.
You need to visualize hitting a draw before you’ll be able to hit a draw. Imagine smashing a beautiful drive starting slightly to the right and drawing back to your target just a bit. Imagine how far the ball will go and how impressed other golfers will be with the shot.
4. Start the Downswing with Your Hips
Many amateur golfers get to the top of the backswing and their hips don’t start the downswing. When you want to hit a draw, you want to practice getting to the top of the backswing and starting your downswing with a bump of your hips towards the target.
You can actually pause at the top of your backswing to practice this on the range. It will take some getting used to, but if you can get this hip bump right, you’ll be in better shape to hit a draw and a better golf shot.
5. Swing along your Body Line
If you’ve closed your stance slightly, the easiest way to think about how you should swing the golf club is to swing along your body line. If you were to lay a stick on the ground at your feet, it should be pointing slightly to the right of your target. This is the line you want to swing along to create an inside out swing.
3 Quick Drills to Help you Draw a Golf Ball
Even with the most well-explained strategy, getting your body to perform the swing you can see in your head isn’t easy. There are so many moving parts in the golf swing, it’s necessary to use drills to help create muscle memory. Here are three quick drills to help you learn how to draw a golf ball.
Drill #1 – Forward Shift
This is a very easy drill to perform. Find your proper setup position and get ready to hit a golf shot. Then, bump your hips forward (the forward shift) while shifting the club forward to create the correct position for impact.
Practicing the forward shift will help your body feel the correct impact position. Rehearse the forward shift a few times, and then hit a golf ball while trying to match this position at impact.
Drill #2 – The Water Bottle Drill
Similar to the drill mentioned earlier with the golf ball beheld the ball, the water bottle drill helps you to create more room for an inside out swing. Take a water bottle (half full or more) and set it about four to six inches outside the golf ball and about a foot behind it.
Then, as you take the club back, you want to practice taking it back to the outside without hitting the water bottle. If you do this correctly, you will start to create more room on the downswing for an inside out golf swing.
Drill #3 – Feet Together
A simple and basic drill, the feet together golf drill will help you create the right swing path for hitting a draw. Since you will have to swing with your arms and hips, you will start to adopt a more natural inside out swing path.
The drill is very simple. You put the ball in the middle of your stance and you put your feet together. Then, just hit golf balls as you normally would.
With these drills and the tips found above, you should be able to go to the range and learn how to draw a golf ball. Nothing in golf is automatic, however. You will need to practice and develop muscle memory to be able to hit a draw on command.
