Shaping the Ball?

Question

I am a 5 handicap and i have a few questions about deliberatly shaping the ball Here we go,

- What are the methods to shape the ball in both ways in drives or long/mid iron shots? i know one is cross alignment of the clubface and the feet, how does this work? and whats the other way where your swing can cause a draw or a fade?

- How do you shape an approach shot 100-150 yards in?

- How do you shape an extreme shot such as out of the trees standing square to the fairway, & you have to move it 90 degree or more either way?

- how do you practice these shots? any drills?

Answer 1

Here's a quick and easy tip for shaping your shot. I remember seeing Greg Norman giving this tip many years ago.

He would say to line up to the golf as you normally would to hit the ball straight. You then move only your feet towards the direction you want the ball flight to start out. The key here is to not move the club face... it should still remain aimed at the target.

So for example if you wanted to hit a right to left shot your club face would be pointing at the target and your feet would be aimed to the left.

It's very important that you swing the club the same way you do for a normal shot. Practice this on the range and you'll see how easy it is.

I know it's not the most elegant method, but this the easiest method I've found to instruct golfers of all levels of play.

Thanks,
Don

U.S. Golf Schools - http://www.us-golf-schools.com
To Golf Or Not To Golf - http://tgontg.blogspot.com

Answer 2

The best I've found for normal shots is strengthening or weakening my grip. For tricky punch shots and whatnot, you can hook the ball by playing it back in your stance and hooding it, and the opposite to put an extreme fade on it (up and open).
Check out last months Golf magazine. There's an article in there by Dave Pelz. I think it's called "all i know". There's a lot of great stuff in there, and some is about shaping.