Im actually starting to like this stupid game :D

[William Tipton]

Went to the range yesterday and dragged the wife along as a witness so when I get in my mind to change something she can remind me it was fine and to leave it the hell alone

Hit a small bucket. I have one stall I like to get in because you have a line of flags/markers that run down one side and a few one the other with a big sign dead in the center on a tree at the end of the field to shoot at as the green. Perfect "fairway" for working on long shots.

I told the wife to watch and I'd try to hit a nice draw and it would work great. And then Id try a fade, something that is VERY hard for me, rarely ever works and then seemingly only by accident. But it worked perfect every time but one.
I also hit a few draws and fades where I would take the ball outside my marked fairway and bring it back in, which also went off perfect. I had the same results the last few rounds of golf I played too where I had to either draw or fade around some trees to either get back on the fairway or onto the green.

I am nearly positive that the instructor that i ran into a few weeks ago has been the reason for it working now because he made me understand how my slight over the top swing (nothing too bad, just enough to make shots a bit less predictable) had to be straightened out if I wanted to get serious about playing golf.

Once I got that worked out Im finding that keeping the rest of the swing simple (ie getting the clubface back to impact square, etc) that I can get shots off like I want them instead of wailing at the ball and just praying for the best

 

[William Tipton]

Made a fantastic fade shot today.
Hit my tee shot on a par 5 that fades to the right just past my driving distance (for now anyway) and the wind helped it drift just off the right fairway. It was way too high. Not sure why...possibly ball position at address.
So anyway I wanted to get some distance on my second shot but there were trees dead in my path to the fairway that I couldnt get over and get any distance at all. Thought about just settling for a punch under, but its going uphill slightly and I know the ball isnt going to get far if I punch it.

I decided to give the fade a try instead. Only real risk is Im shooting left of the trees in front of me and if the ball were to end up going dead straight instead of fading Im looking at loosing it on he OOB's on the left.
Decided to go for it anyway, so I lined my stance up to just left of the tree limbs and turned the club face open to where I wanted my ball to end up. Took a normal swing along my target line to the left of the trees and off the ball went....barely clipping some of the leaves, but it didnt seem to affect the ball much. It faded around perfectly and ended up about as dead center fairway as anyone could have expected leaving me with an easy third shot to the green.

I have never been able to get intentional fades before, and even with draws they were either near hooks or worse...barely ever got a nice easy going draw. Usually something really strong that I only used if I had no other choice.
Now Ive been able to get really controlled draws and fades with my hybrids.
Tried it with my driver once today...got it to draw alright, but I think Im overdoing it because I drew the ball out of my fairway, across the road and into a corn field
Apparently I overcompensated. Probably just leave it alone with the driver for now except on the range.

The game is actually pretty damned fun when you can hit straight shots when you need them and a draw or a fade when its needed.