Ever wonder how a major champion decides between a fade or a draw? 💠In this exclusive video, Graeme McDowell sits down with Smash GC’s Rachel to talk all things shot shaping, from clubface control to course strategy, and how he approaches different ball flights under pressure.
Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a serious golfer, G-Mac’s insights will help you see the game through the eyes of a pro. Learn how he chooses his shot shape based on conditions, pin position, and mindset—and maybe even steal a tip or two for your own swing.
📌 Chapters:
00:00 – Intro with G-Mac & Rachel
01:12 – Fade vs. Draw: What’s the Difference?
03:30 – When G-Mac Chooses Each Shot
05:00 – Ball Flight Control in Wind
06:45 – Advice for Amateurs
08:10 – Final Thoughts
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#SmashGC #GraemeMcDowell #GolfTips #FadeVsDraw #LIVGolf #GolfInstruction #ShotShaping #TeamSmash #GMac
I mean, we’ve got another special guest on the range. I’m here with US Open champ, RDER Cup legend Greg McDow. Thank you for joining us. No problems at all. And you’ve also won at this beautiful course in Claama. And I normally start with some sort of stat, but I want you to tell you the story that you told me about when you were warming up here after being a major champion. Yeah, I guess it was 2010 when I won here was the Andian Masters. Um, I’d say I’ve run through a lot of emotions in this golf course. I’ve probably played 75 to 100 competitive rounds here and uh, you know, I’ve experienced the the highs and the lows of Aldoramas. You know, this this course can be certainly a cruel mistress for sure. Uh, when you’re a little bit off, um, but obviously, you know, it’s it’s probably one of the greatest golf courses that we have in Europe and it’s got such a such a great history. Uh, it’s one of my favorite venues to come back to. So now we’re talking about 2010. Um the year I won here, I was having my warm-up on the Sunday morning. And conditions were going to are similar to what we’re going to see Friday and Saturday here, which are pretty windy. And and when this golf course plays windy, it requires every shot in the book pretty much. And I was having my warm-up that Sunday morning. I was working on it’s a peak cowen. It’s a peak cowen drill, which is what we call the nine shot drill where you’ve got the low, medium, and high windows, and you have the fade, straight, and the draw. So that kind of creates a matrix of nine different shots. And I was warming up in the range and I was going through my bag and I wasn’t just hitting stock shots. I was hitting a lot of chips and high balls. And one of the I guess one of the commentators was watching me. Yeah. I actually don’t even remember who it was, but you know, it was kind of live and and they were kind of live on the range with me and the commentator basically said that it looked like I was having a terrible warm-up session because I was hitting it all over the place. But I was hitting it. I was hitting it all over the place on purpose because I was literally going through the matrix with kind of the nine, the seven, the five iron because I knew that on the golf course that day you get a little out of position in this course. You may have to hit a little chip cutter on a tree and then you went and won. And then, you know, I I I grinded out and had a pretty good day and ended up winning, you know. So, that was nice. Knuckles. I thought you were going for the knuckles there. Sorry. I want to see you play a few of those shots. For sure. So, like I said, you know, this golf course to me requires a bit of everything cuz sometimes you got to go under some trees. Sometimes you got to go over some trees and you know, inevitably in three rounds of golf here, you got to see a little bit of everything, you know? So, you know, so if I was if I was here on my seven iron, I might say, “Right, let’s start with a low fade, right?” So, you know, to that to that I’ll hit to the target I was hitting. So, you can see my path numbers a little bit, but is that the It was just right at that 200 was my target that that flag right there. So, you know, just low cut. What does Dustin Johnson say? If you’re going to hit a fade, it has to fade, right? Number one rule. Goes right. Beautiful. And we talk about little bit over cut there. Face and path. Perfect. Minus four. Open to that. Now, let’s also talk about what you’re doing now at Liv. You’re sick in proximity in the league, which you didn’t know about until I just saw this. I like that stat, though. That’s a great start. To me, that’s ball flight control. and you’ve made a few changes recently. So, be able to hit these shot windows, you know, what have you done technically? Yeah, for me, you know, a sign when I’m playing badly is I can’t hit a cup. You know, that’s always a kind of a red flag to me where I got to come back and start kind of looking at for me it’s always takeaway. It’s always back swing. You know, to me, you know, everything happens. You got to you got to sort of have the have the table set on the back swing so that you can deliver the club the right way. Yeah. So, you know, for me, so it’s like I bow the left wrist. It’s going to happen at some point, right? So, the longer that I can stop that from happening, which means supporting the left wrist with the right arm, stopping it kind of getting behind me. So, really trying to feel like I set I wish I could do that, but you know, it’s kind of the the feel versus real, right? So, the feel for me is this right arm sets, which gets this club face much more open, you know, nearly like a bunker play feel. Again, going back to Peak Cowan, you know, really lots of loft, lots of open face, and then I will shut that face down a little bit, but I’ll still be able to hit fades from there. So, something I’ve been working on hard, you know, a month or two, obviously played well in in Liv, Virginia a few weeks ago. That’s because I had the fade back in the bag a little bit. And then that starts to cut out one side of the golf course. I mean, we talked about it earlier, a two-way miss. If you got a left and a right miss, you’re in big trouble. You got to be able to try and at least stand on a T- box and go, okay, I’m going to aim this down the left side of the fairway and I’m going to make sure it goes right, you know. So, now my left side’s not in play. So, if I can feel like I can get that club face wound up with plenty of loft a little bit open and then that gives me a chance to then cover the ball and not kind of back up. Really nice. and having played and I know a lot of players at home, you know, how are you trying to fill that on a golf course because it’s one thing working on on the range, but the ability to trust it on course is what you’ve done so well. So, how have you translated that from practice to the golf course? Yeah, I feel like it’s always a process when you’re working with your coach and you’re trying to feel something. It makes it may take two or three different kind of versions of that feel to kind of get something that clicks, but clearly you can’t play with too many thoughts, right? So I normally try and dial it down to I mean I’m probably a three swing thought guy. I’m probably That’s quite a lot. It’s quite a lot. It’s quite a lot. And then and when the pressure cranks up all of a sudden the brain’s moving so fast it becomes very difficult to have those three and it’s scary. You’re like how can I possibly play without my three swing thoughts and that’s when you have to rely on practice, right? But you know typically I have a nice wide takeaway thought. Then I have a transition thought which is very much try and let the club fall into the window as opposed to I will grab and I’ll try and get left too quickly. So it falls into the window and then from there it’s just go ahead and just go and release the left side. So that would be the simplified version. And strategically this week before we finish up and let you get ready, you know, the fade. Are you just going to be seeing that all the time and working with Ken to those positions on the golf? For sure. I mean I’m trying to play predominantly fade. Uh, I’d say medium and short irons probably straight to draw. But I think with a medium, you know, medium longer irons into the driver 3 would mostly fade bias. But like we talked about, this golf course will ask for some draws. Some of those fairways which are tilted this way, you may get a left right wind. Going to have to hit a slightly straighter ball. So that goes back to the to the nine shot drill. Making sure that the draw is in there. Can we see a draw to finish? Absolutely. Again, you know, it goes back to the red flag. If I can’t hit a fade, that’s a red flag that I’m playing badly. Another sign that I’m playing well is I can’t hit my draw very well. So, I I love it when the draw is not great. So, let me uh And also, the wind’s out the left, so we’re making this really good for you. See if I hit you like a little mid mid mid draw. That’s definitely moving left. It’s trying to got a little left spin on, I think. 2.8. Two. Okay. Your work’s done, GMC. I mean, I hope I’ve given you good vibes there. I’ve taken you back to your major champ. I’ve taken you back to your win at Borama. We’re loving seeing this resurgence in your career. Play well, GMC. So, good to see you. Let’s hope the resurgence continues and we can uh get on that number one podium. That’d be beautiful. Good luck. Good luck.
