I know most people can’t but let’s assume the hypothetical person at location x can hit a draw and fade equally well. Is it better for them to aim at target A and fade the ball toward the hole? Or aim at target B and draw the ball toward the hole?
by Gunners_98
48 Comments
better to hit a fade if your assumptions are true. more bailout area
Presuming you can do both equally comfortably, I expect most pros would choose the option of moving the ball away from the trouble, so fading off the lake back into the hole. They’re not expecting to double cross it and pull it into the water, so having the ball moving away from the water is safer.
Just hit it straight. There’s no reason to shape the shot there.
I need to know more about pin position and shape of the green. I’m hitting a draw if I want a little more release and if being in the bunker doesn’t horribly short side me (or downhill lie probability, etc). I’m hitting the fade if I want to land it softer, a miss left won’t leave me short-sided, or if I’m between clubs.
It depends on a variety of factors about your ability as a golfer and additional info about the hole.
A most important factor you aren’t considering is the slope of the green. For instance, if the green slopes heavily from back-front you probably want to land short of the bunker anyway to give yourself an uphill putt/chip.
Other things to consider. How good of a ball striker you are. Distance of the shot. Your natural shot shape. Also, typically pins aren’t dead in the middle so you want to usually want to be sure to miss on the fat side (if you miss).
B…
b has a trap, but b allows for a push. a drasw that doesnt draw, long and shot. a pull your on the green. a pull hook your still probably good.
A has a penelty stroke left if you pull it or hook. this is assuming your bunker games not so bad that landing in the bunker is the same for you as losing a ball in the water
Wind probably plays a factor here too. Right to left wind blowing towards the water would probably have someone hold a cut against the wind and aim between the flag and target A rather than work the ball in the same direction as the wind
Just depends. For example, my miss when fading it is pulling it left. My miss when trying to draw it is to push it right. Depends where the danger is, hole location, slopes, wind. Assuming nothing drastic on any of these I’d try drawing it as I’d prefer to be in a bunker than the water (I’ll pretend the water is closer to the green than the example above)
Honestly, if you are looking to mitigate risk on this one, I’d worry more about distance, and the play here is short. Don’t use a club that will get you past the middle of the green
Hit it short and safe, chip up close and tap it in.
Depends on your shirt shape. Even pros typically play one but can play both,
So if you’re fading, you’re aiming flag maybe just left of it and moving it away from water.
If you’re a draw, you’re aiming B and and hoping it moves towards hole,
You’re NOT aiming at the hole with a draw and moving it away from Hole to water
I’m drawing off that left side of that bunker.
I’d be fading one in here.
But not aiming at A. That’s too far left and brings water into play. I’d aim to start it at the flag and fade it between the flag and B.
Because if it doesn’t fade I’m still in good shape going at the flag, and if I overdo the fade and it’s becomes a slice it I’m still good. Might be in the bunker but it’s alive.
Sand sucks but water is dead. And it if I leave it short of the sand it’s a fairly easy up and down. And there’s some good grass just beyond the bunker too. So I’d be aiming to land my ball just right of the flag and hoping to miss the bunker.
And if there are no crazy hills or anything, “old man golf” would say just bump and run a long iron down the middle or slightly at “A” to keep the bunker out of play. Short and left also looks like an easy up and down.
if its 170yds or less I’m just aiming for the middle of the green. 180yds or more, I will just hit a get it down there club
Play short front and worse case you have a chip and putt.
If you’re good enough to play both a draw and a fade with some sort of consistency, you’re probably not overly worried about that bunker with a center pin. And unless that green is the size of a football field, that approach is about 50 yds long, so you’re not shaping a pitch anyway.
Goofy cartoon image makes it hard. I guess you’d play a fade off the low pressure system developing into a hurricane and let the wind carry it. Just hoping to avoid the personal pan bunker and you are in good shape.
Nicklaus said always curve it away from trouble. So that would mean if you must curve it here, start at A and curve towards the pin
Clearly, you want to hit a draw in this scenario. No one wants to start a fade towards the water.
I’m going with C flighted wedge into the front of the green. Safest shot available to a player that can work the ball both directions
Aim for the middle of the green then shank the shit out of it and go in the water. Then hit into The B sand trap. Then back in the water when you fly the green then back in B then take the water out play by hitting back into the fairway. Then bump and run to within 10’ of the flag and then 3 putt.
I would say b and choke up or club down bc short of the green is the bailout spot and a draw will run more.
You should choose the best possible target line and hit your stock shot absolutely every time humanly possible. Working the ball against your stock shot increases the likelihood of a bad outcome.
Correct answer is skull it over the green into the water.
Alternate answer is to hit it in the bunker and then skull it out of the bunker into the water.
Final answer is you shank it, it hits the cart path and goes in the water.
I shape the ball based on the slope of the green to make it land softer. Take that for what it is, but hazards only come into mind when they are particularly close to my target. In which case I usually play the same shot but just aim 3 to 5 yards to the safe side
hit it into the bunker and you’ll be safe
Personally I would go off the miss. If my miss with a draw is it just doesn’t draw as much as planned then I’d hit the draw at b. If my draw miss if a hook up then I’d think about the fade. If the fade miss is a straight shot then I don’t want to aim at water but if tendency is if I miss it over cuts, then the cut is the better choice. My natural iron shot is a draw so that’s what I would play.
No one plays golf this way. Everyone has preferences and biases in their swing. You shouldn’t really alter your shot shape for a given hole or hazard. Just play your most common shape
The miss you want is short, so hit the shot that if you don’t make ends short
Depends on the distance from the hole. The further away you are, the broader your dispersion. Also, how wide is this green? How big a fade or draw are you hitting?
Assume the green is 20 yards wide. Assume you’re only curving the ball 5 yards.
From 100 out, aim at the flag and the middle of the green. From 200 out, aim on the right side of the green… Hitting it in the bunker is going to take 2-3 shots to get it in the hole, but hitting it in the water is a penalty and takes 3-4.
Unless you are scratch or better you should always just be hitting your stock straight shot.
Unless you’re a plus handicap that is very comfortable working it both ways, you should be hitting whatever your consistent shop shape is. I’m scratch and only hit draws unless I absolutely have to hit a fade and this is not one of those situations where its absolutely needed.
In general, fades are favoured by most top level golfers.
The reason for this is that, on average, the miss is more predictable. I.e. probably short. The miss with a draw can be long and a bit unruly. This effect gets more pronounced as the shots get longer.
So to avoid hitting different shot shapes all the time, most stick to just hitting fades, so the swing is more consistent.
In this particular example, a fade is also the better choice. All the way over to A is maybe a tad too much, but it’s the right idea.
The miss might be bunker or rough. The downside is hitting your next shot towards the water, but it shouldn’t be that big of an issue at that distance.
A draw might go in the water if it’s overcooked.
It’s just a good rule of thumb to hit shots where the straight or miss is gonna be OK. You don’t want your head having to deal with hazards in case of a miss.
I would play based off my common misses. I’m a draw player and my miss is usually right with no draw or a push fade. I’m taking dead aim at the bunker.
Short and straight is safe in this picture. For a right handed golfer a draw landed short would run. A fade typically lands softer but you have to star it close to A water hazard and risk it under fading into the water or over fading into the sand. Or you could measure off the hazards and choose a club that gets you to the big part of the green.
Just fade it into the whole. It’s a simple game!
The water is a bigger hazard, but theres a bigger landing zone, and it theoretically means an uphill putt (slopes generally head towards water)
B requires more accuracy and a harder putt
You have to understand shot dispersion. You can not guarantee a fade or draw. If you are a right-handed player, your left shots will go longer than your right shots. So what shot you take depends on the risk you are willing to take, the situation you are in, and how you are hitting the ball that day. The safer shot is to aim right and play a draw with a shorter club. If you pull it you should still be OK on the left side of the green, if you hit it right, presumably it is short of the bunker and you haven’t short sided yourself (left yourself very little green to work with). If you are being more aggressive, you aim left with a fade and a longer club, but if you end up going left on the shot you are in the water. Playing golf assuming you are going to hit it perfect is terrible strategy. You need to understand your game and then play the shot that leaves your misses in the best spots possible. That means you are rarely attacking flags, unless you have a short iron in your hands.
I would play the fade. Takes the bunker out of play.
Question is what is your typical shot shape and what is your typical miss.
If they can hit a draw and a fade equally well then the shot patterns would be the same with no advantage to either.
It would become a choice based on wind direction.
That hazard has no bearing on the hole at all. If that hazard gets in your way you’ve done something alot worse than not shaping your shot right.
Shot shape on this hole would only be relevant for how the green slopes I guess. Ie if it all rolls in right to left you would hit a draw landing right side. However I dont know what the fuck im talking about.
Neither for me. Assuming pin is middle and green isn’t crazy sloped.
My shot is a fade, much more comfortable. So I’m aiming middle green at the pin hitting a fade. If it fades too much, bunker. If not I’m around that bunker. Straight im good, pull im safe left side.
For you personally?
Likely hit whatever your stock shot is and make sure to aim far enough away from the hazard.
Different pros find a fade off the water safer because “it’s moving away from trouble”, but another would say draw towards the water is safer because “you don’t want to aim at trouble”.
The key to most things in golf is to test what works for YOU 🙂
Lol at this entire comment section not being able to play along with a simple hypothetical.
I think someone that can hit a fade/draw confidently on command would pay more attention to pin location and green shape to determine the fade v draw. In this case, pin in the middle, just play the shot you’re most confident getting close to the hole. If the pin was on the right, hit the fade I guess and left pin would benefit from a draw similar because it increases your chance of being on the green if you don’t get enough fade/draw.
I usually try to put it in the hole
This would be a pretty textbook straight attack. I can’t think of a single reason to shape a shot here aside from just having fun or trying to look cool. With no obstacles, pin placement and size/shape of the green are going to cause a need for shot shaping and neither of those are a factor on this hole.